‘Creating inclusive and accessible stories requires collaborative action. As a researcher I explore how transdisciplinary collaborations contribute to a cultural landscape’
Rikst Westra is a researcher and project leader at CARADT. In her research, she explores how cultural participation and transdisciplinary collaborations can contribute to more inclusive communities and a sustainable future in the broadest sense.
With a background in graphic design and a Master’s degree in Arts Policy and Management, Rikst combines creative thinking with strategic and research-based approaches. Through her work, she continuously investigates how cultural practices can make complex societal challenges tangible, participatory, and accessible. Her work emphasizes the importance of collaboration between artists, designers, institutions, and the wider community to ensure that stories and innovations are not only aesthetically engaging, but also inclusive and accessible.
Rikst’s diverse experience spans various roles, from Creative Producer at We Are Playgrounds to her work coordinating large-scale events at Avans Hogeschool. Across all her positions, one theme remains constant: her drive to push boundaries and foster environments where creativity thrives through inclusion, dialogue, and innovation. Whether managing a team of creatives or exploring new methods in design, she remains committed to making a meaningful impact on both the arts and the community.
Whether developing research trajectories, producing cultural programmes, or facilitating collaborative processes, Rikst is driven by the belief that innovation emerges through collective action, dialogue, and experimentation.
Collective Innovation for the Biobased Transition (2024 – 2025)
The Collective Innovation for Biobased Transition project explores innovative, mission-driven approaches to accelerate the shift towards a sustainable, biobased economy. By engaging a broad range of stakeholders, this research focuses on developing a practical prototype for collective innovation, aimed at fostering inclusive and collaborative innovation processes within the creative sector.
Cultural participation, Co-creation and reintegration
This project explores the power of cultural participation as a means to support (formerly) incarcerated individuals in leading meaningful lives. At the heart of the research is a co-creative writing group, in which participants collectively explore themes, write stories, and recite their work. We want to identify the factors that contribute to developing one’s voice, creative confidence and living a fulfilling life. This is done within a practice-based research framework that focuses on social cohesion, quality of life, and restorative approaches.
This project is is generously supported by Regieorgaan SIA and Fonds voor Cultuurparticipatie as part of the programme Co-creation and Cultural Participation
Publications
Olma, S., Morel, K., Westra, R. (2024, Nov) Work in Progress: a Prototype for Collective Innovation for the Biobased Transition. Avans University of Applied Sciences, Breda
Research Group: Cultural and Creative Industries
The research group Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) investigates the role of artists and designers as creative innovators and drivers of social and economic change. Affiliated researchers analyse the cultural and creative industries from a critical point of view and examine the conditions under which timely forms of aesthetic expression and social connectedness can actually take place within the precarious reality of this field. What economic models are required by artists and designers to create a meaningful practice within the aesthetic, social, and economic intentions of the cultural and creative industries? What skills sets are required for those artists and designers who don’t just want to follow movements, but actually shape novel social and economic models of the future?
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‘Our research group investigates the role artists, designers and cultural producers in general can play in developing the aesthetics and poetics of a desirable future.’
Sebastian Olma 
‘‘How will our graduates make a living without selling their soul?’’
Sepp Eckenhaussen
‘In social and cultural research there is increasing importance in research methodologies and devices that cut across fields and disciplines, becoming transdisciplinary.’
Jess Henderson
‘As a result of my current research, I ask the students the questions “what is your work” and “what works for you.’
Rob Leijdekkers
‘Within my practice I create spaces for introspection while exploring ethical dilemmas. ’
Renée van Oploo
‘Disrupting our contemporary society can be a serious design goal.’
Eke Rebergen
‘Performance is about engaging with versions of the self, stretching the gaze to see what others see when they look at you.’
Philippine Hoegen
‘To be able to research something thoroughly, you have to deeply engage, not just look at it from the outside.’
Bart Stuart
‘Doing research connects my practice with teaching; it strengthens and brings them closer together.’
Martine Stig
‘How can we disrupt the notion of being human while staying true to being humane?’
Wander Eikelboom
‘How do we live together, how do we work together? How do we give shape and form to ‘being together’ in the broadest sense?’
bas van den hurk
‘Interested in human behaviour as the basics underlying the way we design and innovate our society and economy.’
Marianne van Bommel
‘Well beyond their common characterisation as problem-solvers, designers have a role to play in materialising public engagement with collective concern’
Laurens Kolks
‘Consumers are creatures of habit. If we want them to break routine and live sustainably, we have to do more than just offer sustainable alternatives. ’
Estelle Nieuwenkamp
‘The most difficult and empowering thing as an artist is to stay honest about my work and me. And I'd like to help my students to get there too.’
Aiwen Yin