About Us

Background

TCCE (The Culture Capital Exchange) is an experienced leader with a robust track record in designing, developing and delivering successful, effective, and ground-breaking collaborations and Knowledge Exchange programmes between Higher Education and the arts and cultural sectors for mutual benefit and wider impact.

We were established as LCACE (London Centre for Arts and Cultural Exchange) in 2005 with Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) funding and were the first university-led network to focus specifically on knowledge exchange, collaboration and wider engagement between the research base and the arts, cultural and creative sectors.
We rebranded as TCCE, becoming an independent company in 2011, and with extensive networks in and knowledge of both sectors, we continue to pioneer developments in our fields of expertise.

What we do
Members and partners
TCCE Team

TCCE designs, develops and delivers programmes, events and resources to catalyse and support Research Collaborations, Knowledge Exchange and Public Engagement. We also work into wider challenge areas for research, the arts and more widely across our lives, such as resilience, health and digital creativity.

Many of our larger-scale programmes are developed in collaboration with funders and partners from academia and beyond. Some examples of these include: Boosting Resilience, The Exchange, funded by Arts Council England (ACE) and Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and Creativeworks London funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Partnership, collaboration and knowledge exchange, in its widest sense, are at the heart of everything we do. We focus particularly on bringing Higher Education together with arts, culture and creative sector and further afield for mutual exchange and wider social, cultural, environmental and economic benefit.

TCCE has 11 core members, works with over 40 partners in London through our work on Creativeworks London and over 20 partners across England through our work on The Exchange. We also work with many cultural and creative organisations and individual collaborators in the delivery of our annual programme of activities.

TCCE Core Members

City, University of London
Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Kingston University London
London South Bank University
Middlesex University London
Ravensbourne University
Royal Central School of Speech & Drama

University of West London

Loughborough University
Manchester Metropolitan University
People Dancing
Plymouth University
Sound and Music
University of East Anglia
University of Exeter
University of Kent

University of Leeds
University of Northumbria
University of Oxford
University of Surrey

Boosting Resilience Partners 2017-2019

The Centre for Creativity in Professional Practice at Cass Business School. City, University of London (Cass/City)
The Centre for Enterprise, Manchester Metropolitan University (CfE/Manchester Metropolitan University)

King’s College London
Kingston Museum
Kingston University
Lion Television
London First
London Sinfonietta
Mediaclarity
Playgen
Queen Mary University of London
Roehampton University
Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Royal Geographical Society
Royal Holloway, University of London
Scenepool
SOAS, University Of London

Tate
Tech City Investment Organisation
The Audience Agency
The British Library
The British Museum
The Courtauld Institute of Art
The Culture Capital Exchange
The Geffrye Museum
The National Archives
The V&A
Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance
University of the Arts, London

Design Museum Helsinki
Digital Catapult
Euclid
Fernandez and Wells
Finetuned
Fossbox
Furtherfield
Surrey Arts
Golant Media Ventures
Higher Education Funding Council for England
IBM
Innovate UK
Intern Aware
Journal of Visual Art Practice
Julie’s Bicycle
Knowledge Quarter
KTN
Ladbury PR
Museum of the Future
NCVO
Nesta
October Gallery
Palgrave Macmillan
Phoenix Gallery

Q-Art
Royal Academy of Arts
Royal Shakespeare Company
Somerset House
Sound & Music
SPACE
St George’s House
STEAMhouse Birmingham
Studio Wayne McGregor
Tech North
TECHNE
The Art Workers’ Guild
The British Library
The Cornelius Arts Foundation
The Royal Institution
The Sorrell Foundation
They Eat Culture
Times Higher Education
TMRW
Toucan
UKTI
V&A
Westminster Arts Forum

Please email info@tcce.co.uk to get in touch.

