ASE Heritage Partnerships

Our archaeologists and specialists work across London and the South East. We collaborate with community groups, creative partners, universities, colleges, health partnerships and local authorities, working with our clients and the heritage sector to achieve social impact with heritage and archaeology.

We are building on a series of public engagement projects and are interested in hearing from potential partners! If that’s you, please fill in our Expression of Interest Form.

Archaeology and engagement in the South Downs

Over the last 6 months we have been piloting creative workshops with funding from UCL’s Higher Education Innovation Fund Knowledge Exchange, the South Downs National Park Authority and South-East Cultural Innovation Forum.

We brought creative practitioner Katy Beinart and sound artist Simon James to work on heritage with young people in Seaford through participatory mapping. They were then invited to visit Simon’s sound installation ‘Neolithic Cannibals’ as part of the Brighton Festival. Simon had co-produced the installation with young people from his home community in Whitehawk, East Brighton. Simon works closely with his brother, Curtis James, with whom he campaigns with Class Divide, both of whom have been inspired by Archaeology South-East’s Jon Sygrave’s work to protect and celebrate the archaeology of Whitehawk Neolithic Camp.

A map spread out on the floor with pictures of locations and labels stuck to it — One of the maps created as part of the participatory mapping workshop

Seaford school students and BA liberal art students from the University of Sussex then visited the Neolithic Cannibals exhibition. UCL Sociology professor Chiara Amini and archaeologists from ASE also joined creative and cultural careers with Simon James and his twin brother Curtis. The brothers are using their experience in sound and film to give young people an opportunity to get involved in cultural projects that have campaigning at their heart.

Neolithic Cannibals and Class Divide

Neolithic Cannibals is a sound art exhibition that was part of the Brighton Festival, created by local sound artist Simon James. This project introduced Class Divide, a grassroots campaign drawing attention to the deeply unjust educational attainment gap in Whitehawk, Manor Farm and Bristol Estate in Brighton and Hove. Our SECIF pilot aimed to explore how socio-economic inequality shapes awareness and engagement with heritage, and how we can support a future generation of young cultural leaders.

Five people viewed from behind stand looking at projected images of historical archaeological excavations. Blue markings on the floor around them denote the concentric ditch circles of Whitehawk Neolithic Camp.

South East Cultural Innovation Forum (SECIF)

The experiences of the partnership were presented on Wednesday 10 July 2024 at the South East Cultural Innovation Forum (SECIF) celebratory symposium, ‘Building Social Justice in the Creative Sector,’ a day of workshops, music, screenings and events for creative practitioners, policy makers and academics. SECIF is a partnership of organisations working to enhance diversity of leadership in the creative sector and build social justice and cultural equity who were funded by the Lottery, Arts Council England, and University of Kent’s Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries.