Johnathan Branson

Practice. Projects. Ideas.

Engagement Campaigns

Meaningful engagement lies at the heart of cultural impact. In this section you’ll find a selection of campaigns, audience-strategies and participation-programmes I’ve developed that bring creativity, place and community together. From co-creating with MA students to activating retail units through AR, each example shows how I use strategic thinking, lived experience and practical delivery to connect people with culture, strengthen engagement and build long-term audience relationships. Explore the projects below to see how campaigns become real, measurable change.

Student & Academic Partnerships

Projects developed with university students and academic partners, creating meaningful experience while delivering research-led outcomes.

Interactive Futures: Student Engagement

Year: 2025

Organisation
Warwick District Council and Warwickshire County Council Interactive Futures Team in partnership with University of Warwick (CME MA)

My Role
I partnered with the MA students to design and deliver the event’s monitoring & evaluation.

Summary
For the 2025 edition of Interactive Futures, we invited students from the University of Warwick’s Creative & Media Enterprises MA to create the methodology, collect audience feedback and analyse results.

Key Outcomes

Student-led methodology and data collection conducted over several months.
Clear insights into what worked well and improvement areas provided to the Arts Section.
A final report and presentation delivered to event stakeholders.

Why It Mattered
This collaboration exemplifies how the Arts Section at Warwick District Council can work with local universities to offer meaningful professional experience for students while gaining data-led recommendations to inform future strategic planning.

Links

University of Warwick: Student Mentoring

Year: 2014-2019

Organisation
University of Warwick (MA Cultural Policy)

My Role
Annual mentor for a small group of MA students, giving them real-world audience-development challenges aligned to the Centre’s strategic priorities.

Summary
Each year the students tackled an audience-development brief and then presented solutions to course leaders and the Arts Centre’s Leadership Team; their projects formed part of their coursework and final grade.

Key Outcomes:

Yearly mentoring programme delivered across five years.
Students gained hands-on professional experience; the Centre gained fresh external insight.
Stronger university–arts centre partnership established.

Why It Mattered
Embedding professional challenge into postgraduate education forged a pipeline of emerging talent and insight for the organisation, building capacity for both the students and the arts ecosystem.

Teachers' Membership Scheme

Year: 2015-2019

Organisation:
Warwick Arts Centre

My Role
Established and managed the scheme: communications, event design, teacher and school recruitment.

Summary
Designed to embed the Centre’s artistic programme into local schools’ curricula, the scheme engaged 211 teachers from 71 schools in the catchment area via targeted communications and events.

Key Outcomes:

211 teachers engaged.
71 schools reached.
Strengthened school-arts centre relationships and curriculum alignment.

Why It Mattered
The scheme exemplifies how strategic engagement channels can institucionalise relationships and support sustained participation in the arts through education partnerships.

Mead Gallery Engagement Campaigns

Year: 2014-2019

Organisation
Mead Gallery (Warwick Arts Centre)

My Role
Responsible for the gallery’s audience development campaigns, including online engagement projects, educational packs, interpretation and archive development (notably for Clare Woods, John Piper and Human Document exhibitions).

Summary
Over five years I led the gallery’s online and print-based audience development work, including building an online archive of past exhibitions.

Key Outcomes:

Strategic engagement campaigns for high-profile exhibitions.
Developed and implemented educational and interpretive materials.
Online archive launched enhancing discoverability of past exhibitions.

Why It Mattered
The work enabled the gallery to deepen its engagement with both existing and new audiences, and elevated its digital presence for future programming and legacy.

Links

Mead Gallery website

Digital, Heritage & Innovation Engagement

Creative programmes combining heritage, technology and innovation to engage audiences in fresh and immersive ways.

Kenilworth Revealed App Testing

Year: 2025

Organisation
Kenilworth Town Council / Warwick District Council

My Role
Prototype tester providing structured feedback on usability, interpretation and visitor experience.

Summary
I was invited to test an early prototype of the Kenilworth Revealed augmented-reality app as part of its development process. The testing explored how digital heritage tools are structured, how users interact with layered narratives, and how effectively the app reconstruction supported visitor understanding of the abbey site.

Key Outcomes

Practical feedback that informed usability refinements and user flow.
Recommendations on clarity of interpretation and visitor orientation.
Improved user experience in the final AR reconstruction of the Abbey of St Mary circa 1500.

Why It Mattered
Testing helped shape a smoother, more intuitive visitor experience, strengthening how heritage, interpretation and digital reconstruction work together.

Links

Kenilworth Revealed app information

WD Catalyst Podcast

Year: 2024

Organisation
Warwick District Council

My Role
Creator and host

Summary
The WD Catalyst podcast shines a light on Warwick District’s creative community by amplifying local voices and exploring their journeys, from composers and broadcasters to event producers and museum curators.

