Hi there! I’m Angelica Vanasse (she/her), a visual and participatory artist, art engagement specialist and cultural engagement consultant with roots in Northwest England and New England. I create spaces for creativity and connection within all sorts of communities with socially engaged approaches.
For over 25 years my practice has been rooted in creating space for myself and others to connect with creativity and placemaking. My artwork is built on a lifetime of exploration of nature and the boundaries and connections we create between ourselves and the natural world. I am compelled to record physical and emotional journeys visually and through gathering the pieces encountered along the way to understand growth, change & processes as they unfold. I work to explore what regenerative practices and creativity can be and make possible in the world. As an artist, gardener, baker, maker and teacher I love to explore the relationships can create in reciprocity with people, place and plants and through finding the abundances and energies that emerge.
I am committed to being open to learning and evolving as I create spaces for people to find connection, share their ideas and experiences, and challenge the limitations that often exist within institutions, society and the environments we live in that are so often disconnected from the natural world that sits alongside us awaiting our connection. Weaving permaculture thinking and doing into my processes and practice is an ongoing exploration in what I do and keeps me rooted in regenerative practice.
With a unique combination of skills I work as artist in collaboration with people, place and organisations. The layers of my expertise support growth through connection, facilitation, creation and strategic thinking that considers the needs of all elements in the present and yet to come.
Present practice and work:
Artist, creative engagement consultant, permaculture designer and creative practitioner exploringpeople-centered approaches rooted in site-specific creativity and regenerative practices, developed through over 20 years of collaboration with people, place and living things.
I bring possibility into tangible form through creative approaches. I have gathered expertise in cultivating connection through making, programme and audience development, co-enquiry/co-creation, community collaboration, interpretation, strategic planning, audience cultivation and consultation, evaluation & creative events.
- Associate artist & creative producer – Squash Liverpool (2012 – present)
- Commissioned artist – Borough of Joy with Down to Earth (2025 – present)
- Artist in Residence – The People’s Pantry, LeftCoast, Blackpool (Nov 2023 – July 2025) exploring exchange, reciprocity and abundance in collaboration with place, plants and people.
- Associate Creative Producer – Community Supper Clubs & Go See research programme with LeftCoast, Blackpool (June 2022 – July 2025)
- Forest Schools Programme Leader NOCN Level 3 qualification & nature connectedness (2022 – present)
- Permaculture design (PDC 2024) with Liz Postlethwaite and Permaculture Diploma Studies (2024 -ongoing)
- Cultural Emergence (CEED, ACE, PEACE 2024-2025) with Looby Macnamara
Past:
Developing Your Creative Practice (ACE funded) research – Site- specific Creativity & developing regenerative practices as an artist (2024-25)
Head of Learning and Strategic Learning Consultant – Yorkshire Sculpture Park / strategic development of the learning offer for formal, informal and community audiences, programme diversification, resource development, partnership development. Programme development and cultivation of values and approaches for exploring YSP’s unique setting through learning activities.
Strategic Lead, Young People and Adults, Learning & Participation – National Museums Liverpool / strategic management of the learning and participation offer for adults, young people and elders. Includes skills & employability, events, lectures, workshops and resource development.
Community engagement consultant – Tate Liverpool 2023 & 2024
Arts Engagement Lead – Fleetwood Heritage Action Zone Cultural Programme for community engagement, artistic commissions and creative programming, leading on strategy development, commission management and programme implementation and evaluation (2021-2023)
Creative Producer – Chester Contemporary engagement programme 2023
Learning resource and engagement space development – Found Cities, Lost Objects: Women in the City (Arts Council Collection touring exhibition) 2021
Slavery Remembrance Day Weekend 2020 – Coordination of National Museums Liverpool’s annual Slavery Remembrance Day event and development of our first online programme (also for 2015 & 2016).
Engagement Manager – Arts Council Collection National Partners Programme at the Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool / using the Arts Council Collection as a catalyst to develop engagement programming that explores collections and collecting alongside modern and contemporary art.
Acting Senior Education Manager – Art Galleries, National Museums Liverpool & Education Manager for the the Arts Council Collection National Partners Programme at the Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool. Includes audience development and partnerships, programme development and delivery for schools/families/adults/communities, exhibition interpretation/resources and development of learning spaces.
Freelance artist educator, educational researcher and evaluator working with community groups, educational organisations and cultural settings to explore, enhance and embed learning in a wide range of environments.
LinkedIn for all of the other professional highlights.
Angelica Vanasse / artist, creative engagement consultant, creative producer 