DisconnectedBodies
Culture: a catalyst for transformation
The UK’s leading people-led cultural strategists partnering with councils, communities and cultural leaders to embed arts, creativity and inclusive cultural systems into local development.
Arts & Culture Social Enterprise 2025 Winner
We’re proud to have won the Arts and Culture Social Enterprise 2025 (London) Award, recognising our commitment to meaningful cultural engagement across the UK.
We help create prosperous, inclusive creative economies
We spark thriving creative economies with public art, inclusive commissioning, and support for local talent; attracting investment, boosting nightlife, and transforming your place into a true cultural destination.
We foster cultural ecosystems that strengthen health, happiness and community cohesion
We co-create cultural projects that support wellbeing, reduce isolation, and build social connection; embedding creativity in health, celebrating lived experience, and fostering intercultural understanding as part of everyday life.
We support creative education and skills for the future
We design inclusive creative education for all ages; building confidence, skills and pathways into the creative industries, while empowering local talent to become mentors, educators and cultural leaders of the future.
download our Cultural Transformation information pack
A guide to how arts, culture and creativity can be placed at the heart of local transformation; driving economic growth, community cohesion, wellbeing and inclusive cultural ecosystems rooted in people and place.
Shaping a fairer cultural future
We deliver standout engagement outcomes rooted in Art Council England and National Lottery Heritage Fund strategies; shaping practice and informing the ACE and DCMS 2025 reviews to contribute to the national conversation on cultural access and creative participation.
Embedding arts, culture and creativity
Put arts, culture and creativity at the centre of local regeneration; becoming a vital force driving economic growth, social cohesion, educational success, and community resilience.
Developing Strategies
- Embed creativity into public space and urban design.
- Harness culture as a catalyst for inward investment and job creation.
- Activate pride and civic participation across diverse communities.
- Build a vibrant town centre economy, both during the day and at night.
- Improve wellbeing through cultural connection.
- Support young people’s development through meaningful creative opportunities
Delivering Strategies
- Co-creation and community engagement strategies.
- Public art commissioning and curation.
- Creative leadership development for underrepresented communities.
- Cultural policy alignment with broader agendas (climate, education, health).
- Partnership brokering across sectors (arts, business, academia).
- Evaluation frameworks that show the impact of creative investment.
Turning cultural ambition into lasting local value
We co-design local strategies with communities, creatives and councils; building cultural ecosystems that reflect place, unlock opportunity, and support long-term transformation.
We help ensure your town is not only seen as a creative destination; but functions as one.
- Develop vibrant, localised creative industries that generate inward investment and attract businesses, residents and visitors.
- Curate public art and cultural programmes that revitalise town centres and support the 24-hour economy.
- Design commissioning models and frameworks that prioritise equity, access and representation.
- Support the growth of creative SMEs and freelancers through tailored training, funding access and capacity building.
We believe culture should be part of daily life; not just an event in the calendar.
- Designing and delivering community co-created projects that support wellbeing, connection and inclusion.
- Embedding creative activity into health and social care frameworks to support mental health, isolation, and recovery.
- Developing programmes that foster social capital, build cross-cultural understanding and create space for intercultural dialogue.
- Elevating lived experience as a creative asset— through storytelling, public events, and local commissioning.
We help ensure the next generation is not only ready for the future; but equipped to shape it.
- Design inclusive education programmes that develop creativity, confidence and innovation in children and young people.
- Embed arts and culture into lifelong learning and adult skills development.
- Create routes into the creative industries for underrepresented communities through mentorships, placements and paid opportunities.
- Support local creatives to become educators, facilitators and cultural leaders.
Four pillars of cultural transformation
- Design and implement creative economy strategies rooted in local context and aligned with wider economic goals.
- Identify and strengthen existing creative clusters, anchor institutions and assets.
- Develop policy frameworks to enable small-scale venue licensing, repurpose vacant properties for creative use, and safeguard cultural districts.
- Town centre cultural programmes that drive footfall, foster night-time economy growth and improve safety and perception.
- Integrated public realm plans that embed play, gathering and creative placemaking.
- Strategies to reimagine heritage assets and industrial buildings as spaces for contemporary cultural and creative use.
- Unlock funding and inward investment through compelling cultural propositions and multi-partner bids.
- Develop frameworks that support creative entrepreneurship, IP development and the commercialisation of ideas.
- Broker collaborations between councils, universities, and creative practitioners to support research, innovation and business growth.
- Compelling cultural identities for places that attract residents, businesses and visitors.
- Public art strategies and site-specific commissions that enliven space and communicate story.
- Programmes that platform local creativity and community narratives, celebrating both heritage and innovation.