Suzie Leighton

Co-Director TCCE and NCACE

Suzie Leighton is a Founder Director of The Culture Capital Exchange, and joined TCCE’s predecessor, The London Centre for Arts and Cultural Exchange as a member of the start up team in 2005. Between 2012 – 2016 she was also joint Head of Knowledge Exchange Programme for Creativeworks London. Since then she has developed and project directed The Exchange, co-funded by HEFCE and Arts Council England 20-16 -2018, and was also a Co-Investigator on the Arts Council England flagship Boosting Resilience project. Her professional background encompasses dance and theatre production and management, a 5 year stint at Arts Council England as a Senior Officer and a secondment as a researcher to the DCMS Select Committee. Suzie is currently Chair of the Board of Directors of Jasmin Vardimon Company, an international dance theatre company and a mentor on the Time to Stare Artists Fellowship Programme. Most recently, continuing her long term partnership with Evelyn Wilson, she has co-conceived and will co-direct the new TCCE initiative, the National Centre for Academic and Cultural Exchange (NCACE).

Evelyn Wilson

Co-Director TCCE and NCACE

Evelyn Wilson is a Founder Director of The Culture Capital Exchange which she co-established in 2011. From 2005, she was Senior Manager at its previous iteration, LCACE (London Centre for Arts and Cultural Exchange). She is Co-Investigator on Boosting Resilience and co-wrote the bid. From 2012- 2016, she was Head of Knowledge Exchange with Creativeworks London focusing on the conception and delivery of its Knowledge Exchange Programme.

She has deep experience as a cultural producer/curator in areas including: black and third cinema, photography and digital arts. She was Director of Lighthouse, Brighton and before that spent 11 years working in cultural centres in the West Midlands.

Evelyn is advisor to the Centre for Creativity in Professional Practice at Cass Business School, associate of the Centre for Innovation Management and member of the Creative Industries Council Clusters and Regions Group.

Most recently she has co-conceived and will co-direct the new National Centre of Academic and Cultural Exchange with her long term collaborator and Co-Director Suzie Leighton.

Dr Gemma Outen

Programme Curator TCCE

Gemma has a strong background in UK HE with over 11 years in the sector. She gained her PhD in History in 2018 from Edge Hill University and has worked as a lecturer and researcher in several HEIs since then. Prior to undertaking doctoral study, she was a Project Manager and event organiser in UK HE. She also has some experience in the theatre and arts industries with consultancy experience for a north-east theatre company.

Noshin Sultan

Projects and Partnerships Manager NCACE

Noshin worked as Operations and Content Coordinator at Knowledge Quarter (KQ), playing an integral role within the KQ team and working closely with the CEO to ensure that the aims and objectives of the KQ were met. Before joining Knowledge Quarter Noshin was the Communications and Administration Officer for Creativeworks London, Queen Mary University of London. Noshin holds a BSc in Fashion Technology from De Montfort University.

Associates

Pauline Rutter

Diversity and Inclusion

Pauline has a background in fine art, international business, co-operative development, teaching and research most recently within the Values and Sustainability Research Group at the University of Brighton. Her work focuses on the interrogation of climate and social justice, reframing how we imagine the future together.

Dr Rebekka Kill

Strategic Development

Rebekka has 25 years experience in education and ten years experience in senior leadership roles, including two Head of School roles and an Associate Dean role. During her 25 years of teaching she has written, developed and launched over 20 courses including diverse subjects such as Experience Design, Entertainment Management, Fashion and Creative Enterprise. She has published in education, cultural studies, music and performance. Her PhD focussed on academic identity construction. She has been a member on various boards including as Chair of the board of East Street Arts for the last 3 years.

Giorgia Cacciatore

Communications Assistant

Giorgia holds a Masters degree in Culture Industry from Goldsmiths University, where her research focused on the aftermath of soft power and new propaganda techniques on the contemporary cultural landscape. She has a background in the creative industries and collaborated with several organizations across Europe as broadcaster, writer, and designer. At TCCE she is responsible for the e-newsletter, social media and website as well as collaborating at the curation of events of the Arts and Health Forum. Giorgia is currently undertaking a Research Masters in Media, Art and Performance at Utrecht University.

Pete Mitchell

Associate Editor

Pete is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Sussex School of Global Studies. His writing has appeared in publications including the Times Literary Supplement, Asymptote, and The Quietus. He was Creativeworks London Researcher-In-Residence with TCCE in 2013/14 and works with us on the production and editing of our publications.