A Common Thread
Public Programme Leader
Lethaby Gallery, Central Saint Martins
2025
Lethaby Gallery, Central Saint Martins
2025
Overview
A Common Thread was an exhibition and public programme developed by a student collective from Central Saint Martins and presented at Lethaby Gallery.
As Public Programme Leader, I contributed to the research and development of a series of participatory workshops and public events exploring material knowledge, making practices, repair, sustainability, and collective learning.
Context
The exhibition examined relationships between materials, making, and cultural knowledge. It explored how craft practices carry histories, connect communities, and provide alternative ways of understanding sustainability and care.
The public programme extended these themes by creating opportunities for audiences to actively engage with materials and processes rather than experiencing the exhibition only through observation.
My Role
As Head of Public Programme, I supported the research and coordination of public-facing activities connected to the exhibition.
My responsibilities included researching facilitors and partners, planning workshop structures, coordinating with them and the team, supporting event organisation, communicating with participants, and ensuring that activities aligned with the wider themes of the exhibition.
Process
The programme brought together a range of workshops and participatory activities including textile repair, lace-making, seed-growing, felting, collage, and other material-based practices.
The activities were designed to encourage knowledge exchange between artists, makers, and audiences, creating spaces where different generations and experiences could meet through shared making.
The programme focused on accessibility, participation, and the idea of making as a social and collective practice.
Outcomes
The public programme expanded the exhibition beyond the gallery space by creating opportunities for audiences to participate directly in the ideas explored through the exhibition.
The project developed my experience in public programming, event coordination, community engagement, and collaborative production.
Outputs
• Six-week public programme
• Participatory workshops
• Artist and maker collaborations
• Audience engagement activities
• Event coordination
• Participatory workshops
• Artist and maker collaborations
• Audience engagement activities
• Event coordination
Skills Developed
• Public programming
• Workshop coordination
• Community engagement
• Event production
• Artist collaboration
• Audience development
• Project management
• Workshop coordination
• Community engagement
• Event production
• Artist collaboration
• Audience development
• Project management
