A network of artists, practitioners and researchers interested in creativity began to meet from 1998, sharing ideas and practice and imagining other ways of being together.
Artist Idit Nathan highlighted the potential for community and education projects to be enriched through collaboration with artists. Artists Sally Todd, Filipa Pereira-Stubbs and Susanne Jasilek and producer Ruth Sapsed joined in 2001 and together they worked with colleagues to constitute what had become Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination (CCI) as a charity in 2007.
Ruth led CCI as Director from 2007 to September 2024, when Emily Dowdeswell took over as Director.
Families visit 100 Languages of Children 2004
Working in Jaywick with Creative Partnerships 2006
Outdoor workshop at 100 Languages of Children 2004
CCI's pilot project Light, Shadows, Mirrors - led by Idit with Anna Townley and Issam Kourbaj - was at Colleges Nursery in 2002, and Sally Todd was the first artist in residence at Colleges Nursery from 2003 -2005. In 2004 CCI worked with Robin Duckett from Sightlines Initiative and Vicky Lant from the local authority to bring the influential exhibition from Reggio Emilia in Italy - 100 Languages of Children - to the city. Over 2,000 people visited and its impact on the work of CCI continues. Two evaluation exercises have been undertaken to share the learning from this event - Enemies of Boredom (published in 2004) and A Call for Spaces of Liberated Learning (published in 2020).
2011Family Day with Donarbon Waste Management, 2011
Creating a guide for the Mill Road Cemetery, 2009
The strength of CCI lies in the collaboration between all CCI colleagues. Other artists and colleagues who played key roles in the early projects and forming of CCI include: Sue Bainbridge, Mary Jane Drummond, Jo Holland, Sharon Honig, Karl Foster, Issam Kourbaj, Martina Gecelli, Anne-Mie Melis, Neil Parker, Mandy Swann, Helen Taylor and Townley and Bradby.
We are also grateful to all our dedicated trustees in the past: Sue Bainbridge, Pamela Burnard, Bridget Cusack, Mary Jane Drummond, Damian Hebron, Sharon Honig, Susanne Jasilek, Andrew Jones, Filipa Pereira-Stubbs, Helen Stratford, Mandy Swann, Helen Taylor, Karen Thomas, and Sally Todd.