What is co-production? | Curating with communities

What is co-production?
Co-producers, archivists, researchers and curators share what they think co-production is within a museum or cultural setting with an insight into projects which they have produced.
Janaya Pickett worked on The Dorothy Kuya Archive project with Writing on the Wall. This Creative Heritage Project allowed Janaya and others to explore and catalogue the personal archive and library of activist and educator, Dorothy Kuya. Dorothy’s family have loaned her personal archive and library to National Museums Liverpool, which is available for the public to view.
Iris Sirendi is a Curating for Change Fellow whose co-produced project centred around creating a Disability History Hub. This disability hub was researched, reinterpreted, and brought together for the first time as part of Curating for Change. This initiative was delivered in partnership with Accentuate and Screen South, providing opportunities for D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people, to pursue a curatorial career in museums.
Jennifer Verson is the Artistic Director of Migrant Artists Mutual Aid (MaMa). Founded in 2011, MaMa is a cross-national network of women, mothers, migrants, artists, academics, and activists who work together to support members who are seeking sanctuary, and campaign for justice in the migration system. Their work culminated in the co-produced 'exhibition Meet me at the river', with photography by Manuel Vason.
Alex Patterson, Assistant Curator of Fine Art at Walker Art Gallery co-produced the 'Colonial Legacies of the Liverpool Sandbach Family' project with Co-Curator Rebecca Ihiekwe and a wider group of researchers, as well as the Carving Out Truths: Colonial Legacies and Sculpture' project with Co-curator Safa Miller and a wider group. Both projects are driven by community-led research to reinterpret museum displays through the lens of colonial legacy.
Thumbnail image by Pete Carr.