Key Outcomes

Interviews with a broad range of creatives (e.g., Jude Radley, Beth Newell, Dom Sant, Junior Cunningham).
Built connections across the local creative ecosystem.
Provided platforms for both emerging and established talent.

Why It Mattered
The podcast extended the reach of the Arts Section’s engagement work, enabling storytelling that inspires and informs both the cultural sector and wider public audiences.

Links

WD Catalyst podcast site

Windows into the Past

Year: 2022

Organisation
Warwick District Council

My Role
Project coordinator; secured the empty retail unit, aligned partners, and positioned the project as a platform for digital heritage experience.

Summary
Commissioned to animate an empty retail unit in Warwick Town Centre, this interactive exhibition used augmented and virtual reality (in collaboration with RIVR) to bring Warwick’s history, from castles to museum collections, to life.

Key Outcomes

Physical unit secured and activated in town centre.
AR/VR content created in collaboration with heritage organisations and delivered to public audiences.
Enhanced digital engagement of heritage for new audiences.

Why It Mattered
This project bridged technology, heritage and place in an accessible way, positioning the district’s cultural offer as innovative and community-centred.

Links

Windows into the Past project

Digitising a Collection

Year: 2021 - 2023

Organisation
Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum / RiVR

My Role
I developed the original project concept, produced the brief, and secured the specialist partner before handing the project over to the Curatorial team for delivery.

Summary
Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum set out to make its collection more accessible to new and existing audiences through digital technology. In 2021, I engaged RiVR, a company specialising in virtual reality, augmented reality and photogrammetry, to digitise a selection of collection objects with the aim of putting them, virtually, back in the hands of local residents and visitors. The resulting assets will form part of an AR trail around the town and were also incorporated into CultureFest 2022.

Key Outcomes

Secured RiVR as a specialist partner to digitise museum objects using VR/AR/photogrammetry.
Created high-quality digital replicas of collection items for use in public engagement.
Enabled the development of an AR trail enhancing access to local heritage.
Integrated digital objects into CultureFest programming, extending their reach.

Why It Mattered
This project demonstrated how technology can re-open access to collections that are rarely handled or seen up close, offering new ways for people to engage with heritage. It also laid groundwork for future digital innovation within the museum and strengthened partnerships with creative-tech specialists.

Links & Images

RiVR (partner)

Echoes from the Edge

Year: 2012-2014 /

Organisation
Friction Arts (Heritage Lottery Funded)

My Role
Project Manager, managing partnership coordination, marketing, audience development, volunteers, budget and reporting.

Summary
A two-year programme that uncovered and explored the histories of Digbeth and Highgate (1950s-1980s) via oral histories, archive building and community engagement; the result is now accessible through the Library of Birmingham’s archive.

Key Outcomes

Large community-led archive compiled.
Local people, activists and archivists engaged with heritage narratives.
Lasting legacy in a major public archive.

Why It Mattered
The project combined heritage, community voice and cultural infrastructure in a way that expanded access and built long-term value beyond the life of the project.

Links

Friction Arts website

Access, Inclusion & New Audiences

Targeted campaigns designed to reach under-represented or new audiences, widening access and participation in cultural life.

#humansofleamington

Year: 2019

Organisation
Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum

My Role
Full campaign design and delivery: fundraising, artist commissions, participant recruitment, engagement strategy, marketing, PR and reporting.

Summary
Developed during the Diane Arbus exhibition, the campaign celebrated local creative talent through a portraiture initiative. It engaged 16-to-30 year-olds and leveraged 23 local shops, BBC Coventry & Warwickshire, TEDxLeamington and others.

Key Outcomes

Portraits featured online and across town, supporting local cultural identity and placemaking.
Successful cross-partner engagement (shops, media, youth demographic).
Strengthened connection between the gallery’s exceptional programme and younger audiences.

Why It Mattered
This campaign demonstrated best-practice in audience development, showcasing how embedded identity work and community partnerships can extend institutional reach and relevance.

Links

Campaign website

Ambassador Schemes

Year: 2014-2019

Organisation
Warwick Arts Centre

My Role
Designed and managed multiple Ambassador programmes (Family, Student, Access), recruited 63 representatives of the audience base and supported department-led projects.

Summary
The Ambassador programmes created a trusted “critical friend” network across families, students and access audiences. Projects included a WeChat social media platform for Mandarin-speaking audiences in Coventry, an audio guide and fanzine for the Mead Gallery, and an accessibility guide.

Key Outcomes:

63 ambassadors recruited and embedded.
Creative projects delivered across different audience segments and platforms.
Audience insight and feedback channel created for programming, learning and marketing teams.

