Meet the First Heritage Futures Elevator Cohort

We are pleased to announce that we now have our first cohort for the Heritage Futures Elevator programme. The Elevator is a six-month, needs-led, continuing professional development programme for Luton-based heritage practitioners or organisations to extend their pre-existing heritage activity to widen audiences, strengthen leadership and business skills, and promote the dissemination of heritage activity regionally and nationally. It is funded by the

Applications for the second cohort are set to open in Spring 2024. If you are interested in applying, please contact the team via email at culture@beds.ac.uk


Taher Adel, a British-Bahraini poet and spoken word artist, holds an MA in Creative Writing and Poetry from the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ of East Anglia. He has served as a judge for the Stephen Spender Poetry Prize and was appointed the Poet in Residence for Wells-next-the-Sea in 2019. His literary contributions include titles such as 'I Don't Know What Language I Dream In' (Burning Eye Books, Sept '23), 'The Names' (translated into Arabic by Rewayat Reads), 'The Chosen Names' and 'The Divine Names' (both from Sun Behind The Cloud). Beyond his books, Adel's works have been showcased in various esteemed publications and platforms, including Ambit, SMOKE Magazine, The New European, Gulf Daily News, Glassworks Magazine, Tedx, BBC Radio 4, Poetry London Magazine, and Poetry Salzburg Review.

Taher Adel


Sophie Gresswell is a multi-disciplinary artist exploring identity and belonging, with a particular interest in interconnected ‘living’ heritage. Gresswell aims to visualise a connection between us which transcends our individual lifespan, and amplifies the way our human stories intersect through generations, cultures and history to bring us to the current moment in time, and inform the very people we are today. Sophie has had work featured on BBC Arts, Radio 6 music and exhibited in the UK, China and St Helena Island.

Sophie Gresswell


Jakub Rokita is a multimedia artist, photographer and a musician specialising in sound installations, projections and video. He creates short films, photographic series and spatial arrangements which play with time, place and scale using field recordings, everyday objects and obsolete technologies (VHS, analogue photography, magnetic tape).

As a cultural activist, he produces collaborative workshops, multimedia broadcasts and pop-up art shows which bring together visual and sound disciplines, creating spaces to experience work by local and international artists. He delivered workshops for the Brighton Digital Festival and supports projects like AVXLuton, Skronktronic and mopomoso. He exhibits in the UK, Europe and Internationally (VideoFenster (DE), Festival of Manuports (FI), La Hora Acousmatica (ARG), Survival XX (PL)).

Jakub Rokita