Models of collective working: insights on the Scottish context

This paper presents a project – Collective Futures – a researcher-practitioner collaboration exploring the nature and models of creative collectives in Scotland through a design thinking approach. Collectives are proposed as a new way of working and an unintended stimulus for social change: reducing isolation, and empowering creative practitioners to remain within their preferred communities with access to personal and professional networks. Design thinking is connected to action research and is recognised as an enabler to embrace differing perspectives while exploring flexible structures that give a shared purpose for effective collaborative working within the creative and cultural sector.