Future Ecologies: Producing Dance Network (PDN) brings together academics and arts professionals to reimagine an inclusive, extended and sustainable ecosystem for dance. Encompassing dance as a broad and diverse practice and an academic discipline, the network enables dialogue, exchange and strategic developments at a time of significant challenges. PDN will respond to the unprecedented convergence of Brexit and Covid-19, coupled with acute concerns regarding diversity, social justice and climate change that have been exacerbated by war in Europe and surging inflation. This requires a collective and inclusive approach. We will develop new discourses and practices of ecosystems research and of dance ecologies, reflecting the growing need in this time of change to consider connectives between higher education and the cultural and creative sectors in terms of deeply interconnected systems. Producing dance is viewed as central to this ecological project. Producers are mediating catalytic agents, activating the creation and curation of meaningful engagements across a range of contexts that address broader social and cultural issues of equity and inclusion. Over recent decades formal and informal networks of dance producers have placed dance as a leading ambassador for a creative and vibrant global Britain. Yet, despite these contributions, little is known about the practices or specific roles of those involved in producing dance. As such, PDN opens both a new scholarly agenda by focusing on producing as an essential and meaningful area of enquiry for the field of dance studies and proposes ways in which an expanded concept of producing can significantly activate the symbiotic nature of creative and research practices, increasing the visibility and impact of dance research and practice-research in particular. PDN addresses another important absence: there is no road map to renewal, or model for understanding the producing ecosystem. PDN will therefore consider and evaluate emerging developments to promote resilience, renewal and new opportunities for the sector. By encompassing a diverse range of dance cultures and research practices, PDN seeks to expand approaches to future dance research, to cultivate and renew the environment for the professional dance sector, to inform policy-making for dance and to demonstrate an ecosystem that is inclusive and dynamic. To this end, PDN brings together experienced and early-career HE researchers, dance artists and leading dance organisations from across the UK, including members with diverse social, cultural and racial backgrounds to ensure richly informed exchanges. The network is organised through regional hubs in Scotland, North-East England, Yorkshire, the Midlands and London. Each region is represented by leaders in the field including Anita Clark (The Work Room, Glasgow); Anand Bhatt (Artistic Director (AD)/CEO Dance City, Sunderland); Tanya Steinhauser (Yorkshire Dance, Leeds); Paul Russ (AD/CEO Fabric - formerly Dance4/DanceXchange, Nottingham and Birmingham); and Eddie Nixon (The Place, London). In addition, the network will be supported by two leading national partners, OneDance UK and The Cultural Capital Exchange.

What is the problem? Current health communication and behaviour change programmes do not support UK Black and Asian populations in making healthier dietary and physical activity (PA) choices, and maintaining a healthier weight. We talked to Black Caribbean, Black African and South Asian women and men and to health practitioners to develop this project. In these conversations people shared that they are very motivated to improve their diet and PA behaviours to prevent serious health conditions such as type 2 diabetes. However, some also told us that worrying about or experiencing racism, and other barriers such as time and expense, stopped them from taking part in healthy lifestyle programmes. It was felt that existing services lacked relevance for Black and Asian people and were poorly communicated. When asked what ideal help with health behaviour change would look like to them, services with mental health support delivered by staff of the same ethnic group and similar lived experience were common opinions. The importance of being able to keep eating their traditional foods, and that dancing or walking were popular activities, was also emphasised. Weight loss, if needed, was seen as something that happened naturally, if healthy habits could be maintained. In terms of programme delivery, the need for low cost and flexible sessions, and a preference for community rather than medical settings, was stated. We also looked at existing published research and while there are some studies on what helps and hinders healthy behaviours among Black and South Asian ethnic groups, there has been very little research developing and testing interventions suitable for these groups. How will the problem be addressed? We have formed a group made up of researchers, members of the public, charities, health professionals, and policy makers. Together we aim to co-design 'Health Connections'- a new intervention tailored to the needs of Black Caribbean, Black African and South Asian men and women, based in communities and delivered by community educators supported by health professionals. We will look at how a culturally sensitive communication campaign and mental health support can be included in an intervention programme to improve diet and PA choices, and promote healthy weight. We will also examine how health professionals can be trained in cultural