Where art and research intersect, possibilities expand.
University Hall, McMaster University — home of the Community Research Platform
Centre[4] Art + Research was an initiative developed in partnership between Centre[4]Arts and the Community Research Platform (CRP) at McMaster University.
Together, a space was created for artists and researchers to engage in community-rooted collaborations that helped shape and share knowledge gained from creative and academic inquiry.
By placing artist voices and practices at the centre of the research process, Centre[4] Art + Research explored how creative engagement can shift how research is done, who it is for, and how it is expressed in the world.
As a Post Doctoral Fellow in the School of Social Work at McMaster University, Cathy developed an arts-informed practice combining the unscripted art of improvisation with her PhD research in social work. Her work spans advancing inclusive practice with arts organizations to integrating arts-informed approaches with academic and community researchers.
Professor in the School of Social Work and the Department of Health, Aging and Society. Her research focuses on people's experiences of cancer and cancer care, and on how responsibility, choice, and expertise are negotiated in health care interactions, with a longstanding interest in the intersections between social justice work and the arts.
Leora holds a BA in Anthropology from Western and an MA in Social Anthropology from York University, with fifteen years of strategic leadership, program management, and community development experience. As CRP Manager she builds relationships of trust and reciprocity among academic scholars, students, and community partners.
A former community social worker whose doctoral research honours the social and environmental change practices of young girls, understanding activism as a way that young girls participate as citizens. Alexe finds hope in the ways the arts challenge us to think sideways, upside-down, and from completely new perspectives.
Centre[4] Art + Research's vision was to cultivate equitable and meaningful relationships between artists and researchers that not only supported strong projects, but also transformed how knowledge was created and shared between those from different backgrounds.
This initiative addressed structural challenges such as power imbalances, differing vocabularies, and access barriers — while championing the role of the artist as an equal partner in the research process.
A starting framework for defining shared expectations between artists and researchers.
Built for artist-centred research, covering how creative material is handled and stored.
Language reflecting the diverse forms of artist engagement across research projects.
Tailored to interdisciplinary practice — involvement, compensation, and consent.
These materials were designed to be open-source and accessible, offering practical guidance to those working in the future at the intersection of artistic inquiry and academic research.
Centre[4] Art + Research was developed with support from the Canada Council for the Arts, and in collaboration with McMaster University.
