Guildhall De-Centre

Dr T J Bacon (she/they) is a trans-femme pansexual person with hidden disabilities. Her practice as an artist-philosopher foregrounds transgender studies, queer theory, crip theory and queer phenomenology to consider visual art, performance art, theatre, activism and curation. She has exhibited internationally for over 20 years, is the founder and artistic director of Tempting Failure and a PhD Advisor for the Trans Art Institute. She joins the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as Researcher in Residence.    

Her line of enquiry is titled Queer Acts of Hope. It is a timely and urgent response to UK-centric transgender lived experiences, arguing that trans lives occupy a position of queer phenomenological value for inclusive practices to be advocated for and through. Acknowledging the landscape of trauma but choosing not to exploit this, her line of enquiry foregrounds the celebration of transition through close phenomenological examination of the socially engaged artistic practice of transgender artists, communities and activists, noting the significance of hope and resilience when navigating UK society, political climates and healthcare. While in residence at Guildhall, she will establish a Virtual Centre of Excellence that draws together scholars whose own research advocates for trans inclusion while building new partnerships from UK social-advocacy and healthcare organisations. She will also conduct research for her third book, a monograph tentatively titled “Trans Phenomenology: Queer Acts of Hope” while beginning the first steps to develop an advocacy workshop to improve inclusive care for trans people in the UK through co-production with the Guildhall De-Centre for Socially Engaged Practice and Research and wider trans community.  

She welcomes those interested in joining any element of this line of enquiry project to contact her. 

Jo Chard (they/them) is a queer neurodivergent producer and researcher who focuses on participatory and co-created approaches. Most of their practice looks at radical and democratised community-led infrastructure in cultural organisations through their work on projects like DISRUPT. They are the Senior Manager for Creative Partnerships at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and currently studying a PhD exploring community and activist organising models, and their applications in the governance of cultural organisations to support greater democracy.  

Drawing on non-hierarchical, collective, co-operative and consensus-based decision-making models, Jo’s Line of Enquiry looks at how we can create radical new approaches to governance in cultural organisations that place communities at the centre of decision-making processes. In the next year, the project will look at different community and activist organising models to support new governance frameworks, with a particular focus on collective and participatory funding approaches. 

Dr Sophie Hope is a practice-based researcher and Lecturer in Social Engaged Practices at Guildhall School and Dr Jo Gibson is a community music practitioner-researcher from East London, Research Fellow at York St John University’s Institute for Social Justice, and supervises doctoral researchers at Guildhall School. 

Their Line of Enquiry aims to map, make visible (and audible) specific teaching initiatives to generate a better understanding of why, what, how, when, and where socially engaged practices have been taught historically at Guildhall School. By listening to the echoes of past practices at Guildhall they hope to inform future directions and understandings of what innovative, socially engaged, de-centering pedagogies might look like for Guildhall School going forward. They are particularly interested in exploring socially engaged practices across artforms and disciplines to understand what ‘de-centering’ has meant in these diverse (and overlapping) contexts. 

Dr Kate Jones is the research group coordinator for Music Therapy at Guildhall School and Director of the charity Music Therapy Lambeth. Kate began her research journey into Selective Mutism after being referred ‘quiet children’ from nursery schools.  These children responded quickly to Music Therapy returning to the classroom talking and often becoming quite loud.  Kate’s other research interests are in the neuroscience of health and wellbeing, particularly for therapeutic interventions but also in the broader systemic applications of how we use the arts for nervous system regulation and health.   

Kate’s Line of Enquiry research is investigating if and how Music Therapy practice can be best utilised to support children with Selective Mutism. Her research journey is embedded in clinical practice, employing a critical stance to examine and share the current tools in our therapeutic toolkit. 

Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh BSc., MLitt, MA, SFHEA is Professor of Dramatic Writing on the MA in Opera Making & Writing at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and specialises in libretto, collaboration, and dramaturgy. Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh is an Associate Artist at The Oxford School of Drama and is an External Examiner at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Their international portfolio of arts-based research practice that is socially engaged and informed spans opera, theatre, circus, literature, dance and leadership practices. Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh is the inaugural Postgraduate Researcher of Libretto at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.  

Nazli’s line of enquiry is about developing an Equitable Collaboration Framework and Facilitation Methods Toolkit. Through this work Nazli is interested how we tune into each other through the sharing of aesthetics and narratives, using observation and solo writing. 

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