Members Spotlight: Heart of Glass

In our chat with Patrick Fox, Chief Executive of Heart of Glass, we learn of their latest projects – from a queer cabaret to exploring masculinity with boys and young men – growing from a Creative People and Places initiative, and staying steadfast in globally turbulent times.

 

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Patrick Fox and I’m Chief Executive of Heart of Glass. We are a community arts organisation that uses creativity to bring people together, spark conversations, and inspire change. Our aim is to create spaces where people can bring their different lived experience, knowledge, and perspectives, in order to understand the world differently, together.

 

What are you currently working on?

We’re always working on a variety of projects that support both artists and communities, based on shared interests or places. Some of our current highlights include:

Boys in the Making: A long-running arts project led by Fiona Whelan and Dannielle McKenna that works with boys and young men, using creative arts and storytelling to explore masculinity and emotional wellbeing. We’re now looking at how the project can meaningfully expand nationally and internationally at a time when there is a real demand and need for ways to explore and develop spaces to discuss masculinity.

The Posh Club – an inclusive queer cabaret / social club for older people combining performance, music, and community, and afternoon tea that will return to St Helens and Knowsley in October produced by the wonderful Duckie!

In Every Bite of the Emperor: A collaborative arts project by Youngsook Choi connecting the UK, Malaysia, and Vietnam exploring ecological grief, identity, heritage, and underrepresented stories.

Suicide Chronicles: A long-running project and collaboration with artist Mark Storor (10+ years), and working with different communities impacted by suicide. It aims to create safe spaces for conversations about mental health and suicide and has helped to reduce stigma and find a language to articulate and explore this complex, layered experience.

 

What has been your organisation’s proudest achievement?

It would be nearly impossible to pick a single project. I think the thing I’m most proud of is our evolution as an organisation over the last 10+ years. It would be an understatement to say that the past decade has been tumultuous across all areas of civic life, and to be able to develop as a community-focused arts organisation, taking risks, remaining values-led and sustaining ourselves against the current social and political backdrop has been a real achievement. That’s really down to the commitment of our team, partners, funders and the artists and communities we work with. 

 

How is your organisation working to champion EDI within your sector?

So for us, equity, equality, diversity and inclusion runs through the DNA of our organisation. From the outset we’ve made it our focus to centre the voices of those who have been most underrepresented or marginalised within the arts and cultural sector. From our beginnings as a Creative People and Places project – working from our base in St Helens – to our evolution as a charity working in St Helens, Knowsley and across the Liverpool City-Region and beyond, we’ve had the privilege to work with diverse artists and communities. In terms of championing change within the sector, I would cite our annual conference With For About as a critical moment of learning with our sector, and the thought leadership provided through our Arts Professional article series, as well as the influence we have locally as a partner. We’ve been working with an Anti-Oppressive Practice consultant for many years, and also with an Artist/Permaculturalist, and thinking about how our work and organisational practice can be regenerative. 

What are three things you’re loving in your sector right now?

The tenacity of the sector to continue to create moments of beauty and importance across the country – from the groundbreaking theatre of Commonwealth, to artists lIke Selina Thompson and Jess Thom, and the artists we’ve had and continue to have the great fortune of working with – the boundless potential of creativity continues to be a source of hope and inspiration. 

Networked thinking – I’ve had the privilege of being a Board member of the development Liverpool City-Region Culture Network which in the last 18 months has brought together 70+ organisations across our sector to explore shared learning, joint advocacy and cross promotion – it feels like the future is collaborative and our sector does it better than most. 

Solidarity – with so much happening in our country and globally, I’m reassured that art, artists and the sector as a whole continue to speak truth to power. With growing censorship pressures our role feels more vital than ever – holding space, amplifying voices, and bringing people of different backgrounds together.

 

And three things you’re not loving so much in your sector?

Burn out – sadly lots of friends, colleagues and peers are leaving the sector. There’s a real challenge to sustain and it’s something that really concerns me. 

Competition – I feel like we could create a more sophisticated way of funding / supporting our sector and it feels really counterintuitive for investment to be continuously based in the realms of competition – wasted time and energy on funding applications or bureaucratic processes stifle us, I think we can do better. 

Opening up – as someone from a working class background, I’m deeply passionate about access, whether that be to career paths, or even as audiences. Much work has been done, but more has to be done.

 

Who would be your dream collaborator/collaboration?

This would be less of a who, and more of a how. A dream collaboration for me is one that is allowed to evolve at its own pace and create its own direction of travel. Genuine spaces of creativity that are not overloaded with pre-determined outcomes are a real rarity, but when you trust artists and communities and give them the right support, in my experience it always generates something of real value and importance.

 

What does creativity mean to you?

It is simply what we do. It is part of the human experience. Our ability to imagine, conjure and create is our hope for a better future.

 

What’s next for your organisation?

We’re looking ahead with excitement to another busy year of diverse and meaningful work.

More broadly, we’re committed to continuing to support artists and communities in the best way we can – especially during these challenging times.

 

What do you think needs to change in the UK’s Cultural and Creative Industries?

Community art / socially engaged art needs to be taken seriously! The sector often overlooks the deep, long-term work happening in local communities in favour of big institutions or flashy outcomes.

We need funding that supports relationships, not just short-term projects, and a system that values care, inclusion, and lived experience. Artists working in communities are often underpaid and over-stretched – that has to change if we want this work to be sustainable.

The sector needs to shift who holds power and whose voices are heard.