The Art of the Possible: Nottingham Art Gallery is run by the Citizens Council art

“I used to see this place on the street, but I didn’t know what was here, and I didn’t even know it was an art gallery,” says Felix, a 20-year-old nursing student. “And now I’m here to shape her future.”

Felix is ​​one of 40 residents of Hyson Green in Nottingham who run the show at New Art Exchange (NAE), which believes it is the first cultural institution in the world to hand over permanent leadership to the Citizens Council.

These people, representing a diverse community that speaks 52 languages, decide everything from what events the gallery should hold, where money should be spent, and which artists should be featured. They have committed £285,000 in funding from the start.

“Without citizens and community around the table shaping the direction and showing the horizon, we will quickly become an ordinary organisation,” says Saadeddine Saeed, CEO and artistic director of NAE, the UK’s largest gallery dedicated to African, Caribbean and South Asian artists.

“This neighborhood is a huge treasure trove of culture and talent, so we wanted it to play a key role, not just in terms of consulting, but in terms of real shared leadership.”

The street fair outside the building, designed to draw people in, was removed after caucus members said it was intimidating and off-putting, and more money was invested in making the café a welcoming place that would bring people through the door instead.

After reporting that the main problem in the area was a lack of places to socialize on Friday evenings, NAE began hosting social events, such as poetry and DJ events, which attract large crowds.

“We believe [the assembly] “We don’t want it to just become a trendy thing, just tick boxes,” Saeed says. “Removing the street fair seemed counterintuitive to us. But immediately that street fair was in the trash, in the trash forever.

“It doesn’t matter whether we get it. There’s no middle ground in that conversation.”

“I’ve been asked, ‘Do you think you’ve lost power as a result of this?'” says Adam Rowe, the gallery’s executive director.

“Actually, I think I’ve gained strength. Collectively, we have a lot of knowledge because we do the things we know we need to do.”

“And some of the artists and performers we work with now we may not have known about before.”

Citizens’ assemblies have long been used in local democracy and public policy to gauge national opinion, but in recent years they have spread to other sectors – and cultural institutions are the latest to try to use them.

In August, the National Gallery announced the creation of a citizens’ assembly of 50 people from across the UK, who will make recommendations that will be built on by a smaller committee of citizens over the next five years.

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery appointed a citizen jury in 2024 that published several recommendations, including later opening times and promoting youth work.

But there is some doubt about the effectiveness of these initiatives and whether senior leadership teams see them as anything more than a public engagement exercise.

“A lot of people were very skeptical and wondering if anything would come of this,” says Assemblywoman Lily, a 21-year-old fine arts graduate, sitting next to Rudy, a 70-year-old retired youth worker. “I’m impressed that they actually did the things we said.”

Several assembly members said they were tired of seeing Hyson Green, which has some of the highest rates of deprivation in the country, getting attention for all the wrong reasons – crime, anti-social behavior and volatility.

“I’ve lived here a long time, and I was skeptical, and I was cynical, because I saw a lot of initiatives come and go,” says Cathy*, a retired resident.

“This is an area that has been overlooked, and if people experience negativity for too long, it can disempower them. So for me, it’s been a real boost. I feel energized to be part of this process.”

Saeed says the gathering was “very expensive and time-consuming” to create, but it had a radically positive impact – overall NAE participation rose by 22%, and the number of visitors from global ethnic majority backgrounds increased by 48%.

He has now developed a blueprint for other organizations to implement citizen assemblies in a similar way.

“It has helped us get through one of the most challenging times for the culture and arts industry in a very long time – just look at the number of organizations that have closed their doors,” he says. “Our citizens make us relevant.”

*Not her real name