Dr Silke Lange

Biography

Silke Lange is a creative practitioner, educator, and researcher. She has over twenty years’ experience in creative arts education in a variety of roles and organisations, across levels and subjects, and geographical borders. Her professional practice / research is predominantly of a collaborative nature, working at the intersection of educational practice and knowledge exchange. This approach has been providing a productive platform for exploring alternative models of educational provisions, and collectively reimagining knowledge-making processes. Silke has a long-established track record in developing strategies of connecting different communities, lowering hierarchies of knowledge generation within educational frameworks, and fostering cultures that support professional development of individuals and teams at any level. Building and changing cultures are collective undertakings; her interventions are driven by one of her core values: participation. Participation in the sense of co-developing culturally responsive pedagogy, co-curating learning environments and co-designing alternative modes of learning.

Her wide-ranging experience of academic leadership and teaching across diverse learning abilities, combined with her research into critical art and design pedagogies and collaborative practices, has led to Silke’s involvement in projects such as the UAx Platform, FUEL4Design: Future Education and Literacy for Designers, and the European Academy of Participation. Silke is an advocate for intercultural dialogue through collaborative and social practices in arts and design that set and support agendas for social change. She is passionate about applying creative processes to challenge societal perspectives and in transforming institutional structures through innovative and propositional forms of practices.

Silke has been external examiner at Undergraduate and Postgraduate level, consultant for EQ-Arts and the Open University Centre for Inclusion and Collaborative Partnerships and has chaired a number of validations and participated in institutional reviews.

Silke is the UK representative on the ELIA Advocacy Sounding Board to advise ELIA (European League of Institutes of the Arts) on various advocacy actions, consultations, and campaigns, mostly related to European policy developments (e.g., European Education Area, European Research Area, cultural policy).