competency (being able to see things from the point of view of people from other cultures), so that partnerships between health professionals and community educators are improved. Throughout the project there will be meetings every two months and other activities such as questionnaires and a workshop, and support meetings for group members from the public, to make sure all views are represented. We will conduct interviews with men and women from diverse ethnic groups to understand their experiences, opinions and intervention needs, adding to our existing data. Findings will be summarised in a plain English report. We will also gather examples of existing intervention resources (such as culturally adapted recipes) and local practice. Based on the information gathered, we will make a list of potential programme sessions, their content, and how they will be delivered. The project group will complete questionnaires regarding the list, and discuss the results in a workshop to come to an agreement on the best ideas. Examples of session content (e.g. recipe cards and exercise videos) will be made and we will hold a community event in Leeds, UK, to see what the public think of the ideas and materials. The final stage will be to write a manual documenting the intervention and to share the project findings in publications, presentations, and an infographic. The findings will then be the basis of planning the next phase of research, which will be to carry out a trial to test whether the newly designed intervention can be carried out and is acceptable among Black and South Asian adults.

In a context where health systems are under increasing strain and the social drivers of health disparities are increasingly being recognised, there is a growing acknowledgement of the value of non-medical responses such as creative, physical and nature-based activities in supporting health and wellbeing. Evidence reveals that one third of GP appointments are for issues that are not medical and many tangible health problems arise as a result of social drivers (for example, loneliness, anxieties around finances or housing, depression about body image or being unemployed). The potential for developing the wider use of creative and community-based approaches to address health disparities is therefore substantial. West Yorkshire is leading the way in developing the use of non-medical interventions to promote health and well-being. For example, the award-winning charity Creative Minds has developed an innovative approach to providing creative and outdoor activities through a network of over 120 community providers; and West Yorkshire is one of the National Centre for Creative Health pilots. However, creative and community providers rely on short term funding and are not fully integrated into the health care system with the result that provision can be ad hoc and unsustainable. This project will build on leading edge developments across West Yorkshire in progressing the creative health agenda by bringing together key stakeholders (health trusts, local authorities, creative/cultural practitioners, community providers and people with lived experience) to innovate thinking in order to better integrate creative and community-based responses into health improvement strategies and systems to address health disparities. The project will encompass a truly coproductive approach centred around the use of collaborative action inquiry as a participatory process of learning for change in four iterative phases. It will build on stories from people with lived experience to provide a deeper understanding of the social drivers and complexities of health problems in communities, as well as learning from the challenges and achievements of partners in practice. These will be complemented by a rapid review of evidence about different collaborative models for community health provision which together will inform coproduction of an initial programme theory in a cross-ICS collaborative action inquiry workshop. The initial programme theory will be used to focus community mapping of creative provision and partnerships and further coproduction in consultation workshops with community groups and people with lived experience in phase 2. This will be followed by a further cycle of collaborative action inquiry with key stakeholders to refine the programme theory about how to integrate community assets into responses to health disparities and work up into a logic model, principles and guidance. These will then be tested in 5 action research case studies which will involve setting up community asset hubs, one in each of the ICS local authority areas to further refine the cross-ICS consortium model for integrating community assets. The final phase will involve a third stakeholder action inquiry workshop to respond to learning from the action research case studies and further refine and finalise the programme theory for the consortium and develop plans for scaling up, embedding and sustaining the integration of community assets into health improvement systems research. The new University of Huddersfield Health Innovation Campus and Wellbeing Academy will provide a context for hosting these developments and undertaking the research and development functions needed to support, sustain and further develop health improvement initiatives. We have support from all the key health and local authority players along with creative community providers and people with lived experience and wider community representatives who will be actively involved throughout the project.