Sound, materials, space and discovery.
Creative workshops, commissions and an ongoing artistic partnership with Luke Crookes and Marc Woodhead.
We explore music, paintings, architecture, materials and everyday phenomena through making, movement, sound and imagination. A building, a stretch of tape, clay, water, paint, a shadow or a question can become the beginning of a shared creative world, shaped by the people taking part.
Over ten years of collaborating, we have developed a close, responsive way of working across SEND schools, museums, galleries, heritage spaces and family programmes. We welcome anyone looking to commission a project where sound, materials, space and creative enquiry can meet.
A partnership developed through sustained work
The National Gallery · The Wallace Collection · Sir John Soane’s Museum · The Charterhouse · Pitzhanger Manor · Open City · College Park School
Our shared work includes at least two years delivering the National Gallery’s SEND programme and a four-year anti-ableist creative enquiry at College Park with Paul Morrow, alongside public family workshops and cultural commissions.
Two artists, a shared practice
Luke Crookes
Musician, bassoonist & creative practitioner
Luke brings live bassoon, voice, improvisation, composition and soundscapes. He listens to the room and responds through sound, helping connect an image, a movement or a participant’s idea with what happens next.
Marc Woodhead
Artist & creative educator
Marc brings a fascination with what materials, artworks, buildings and spaces can do. Drawing and painting sit alongside clay, tape, water, construction and material exploration. His invitations make room for curiosity, experimentation and the unexpected, following what participants discover.
Our collaboration grows through shared preparation, trust and close listening. We both help shape the whole creative environment, moving between leading, observing, making and responding. Ten years of working together have given us a shared understanding that continues to evolve; we can follow an unexpected idea because we trust each other to keep the space open.
Embodied encounters with art, materials and place
The bend of a line, the stretch of tape, the flow of water, the resistance of clay or the echo of a room can become an invitation. We explore paintings and sculptures, the architecture of buildings, and phenomena such as light, shadow, rhythm and movement.
People might build, wrap, pour, paint, draw, move or make sounds. A material’s qualities can suggest a gesture; that gesture might shape the music; the music might change how someone approaches the material. The discoveries travel in many directions.
Our Embodied Encounters practice makes room for experiencing through the body, senses and imagination. We prepare a rich environment and follow the curiosity of the people in it, allowing the group’s responses to change what happens next.
There are many ways in: looking, listening, making, sounding, moving, choosing, directing, watching or taking time. We work with participants and familiar staff to understand communication, sensory preferences, access and pacing. People do not need to speak, play an instrument or arrive with art skills.
“There’s no single method. There are multiple points of entry.”
Luke Crookes & Marc Woodhead, Embodied Encounters with Paintings in SEND Settings
What you can commission
We shape the format around your setting, participants and ambitions. You can come with a collection, a building, a material, a phenomenon, a theme or an early idea.
Workshops & creative days
A focused exploration of art, a place, a material or a phenomenon through sound, movement and making. Suitable for schools, galleries, family programmes and community groups, with the session length and group sizes agreed together.
Residencies & longer programmes
A sequence of connected sessions, a school–museum partnership or a programme developed over time. Returning to a group gives relationships, individual artistic interests and shared ideas room to deepen.
Collaborative enquiry
A project developed with educators, artists or cultural teams to explore inclusive practice. Shared preparation and reflection can become part of the commission, alongside the sessions themselves.
We particularly value sustained collaborations: time to get to know people, try ideas, reflect together and return with a deeper understanding. A workshop day can also be a useful starting point.
Our collaborations
The National Gallery: Summer on the Square
Drawing, sound and movement in the heart of Trafalgar Square.
At Summer on the Square, we brought our shared practice into a public family setting. Seurat’s painting and the life of Trafalgar Square offered starting points for noticing shapes, making marks, moving and sounding together.
Our workshop design connected drawing, playful movement and sound, layered colour compositions and invitations to respond to the families’ own artworks. Live bassoon helped hold the atmosphere as participants moved between individual making and shared exploration.
“What does a hat sound like?”
BBC Radio London, sharing our experiments with sound and space at the National Gallery
Alongside this public programme, we delivered the National Gallery’s SEND programme together for at least two years, opening paintings through sound, materials, movement and different ways of communicating. That sustained collaboration gave us time to develop and deepen our shared practice with special schools.