Why It Mattered
By developing representative ambassador networks, the Centre enhanced its capacity to listen to and engage diverse audiences. This model became a key part of its organisational culture and audience-development strategy

Instrumental

Year: 2015-2019

Organisation:
Warwick Arts Centre in partnership with Coventry Music Service

My Role
Designed and managed the project, recruiting and managing participants and stakeholders, coordinating workshops, marketing and reporting.

Summary
A five-year initiative to reduce the average age of classical-music attendees by engaging young people through schools and music service. Over the period, 1,200+ young people who would not normally have access to world-class concerts took part in workshops and attended a concert.

Key Outcomes:

1,200+ young people participated.
Young audience engagement significantly increased.
Workshop-to-concert pathway established and managed.

Why It Mattered
This project demonstrated how sustained investment in targeted youth engagement can shift audience demographics and deliver meaningful access outcomes in the performing arts.

Arts Nation West Midlands

Year: 2010–2011

Organisation
Arts Council England (regional programme)

My Role
Project designer and delivery lead

Summary
I designed and delivered engagement activity across the Black Country to challenge perceptions and reach under-represented groups. Activity included art in empty shops, tea dances for older audiences, and large-scale outdoor projections.

Key Outcomes

New approaches piloted to reach families, older adults and peripheral communities.
Engagement delivered in non-traditional cultural spaces.
Increased visibility for arts organisations within neglected areas.

Why It Mattered
Arts Nation provided a blueprint for inclusive engagement in areas where traditional cultural infrastructure was limited.

Events, Festivals & Large-Scale Programmes

Major cultural programmes and event-based engagement delivered in collaboration with partners, place or sector-wide initiatives

UK Shared Prosperity Cultural Programme

Year: 2022–2025

Organisation
Warwick District Council

My Role
Programme Lead, responsible for shaping, managing and overseeing delivery of all nine cultural UKSPF projects, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and maximising sector impact.

Summary
Warwick District Council secured £3.5m from the national £2.6bn UK Shared Prosperity Fund, including a £400k allocation for nine cultural and creative projects delivered by the Arts Section. These projects—spanning festivals, audits, capital upgrades, sector development, marketing, public art and professional development—were designed to address the Warwick District Creative Framework priorities and the UKSPF’s required outputs. Despite national draw-down delays, all projects were delivered on time and within budget, with many expanded into sub-projects to maximise reach and value.

Key Outcomes

40+ projects delivered district-wide, with all cultural projects completed on time and within budget.
9 art grants awarded, strengthening grassroots delivery and enabling hyperlocal cultural impact.
6 contracted initiatives managed, including major strategic commissions such as the Heritage Audit and Creative Sector professional development.
4 medium-to-large-scale festivals delivered, including Lights of Leamington, Interactive Futures, Street Art Festival and Spark/Ignite creative sector events.
80+ bursaries distributed to support emerging creatives and practitioners.
5 internal infrastructure projects delivered, improving cultural venues, equipment and digital capacity.
Strengthened cross-sector partnerships, including work with Town Councils, local creative organisations, heritage groups, higher education, and BID Leamington.
Direct benefits to communities across all four towns, including new public art, town-centre animation, digital tools, training programmes, and major audience-facing events.

Why It Mattered
The UKSPF Cultural Programme marked one of the most wide-reaching, multi-project cultural investments Warwick District has delivered in a single funding cycle. By dividing core projects into targeted sub-initiatives, the Arts Section ensured the funding reached organisations of all scales—supporting neighbourhood-level activity, strategic research, major festivals, professional development and creative sector infrastructure. The programme significantly enhanced the Council’s reputation across the creative community, accelerated delivery of the Warwick District Creative Framework, and left a tangible legacy through new skills, new networks, improved venues, new public artworks and strengthened relationships with partners across the district.

Links & Images

CultureFest 2022

Year: 2022

Organisation:
Warwick District Council

My Role
I led the development and coordination of the month-long CultureFest programme, working with partners across the district to shape the offer, support events and position the festival as part of the Birmingham 2022 cultural legacy.

