ASSUNTA RUOCCO

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Making Room for Children and Art

Making Room for Children and Art is an ongoing research project by Assunta Ruocco, developed from her experience of being a parent, her long-term artistic collaboration with her daughter Lou, and her research into the people and organisations creating more supportive conditions for artist-parents.

Through field visits and interviews with artists and organisations across the UK and internationally, the project investigates innovative approaches to supporting artistic practice alongside parenting and caring responsibilities. It examines how artist-run spaces and cultural institutions are rethinking their working environments and programmes to accommodate children and family life, and what can be learned from these approaches.

The research also informs a programme of public events and artistic collaborations that bring artist-parents, children and cultural organisations together to share experiences and explore new possibilities for intergenerational practice.

Alongside this contemporary research, the project investigates historical feminist artistic practices and collective initiatives that integrated childcare and children's participation into the production and presentation of art, connecting current experiments with earlier efforts to transform the conditions of artistic work.

Making Room for Children and Art: Interdisciplinary Conversations between Research and Practice
Manchester Art Gallery, 26 October 2026

This one-day event convened by Dr Assunta Ruocco (University of Lincoln), brought together early career researchers, artists and cultural organisations to explore intergenerational creative practice, children's creative agency and the conditions that enable artists and researchers to sustain their professional lives alongside parenting and caring responsibilities.

The event was funded by a British Academy Early Career Researcher Network (ECRN) Elevate Post-Course Grant, with generous in-kind support from Manchester Art Gallery. The British Academy also supported travel and accommodation for participating early career researchers and their children, enabling researchers from across the UK to attend.

The event took place at Manchester Art Gallery, in dialogue with Things of the Least, an exhibition made for and with young children, which provided an important context for the day's discussions. The exhibition's approach to children's creativity, participation and agency resonated closely with the questions at the heart of Making Room for Children and Art: what changes when children are recognised as producers of art and knowledge, rather than simply recipients of care or subjects of research, and how can cultural and research institutions create conditions in which children and adults can participate together?

The programme brought together research from developmental psychology, education and artistic practice, creating opportunities for exchange between disciplines that often approach questions of childhood, creativity and care from different perspectives. It explored intergenerational artistic collaboration, children's creative agency, parenting and professional practice, alongside the structural conditions that shape participation in cultural and academic life.

Speakers included Dr Assunta Ruocco and Dr Valentina Sclafani (University of Lincoln), presenting their collaborative research Creative Families; Katy McCall and Professor Becky Shaw, discussing Things of the Least; Dr Vicky Armstrong and Professor Josephine Ross (Art at the Start, University of Dundee); Ruth Levene and Dr Christina MacRae (Towards Toddlerhood, Sheffield Hallam University); Hettie Judah (Art Working Parents Alliance); Dyana Gravina (Procreate Project); and Dr Ellie Barrett (Lancaster University).

A dedicated Early Career Researcher Network slide-share provided opportunities for participants to introduce their research, share approaches and develop interdisciplinary connections. Contributing researchers included Sophie Michael, Ruth Churchill Dower, Emmie Vye, Pinar Oztop, Helen Williams, Penelope Davis, Miffy Ryan, Natalie Bradbury, and Fiona Stirling .

An important aspect of the event was its commitment to making professional research gatherings welcoming to children and their parents. Naomi Kendrick, one of the artists involved in Things of the Least, provided creative activities for the children throughout the day. This allowed speakers and ECRs to participate in presentations and discussions alongside their children, who were free to play within the exhibition space or come and listen to the conversations whenever they wished. Their presence was part of the event, rather than an interruption to it, allowing different modes of participation to unfold alongside one another.

With warm thanks to the British Academy Early Career Network Elevate Programme for funding the event and supporting participants' access, to Dr Janina Pescincki for her kind support in her role as British Academy ECRN Training and Development Manager, to Manchester Art Gallery and Katy McCall for their generous support and hospitality, to Naomi Kendrick for creating such a welcoming environment for the children, and to all the speakers, researchers and families who contributed to the day.

