The Design Council has received £50,000 in funding from The National Lottery Community Fund to build on and amplify the creativity and compassion seen in communities and across civil society during the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding will enable the Design Council to develop and test the emergent concept of a Community Design Network programme, involving 20 diverse community groups or individuals across the UK who are not professionally trained designers but have been using design mindsets. Design Council will bring them together to listen and share different experiences, narrate and tell their stories and imagine, together, what is possible in the future.
Over the next four years, Design Council plans to work with national and local government to enable an additional 500 businesses, 5,000 community members, and 2,500 public servants and their stakeholders to use design skills in their work. Part of the design process is not to jump to a solution, but rather do research first with a diverse group of people to understand their aspirations and needs, and what already exists. This funding will enable the Design Council to do this in a way that also benefits the people involved, sharing skills and stories at the same time as imagining what a network could look like.
The design council will be sharing its learning from the programme over the next six month. To find out more about the funding you can read the full press release here. You may also find this article exploring the Design Councils work to build resilient communities so far.
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