Explore the National Gallery SEND and family work →
College Park: four years of anti-ableist creative enquiry
Over four years, we worked with College Park School and Paul Morrow on a substantial enquiry into anti-ableist creative practice. We explored how a creative environment could change in response to its participants, with sound, movement, drawing and materials offering different starting points. The six-session sequence described in one of our reports was one part of this wider collaboration.
The enquiry recognised participants as artists whose ways of perceiving and creating could reshape the work. Clay, water, ice, paper, paint and sound opened different possibilities; a shared chalk drawing could grow through optional contributions while others followed their own threads. Returning over time and reflecting together helped us notice quieter responses, reconsider assumptions and deepen the practice.
Explore the anti-ableist creative pedagogy project →
Open City — A Home for Me
Architecture became a world to encounter through materials, shape, rhythm, sound and movement. Our work together at College Park formed part of Open City’s A Home for Me programme and helped develop our shared approach to creative spaces.
Music could support arrival and making while responding to the qualities of the room. Participants could build, draw, listen, move and explore the built environment in ways that made sense to them.
The Charterhouse — music, making and living history
Our work with The Village School connected school sessions with visits to the Charterhouse’s historic spaces. Soundscapes, song, costume, pennants and movement offered ways to explore the contrasting atmospheres of the medieval cloister and Tudor Great Chamber.
The partnership continued through work with other specialist schools, adapting artistic invitations to different learners and their interests.
Pitzhanger Manor — architecture, line and sculpture
Our family workshop connected Pitzhanger’s architecture and Julian Opie’s art with music, movement, drawing and making. The plan moved from noticing points, lines and circles in the building to drawing in space with the body, creating line sculptures and giving those sculptures their own sounds.
It shows how a building and its collection can become the starting point for a shared music and art journey.
The Wallace Collection & Sir John Soane’s Museum
We have collaborated repeatedly at The Wallace Collection and delivered workshops together at Sir John Soane’s Museum. These encounters are part of a wider shared practice that brings artworks, objects and historic spaces into conversation with music, visual art and the people visiting them.
Who we work with
We welcome commissions from museums, galleries and heritage organisations; special schools, SEND colleges and inclusive education settings; festivals, family programmes and community organisations; and artists or cultural teams seeking a creative collaboration.
SEND inclusion is central to how our practice has developed. That experience also informs welcoming spaces for families and mixed groups, where there is room for different ways of noticing, communicating and creating.
Planning a project together
- Begin with your people and place. Tell us who you would like to involve and what you hope to explore.
- Develop the artistic starting point. We consider the artwork, building, materials, phenomenon, story or theme alongside access, space, sound and the people involved.
- Agree the scope and fee. We set out preparation, both artists’ time, delivery, materials, equipment, travel and any documentation or reflection.
- Make room to respond. We prepare carefully and adapt to what emerges. For a longer programme, shared reflection informs the next session.
Fees are quoted for each commission. Dates, travel, access arrangements and the availability of both artists are discussed before a booking is confirmed. Luke is based in North Manchester, and London remains an important part of our shared working life. Enquiries from elsewhere in the UK and internationally are welcome.
Frequently asked questions
Do participants need musical or artistic experience?
No. We offer different ways to take part and adapt the invitation to the group. Listening, looking, choosing, gesture, movement and communication without speech can all be part of the creative process.
Can you work with our collection, curriculum or theme?
Yes. A painting, object, building, material, phenomenon, story, place or shared question can provide a starting point. We agree the preparation needed to develop an appropriate project for your setting.
Does every project need a finished artwork or performance?
No. A drawing, sculpture, sound piece, exhibition or informal sharing can be part of a commission where it suits the group. The creative encounter and participants’ own ways of responding also have value. We agree expectations together.
Can we commission a longer partnership?
Yes. We welcome conversations about residencies and programmes that grow over time. Regular sessions, preparation and reflection can help a shared practice develop with your participants and team.
Let’s make something possible together
You do not need a finished brief. Tell us about your organisation, the people you want to involve and the idea you would like to explore.
It helps to include your location, possible dates, approximate group size, preferred format and any budget you have in mind. Please mention Luke and Marc’s creative partnership in your enquiry.
Luke will be your first point of contact to discuss a joint project with Marc.
Explore related work: SEND school workshops · Museums, galleries and heritage · Selected projects