Priority one: artistic quality and innovation
Quality artistic work depends on inclusive, bold, community-rooted and risk-taking processes. For us, innovation is essential, creating space for new ideas, daring aesthetics and socially engaged practice. A powerful creative scene commits to social change, rooted in people, place and purpose. We help artists and creative businesses scale impact together.
Honour local legacy by pushing boundaries in the present. We work with artists and organisations to raise the bar on what is possible locally, helping them grow their vision, strengthen their voice, and experiment with new forms.
We support projects that take risks, centre community, and look outward while staying rooted in place. We believe that high-impact work happens at the intersection of craft, courage, and care, where artists build deep local relationships while staying globally curious and ambitious.
We know “quality” is a contested idea in the arts. That’s why we encourage open conversation and local definitions that reflect lived realities. For us, it means:
- A process that is inclusive, embedded and culturally representative
- An output that is visually, aurally or experientially compelling
- A practice that is intentional, ambitious and constantly evolving
We work from the belief that great art doesn’t just look good; it changes people. And that artists grow best in environments where learning, reflection and risk are welcomed, not feared.
Our work supports:
- Professional and leadership development for local artists, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds.
- The growth of artist-led organisations and creative businesses to become resilient, sustainable and community-centred.
- The nurturing of diverse artforms; from carnival to tattooing, spoken word to street art, film to food, tech to textiles.
Priority two: inclusivity and diversity
We work to ensure that no one is left out of cultural life because of their background, access needs, or lived experience. That means changing who makes decisions, who holds space, and whose stories are told. It also means being actively anti-racist, anti-classist and anti-ableist in the way we work.
Change starts with who’s in the room when decisions are made. That’s why we champion the presence of diverse artists, producers and community voices at the leadership level. We’re here to build leadership models that are democratic, accountable and reflective of the residents’ lived reality.
That means we don’t define culture from the top down. We ask:
- Who decides what counts as culture?
- Who creates it?
- Where does it happen, and who has access to the resources that make it possible?
We support community-led, artist-led, and hyper-local creative work that’s often overlooked by traditional arts funding.
We support artists to lead, apply for funding, and build their own creative futures; not wait for permission. That includes:
- Transparent, accessible bid-writing support
- A more democratic approach to decision-making
- Space for artists to challenge dominant definitions of art and cultural value
- Programming that puts locally relevant work at the centre
Art should speak to people’s lives, in voices they recognise. That’s why we support work that is made by and for communities, and why we build a year-round cultural programme that connects and grows diverse audiences.
We want more people to experience art as something for them, not something they visit from the outside. That means events that are accessible, inclusive, and embedded in the places where people already gather.
Society enriched by cultural activity
When arts and creativity are activated across communities, they can powerfully enhance cohesion, reduce discrimination, and support wellbeing; especially in super-diverse places where lived experience is global, intergenerational, and deeply rooted.
Cultural strategies rooted in community
- Elevate community-led cultural practices and platforms.
- Embed hyper-local models of commissioning that give residents the tools and trust to
- lead their own events, festivals, and creative programmes.
- Build cross-sector partnerships with housing, health, education and faith sectors to extend cultural participation into everyday life.
Festivals, events and cultural exchange
- Grow and reimagine local festivals and events into inclusive, sustainable, and internationally significant moments of pride.
- Develop intercultural programmes that platform shared histories and enable cross-community collaboration.
- Create a cohesive place-based events identity that connects everything from street parties to large-scale parades under a shared cultural vision.
Children, young people and inclusive leadership
- Creative entitlement programmes for children and young people—especially those in care, living in poverty or excluded from mainstream arts spaces.
- Training and mentoring for future creative leaders from underrepresented backgrounds, with real progression pathways.
- Structures that place young people in decision-making roles, enabling councils to become truly child- and youth-friendly cultural ecosystems.
Culture for health, belonging and access
- Work with artists and communities to address isolation, poor mental health and inactivity through culture, especially in under-served wards.
- Design inclusive environments that consider religious, sensory, financial and cultural access needs; in venues, outdoor spaces and creative teams.
- Build evidence-based arts and health collaborations to demonstrate impact and unlock new funding routes.
Supercharge your CULTURAL Transformation
Practical resources designed to support your work, deepen understanding, and provide useful insight you can apply at your own pace.
Book A Free 30-minute Video consultation
Book a free 30-minute consultancy call and speak with Disconnected Bodies’ Founder Pablo Colella.
We pride ourselves on offering free, no strings attached advice. Book a day and time that suits you then leave it to us to get you moving past sticking points and towards your goals.
2025 Clients and Partners
We’re proud to celebrate 20 years of delivering impactful, growth-driven projects across 15 countries. Our work reflects strong partnerships built on trust, innovation, and shared vision. As we enter our third decade, we remain committed to excellence and meaningful solutions. Thank you to our clients and partners for being part of the journey.