Sarie Mairs Slee
Sarie Mairs Slee
A new and radical approach to the arts, culture, heritage and placemaking requires dedication, collaboration, action and compassion.
A new and radical approach to the arts, culture, heritage and placemaking requires dedication, collaboration, action and compassion.
“A new and radical approach to the arts, culture, heritage and placemaking requires dedication, collaboration, action and compassion.
Real change requires integrity, honesty and a willingness to embrace risk.
Collaboration is essential. It should welcome a broad range of roles, from novices to highly experienced individuals.
Action must embody values, not just evoke them.
Compassion is a baseline. You can’t act to improve the built environment if you don’t empathise with people and communities. You’ve got to lean into people’s pain, not turn away from it.”
Sarie runs a consultancy, Here for Culture & Place, to support place-based partnerships crossing culture, placemaking, policy and the environment. Sarie’s experience includes academic teaching and research, professional creative practice and social entrepreneurship.
Q&A
Q&A
How did you get to where you are now in your career?
I’m a creative by nature and training — classical music and then physical and dance theatre professionally. I’ve had a lifelong fascination with interdisciplinary collaboration. I worked in higher education for 15 years — a natural playground for collaboration, full of interesting people with expertise and curiosity. In 2019, I became the Head of Salford’s Culture and Place Partnership and later the Strategic Lead for the Northern Place and Culture Partnership, spanning all of Northern England.. I’ve now started my own consultancy, Here for Culture & Place. All the elements in my career have been about creating, collaborating and investigating to find what’s better: better understanding, better models, better impact, better data, better relationships, better stories, and, always, better together.
How did you get to where you are now in your career?
I’m a creative by nature and training — classical music and then physical and dance theatre professionally. I’ve had a lifelong fascination with interdisciplinary collaboration. I worked in higher education for 15 years — a natural playground for collaboration, full of interesting people with expertise and curiosity. In 2019, I became the Head of Salford’s Culture and Place Partnership and later the Strategic Lead for the Northern Place and Culture Partnership, spanning all of Northern England.. I’ve now started my own consultancy, Here for Culture & Place. All the elements in my career have been about creating, collaborating and investigating to find what’s better: better understanding, better models, better impact, better data, better relationships, better stories, and, always, better together.
How did you get to where you are now in your career?
I’m a creative by nature and training — classical music and then physical and dance theatre professionally. I’ve had a lifelong fascination with interdisciplinary collaboration. I worked in higher education for 15 years — a natural playground for collaboration, full of interesting people with expertise and curiosity. In 2019, I became the Head of Salford’s Culture and Place Partnership and later the Strategic Lead for the Northern Place and Culture Partnership, spanning all of Northern England.. I’ve now started my own consultancy, Here for Culture & Place. All the elements in my career have been about creating, collaborating and investigating to find what’s better: better understanding, better models, better impact, better data, better relationships, better stories, and, always, better together.
Which is more important, being creative or being practical?
You have to look in opposite directions simultaneously to see clearly, like the Roman god Janus. Innovation doesn’t happen without creativity — as a practice, not just an adjective — but it doesn’t happen without practicality either. Virtuosity comes from a long-term commitment to both. Great placemakers need this dual perspective.
Which is more important, being creative or being practical?
You have to look in opposite directions simultaneously to see clearly, like the Roman god Janus. Innovation doesn’t happen without creativity — as a practice, not just an adjective — but it doesn’t happen without practicality either. Virtuosity comes from a long-term commitment to both. Great placemakers need this dual perspective.
Which is more important, being creative or being practical?
You have to look in opposite directions simultaneously to see clearly, like the Roman god Janus. Innovation doesn’t happen without creativity — as a practice, not just an adjective — but it doesn’t happen without practicality either. Virtuosity comes from a long-term commitment to both. Great placemakers need this dual perspective.
If you could change one thing in the built environment, what would it be?
I would love to see a genuine focus on circular design, embracing ideas of what could be through re-use, re-imagining and re-purposing. I’d also love to see more of the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi (embracing the beauty of imperfection) or kintsuigi (embracing imperfection as the beginning of transformation and beauty anew). This would transform what we make and how we contribute to the crises and opportunities of our age.
If you could change one thing in the built environment, what would it be?
I would love to see a genuine focus on circular design, embracing ideas of what could be through re-use, re-imagining and re-purposing. I’d also love to see more of the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi (embracing the beauty of imperfection) or kintsuigi (embracing imperfection as the beginning of transformation and beauty anew). This would transform what we make and how we contribute to the crises and opportunities of our age.
If you could change one thing in the built environment, what would it be?
I would love to see a genuine focus on circular design, embracing ideas of what could be through re-use, re-imagining and re-purposing. I’d also love to see more of the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi (embracing the beauty of imperfection) or kintsuigi (embracing imperfection as the beginning of transformation and beauty anew). This would transform what we make and how we contribute to the crises and opportunities of our age.
What are your guiding principles?
Professionally, collaboration is the most reliable way to better. The foundations for any collaboration are defined by common ground and unswerving commitment to trust and accountability. Together, they chart and traverse the least predictable and most difficult paths to creating destinations we hardly dare to dream of individually and alone. Personally, I have two guiding principles: live the life you want to live… and make it count.
What are your guiding principles?
Professionally, collaboration is the most reliable way to better. The foundations for any collaboration are defined by common ground and unswerving commitment to trust and accountability. Together, they chart and traverse the least predictable and most difficult paths to creating destinations we hardly dare to dream of individually and alone. Personally, I have two guiding principles: live the life you want to live… and make it count.
What are your guiding principles?
Professionally, collaboration is the most reliable way to better. The foundations for any collaboration are defined by common ground and unswerving commitment to trust and accountability. Together, they chart and traverse the least predictable and most difficult paths to creating destinations we hardly dare to dream of individually and alone. Personally, I have two guiding principles: live the life you want to live… and make it count.
Is it better to break the rules or follow them?
Applying the Janus perspective again, you must be willing to really look at rules, reflect on how they came to be, why they still exist, their intended purpose and the functions they actually enact. If there’s a rule you’re ready and willing to break, first propose an alternative to replace it and then advocate for this. I’m a fan of Sam Coniff’s book Be More Pirate and the kind of rule-breaking he presents — and who doesn’t want to be a pirate?
Is it better to break the rules or follow them?
Applying the Janus perspective again, you must be willing to really look at rules, reflect on how they came to be, why they still exist, their intended purpose and the functions they actually enact. If there’s a rule you’re ready and willing to break, first propose an alternative to replace it and then advocate for this. I’m a fan of Sam Coniff’s book Be More Pirate and the kind of rule-breaking he presents — and who doesn’t want to be a pirate?
Is it better to break the rules or follow them?
Applying the Janus perspective again, you must be willing to really look at rules, reflect on how they came to be, why they still exist, their intended purpose and the functions they actually enact. If there’s a rule you’re ready and willing to break, first propose an alternative to replace it and then advocate for this. I’m a fan of Sam Coniff’s book Be More Pirate and the kind of rule-breaking he presents — and who doesn’t want to be a pirate?
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Find us
Patn Studio
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Salford M3 7FB
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Find us
Patn Studio
x+why
Embankment East Tower Cathedral Approach
Salford M3 7FB
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Find us
Patn Studio
x+why
Embankment East Tower Cathedral Approach
Salford M3 7FB
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Find us