Creative projects shaped by lived experience
Culture
Creative projects shaped by lived experience, community voice and neurodivergent leadership.
Neurodivergent Arts CIC works with cultural organisations, artists and communities to create projects where neurodivergent people and people with SEND can be visible as artists, contributors, storytellers, curators and creative leaders.
What Culture means
What Culture means
Culture is how people express identity, share stories, shape communities and make meaning together. It includes the arts, heritage, creativity, traditions and the everyday experiences that connect us.
At Neurodivergent Arts CIC, we believe culture should be something everyone has the opportunity to shape, not something created for them. Culture is about who gets to tell stories, influence spaces, create work, preserve heritage and be recognised for their contribution.
As a neurodivergent-led organisation, we create opportunities for neurodivergent people and other people with SEND to contribute to cultural life through lived experience, creative practice, community voice and meaningful collaboration. Through exhibitions, heritage projects, workshops, public programmes and creative partnerships, participants help shape the cultural life of their communities in ways that are authentic, inclusive and valued.
We also recognise that many neurodivergent people have faced barriers to education, professional training and sustainable employment, limiting opportunities to develop careers within the creative and cultural sectors. Alongside creating opportunities to participate in culture, we are committed to creating pathways into training, volunteering, professional development, employment and leadership so that more neurodivergent people can build sustainable creative careers and influence the future of the cultural sector.
Partnerships
How we work with cultural partners
We work with museums, galleries, festivals, heritage organisations, writers, artists, arts organisations and community partners to develop inclusive creative projects.
Designing accessible workshops
Creative workshops that welcome different ways of participating and creating.
Neurodivergent-led sessions
Facilitating creative sessions shaped by lived experience and community voice.
Community curation
Supporting communities to curate exhibitions, collections and public projects.
Creative responses
Gathering creative responses, stories and voices from communities and participants.
Past cultural work
Past cultural work
Neurodivergent Arts CIC has already supported cultural projects that bring together creativity, lived experience, community voice and public visibility.
City Reflections
City Reflections was a city-wide light installation celebrating Southampton's stories after dark, created in collaboration with Southampton Cultural Services and local communities.
Neurodivergent Arts CIC was the community curator for the neurodivergent installation, supporting local neurodivergent participants to explore Southampton's city maps and walls through creativity, conversation and shared experience.
The project connected the city's history with themes of movement, protection, identity, belonging and place, showing how neurodivergent people contribute to cultural life as artists, thinkers, storytellers and community curators.
Christmas Exhibition – Salvation Army Christmas Tree Fair
Community-made decorations shared through a local Christmas exhibition.
In December 2025, Neurodivergent Arts CIC took part in the Salvation Army Christmas Tree Fair. Christmas decorations were created through our art groups and with the local autistic youth group, Friends of In Touch. The decorations were brought together as part of a community Christmas exhibition, sharing creative work made by neurodivergent people across different local groups.
This project celebrated community creativity, seasonal making and the value of bringing different groups together through shared creative practice.
ArtfulScribe Neurodivergent Women's Workshops
Neurodivergent Arts CIC supports creative projects with cultural and literary organisations where there is a shared commitment to inclusion, creativity and lived experience.
Our work with ArtfulScribe included supporting an introductory workshop for neurodivergent women, exploring creativity, identity, writing and personal experience. The session created space for participants to connect through creative practice, reflect on their experiences and begin developing creative voice in a supportive setting.
Partnerships & Collaboration
Who we work with
We are interested in working with cultural organisations, artists, funders and communities who value creative voice and lived experience.
We are especially interested in partnerships that create meaningful opportunities for neurodivergent people and people with SEND to shape creative and cultural work.
Future collaborations
Future collaborations
Neurodivergent Arts CIC is open to future cultural collaborations that centre lived experience, creative voice and community participation.
We are interested in projects that support neurodivergent people and people with SEND to take part as artists, contributors, storytellers, curators, facilitators and creative leaders.
Future collaborations might include exhibitions, heritage projects, writing workshops, public programmes, community curation, creative consultation or artist development opportunities.
If you are developing a cultural project and would like to explore working together, we would be happy to have a conversation.
Part of a connected creative network
Part of a connected creative network
Culture is one of three connected pathways within Neurodivergent Arts CIC. A person may first connect through a community group, then contribute to a cultural project, volunteer at an event, develop facilitation skills or move towards another supported opportunity over time. There is no single route through the work – the pathways overlap, strengthen one another and grow through relationship, trust and shared opportunity.