Summary
As Warwick district prepared to host the Lawn Bowls, Para Lawn Bowls and the Road Race Cycling events for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, CultureFest was created as a one-off, district-wide cultural programme. Running from 16 July to 21 August 2022, it showcased the area’s arts and heritage venues, artists and creatives through a curated programme of events and activities across Royal Leamington Spa, Warwick, Kenilworth and Whitnash. Warwick District Council+1

Key Outcomes

Delivered a month-long festival aligned with the Birmingham 2022 Games, spanning four towns across Warwick district. Warwick District Council+1
Programmed 46 events, from Art in the Park and gallery exhibitions to films, family activities and outdoor performances, showcasing local creative talent. Warwick District Council+2Warwick District Council+2
Created a clear platform for local venues, organisations and artists to connect their work to an international moment, supported by a dedicated marketing and communications campaign. cwgrowthhub.co.uk+1

Why It Mattered
CultureFest turned a major sporting event into a cultural opportunity for the whole district, giving residents and visitors new ways to discover or rediscover local venues, stories and artists. It strengthened partnerships across the Warwick District Creative Compact, tested new models for district-wide programming, and laid foundations for how we might respond to future large-scale events with low-cost, high-impact cultural programmes. Warwick District Council+1

The Big Picture

Year: 2008-2009

Organisation
Audiences Central / BBC (West Midlands)

My Role
Lead on the regional audience-engagement campaign, including roadshows, workshops and legacy marketing.

Summary
An award-winning campaign delivering step-change in C2DE audience engagement across 16 venues in the West Midlands. I also led the legacy phase, re-engaging captured audiences via targeted marketing and introducing them to arts and cultural provision. Over 113,000 photographs contributed to the world’s largest photo-mosaic installed at Millennium Point, Birmingham.

Key Outcomes

Major volume of C2DE audience engagement across multiple venues.
Legacy marketing campaign introduced new participants to ongoing cultural provision.
Iconic public installation realised from project output.

Why It Mattered
The Big Picture demonstrated scale, regional reach and legacy planning in audience-led cultural engagement — a benchmark early in my career that continues to inform my strategic approach today.

Links

BBC Big Picture initiative

Community & Place-Based Engagement

Work that connects with local communities, neighbourhoods and place-making – delivering arts and culture at the heart of where people live

Priory Pools Mural

Year: 2025

Organisation
Warwick District Council and Priory Park Community Centre in collaboration with Brink Contemporary Arts (Tim Robottom & MIG29)

My Role
I sat on the development group, drafted the artist brief, participated in the selection panel, managed communications/press and connected the artist to local users.

Summary
This community-focused mural project celebrates the history of the park, marks the 200th anniversary of the railway and reflects its contemporary role. Created through workshops, school engagement and strong community input, the mural was delivered in partnership with local groups.

Key Outcomes

Community input integrated into artist brief and workshops.
Strong participation from local groups (Friends of Priory Park, schools, community centre).
Mural completed and publicly installed, reinforcing place-making and local voice.

Why It Mattered
Beyond artistic impact, the project demonstrated my ability to facilitate collaboration, amplify local voices, and bring creative place-making to life in a community context.

Links

Article on Priory Park mural

Royal Leamington Spa / Warwick Colour Palette

Year: 2022

Organisation
Royal Leamington Spa / Warwick District Council

My Role
Developed the engagement campaign, managed stakeholder and artist support, and defined creative solution within site-constraints.

Summary
Artist Stacey Barnfield was commissioned to develop a colour-palette artwork for Leamington Spa based on residents’ and visitors’ responses to “what makes this town unique”. Installed in the pedestrian underpass at Leamington station and replicated at Warwick station.

Key Outcomes

Public art installation in high-visibility commuter hub during the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Robust public engagement in identifying colour cues from the town.
Strengthened sense of place and visibility of cultural identity in a transit context.

Why It Mattered
The project combined creative placemaking with strategic audience engagement and public infrastructure, showing how cultural investment can intersect with everyday urban experience.

Links

Colour palette project at Leamington station

Family Days

Year: 2015-2019

Organisation
University of Warwick

My Role
Led the programme, including programming, marketing, event management, fundraising and reporting.

Summary
The University’s bi-annual Family Days welcomed local family audiences to campus to explore visual arts, dance, theatre, music, workshops, sport, science and food/drink — engaging communities, improving relations with residents, altering perceptions of ‘university’ and reaching audiences identified as having low arts participation.

Key Outcomes:

Programme grew from 11 to 52 events.
Budget increased by 400%.
Attendance rose from 800 to 5,000, with a 60% repeat-visitor rate.

Why It Mattered
Transforming a university’s outreach into a mainstream cultural moment reinforced how effective engagement programming can build trust, diversify audiences and reshape institutional perception.

Links
Photo gallery: The Great Outdoors Family Day

Facebook Families

Year: 2015

Organisation
Four-organisation partnership (Herbert Museum & Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre, Compton Verney, RSC)

My Role
Project lead, fundraising and project management

Summary
I raised funds for, coordinated and delivered the Facebook Families project, which tested the impact of social media advertising on engaging family audiences across four NPOs in Coventry and Warwickshire.

Key Outcomes