Making Room for Children and Art
Millennium Gallery, Sheffield, Wednesday 27 May 2026, 12–4pm

Making Room for Children and Art is a free symposium on artist-parent/child collaborations and other strategies for continuing a creative practice alongside caring for children. The symposium forms part of Assunta Ruocco’s ongoing research project of the same name, which has developed from her experience of being a parent, long-term collaboration with her daughter Lou, and her research into the people, spaces and organisations building supportive conditions for artist-parents across the UK and beyond.

The day brought together more than 100 people including many children, among them artists, curators, researchers and art workers, to share, discuss and develop thinking around intergenerational collaboration and the conditions that support artist-parents in cultural institutions, studios and public spaces. It took place during the half-term school holidays in the Arundel and Cadman Rooms at Millennium Gallery Sheffield, and went ahead despite the main gallery having to close unexpectedly due to a major maintenance issue.

The day was designed from the outset to welcome children and families. The Assunta and Lou Art Club quilt and making space and Ellie Barrett's Sculpture Kit were active throughout, with play workers present to support families. Lunch was provided for all attendees. The event was open to artist-parents and carers with and without children.

Invited speakers

Shirley Cameron, artist, Sheffield, on her pioneering collaborative practice with her daughters Lois and Colette from the 1970s onwards.

Jo Harrison, co-founder of the Art Working Parents Alliance, on the Alliance's work building networks, visibility and advocacy for artist-parents across the UK.

Magda Bielesz, artist, on her drawings and performances made in collaboration with her son Maurycy.

Karolina Korupczynska and Chloe Whitehouse, Stryx Gallery, Birmingham, on the Mothership Studio and Residency and what sustained, structurally integrated support for artist-parents looks like in practice within an artist-run space.

Hettie Judah, writer and co-founder of the Art Working Parents Alliance, presented No Room Without Children, exploring the work of artists who practise alongside caring for children with additional needs, including Anna Grevenitis, Trish Morrissey, and Cherry Truluck, who makes work in collaboration with her son Ernest Halpin.

Slide-share session

A slide-share session in which attendees shared one image of their work and responded to the questions: what is your practice, and how do you manage the time between care and art work? Participants were: Ellen Angus, Ellie Andrews, Abi Shapiro, Alexandra Mueller, Christopher Jarratt, Clo Pimlott, Ev Hardaker, Evelyn Albrow, Harriet Plewis, Jenna Pink, Jessica Heywood, Laure Carnet, Linny Venables, Miffy Ryan, Natalie Choi, Sophie Michael, Rachel Ellis, Rebecca Renshaw, Ruth Levene, Sarah Attwood, Sarogini Reddiar, Sian Ellis, Georgina Barney.

Photography by Ai Narapol.

Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, with additional support from the University of Lincoln. Delivered in partnership with Bloc Projects, Millennium Gallery Sheffield and the Art Working Parents Alliance. With particular thanks to Sunshine Wong at Bloc Projects, Jo Harrison at the Art Working Parents Alliance, and Jessica Shipton at Millennium Gallery Sheffield for their invaluable support in developing this event and on the day.

Making Room for Children and Art at New Art Exchange, Nottingham, 2025
Hosted by CVAN East Midlands, with Jo Harrison and the Art Working Parents Alliance. Photographs by Janhavi Sharma and Nicola Guy

With support from Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) fund, Assunta and Lou delivered a public workshop and conversation at New Art Exchange, Nottingham. The event formed part of Assunta and Lou’s After School Art Club and marked the conclusion of the DYCP project, bringing together artist parents, carers and children through shared making and discussion.

Delivered in partnership with CVAN East Midlands, the session combined a relaxed art club led by Assunta and Lou, supported by artist Chiara Dellerba, with a public conversation featuring Jo Harrison from the Art Working Parents Alliance. Drawing on New Art Exchange’s welcoming, family-oriented context, the event enabled sustained participation and informal exchange, supporting dialogue around care, collaboration and working conditions for artist parents within institutional settings.

The event built on the Better Together session delivered by the Art Working Parents Alliance in 2024 and contributed to Ruocco’s wider research into intergenerational collaboration, artist-parent support structures and feminist approaches to co-creation, developed through Assunta and Lou’s mobile studio practice.