Seven years ago, Carole Bent, a Swindon based Creative Strategist, founded STEM to STEAM Suppers, a series of gatherings bringing together people from science, technology, engineering, the arts, education, business and public life.
Each of the first twelve events had its own title and co-host, and each led to actions, large and small. The aim was straightforward, to increase dialogue around the role of the arts and creativity in shaping the wider world.
The premise has remained consistent. Creativity is not an optional extra within technical disciplines, but a practical capability that shapes how progress actually happens.
The first phase of that work has now concluded. The photographs accompanying this piece were taken at the twelfth STEM to STEAM Supper, held at South Hill Park Arts Centre and co hosted by Carole alongside the Daler-Rowney team. The evening brought together contributors from across the UK, including people involved in earlier suppers, creating a moment of reflection as much as momentum. A second series will begin in 2026.
While each gathering brought together a deliberately limited number of people, contributions were always welcomed more broadly, from adding names in support to sharing lived experience, professional insight and challenge that helped shape the initiative as it developed.
The design was intentional. A set number of people, drawn from different worlds, brought into the same room. In seeking co-hosts, Carole chose individuals she knew to be making a genuine difference within their sectors. Blending people who would not normally meet created a different quality of discussion and, in many cases, subsequent action.
Co-hosts over the seven years have spanned culture, industry, education, health and civic life, including Sir Iain Gray, Chairman of Aerospace Bristol, David Sproxton of Aardman Animations, Steve West, Vice Chancellor of the University of the West of England, Jo Pendlebury, and Beth Alden, CEO of New Brewery Arts.
Guests have included senior engineers, pilots, artists, educators and policymakers. Tony Keeling OBE, Continuous Improvement Director at BMT and former head of the Air Cadets, has described how the discussions reshaped his own thinking. As a professional engineer, he said he had always valued precision, logic and technical excellence, but Carole’s advocacy for integrating the arts with STEM highlighted creativity as vital to problem solving and innovation. He noted that this mindset significantly influenced his leadership approach with young people and continues to shape how he works across further and higher education partnerships, as well as within maritime engineering, where creative exploration complements technical rigour.
Rooted in Carole’s work and relationships, the suppers sit within a wider national conversation. For much of the past decade, STEM has dominated education and skills policy, driven by what was assumed to be a straightforward economic logic. Increasingly, that logic is being questioned, not in opposition to science or technology, but in recognition that technical ability alone does not reliably produce innovation.
Across sectors, leaders are recognising the role of problem framing, design thinking, communication and collaboration, capabilities traditionally associated with the arts. The shift towards STEAM reflects this reassessment, not as a rebrand, but as a correction in emphasis.
The influence of the suppers has not been confined to the room. Following a Bristol gathering focused on the built environment and the human experience, hosted by Carole alongside Sproxton and West, Elena Marco, Pro Vice Chancellor at UWE, reflected that the night’s discussion reinforced the importance of integrating arts, technology and environment within academic structures. She noted that the exchange contributed to confidence and momentum around subsequent interdisciplinary developments at the university.
Closer to home, the work has intersected with Swindon’s own ambitions. Jim Robbins, Leader of Swindon Borough Council, has spoken publicly about the authority’s commitment to working with the cultural sector as part of its Knowledge Central plans, emphasising the importance of arts and culture sitting at the heart of future development. Rod Hebden, Director of the Swindon Culture Collective, has also noted that Bent’s advocacy and networks have supported wider activity in the town, including the Festival of Tomorrow, helping to position Swindon as a place for meaningful STEAM engagement.
Support for the approach has come from across professional and political lines, including educationalists, doctors and politicians. Supporters on record include Heidi Alexander, former MP Robert Buckland, and Marina Strinkovsky, reflecting the breadth of interest the work has attracted.
Carole’s own background helps explain both the method and its longevity. She holds a first class honours degree in Design and Communications and worked with WHSmith in the 1990s, a period that also prompted her move to Swindon. Her creative contributions have spanned public, private and charitable sectors, with consultancy clients including Madame Tussauds and Simplyhealth, alongside close advisory work with Lord Joel Joffe. She has also worked as an art partner with the artist David Bent, collaborating on exhibitions and creative projects alongside her strategic work and she continues to work hands on one day a week at New Brewery Arts.
Carole has indicated that the research, approach and outcomes from the first phase of the suppers, including their influence on educational programmes, are now documented and will be shared more fully in 2026.
If there is a single idea that runs through the work, it is a simple one. One person in a conversation doubles the potential. The initiative has been built from the ground up, through listening, learning and a belief that positive change comes from giving people a seat at the table.
For Swindon, the significance lies less in branding or scale, and more in authorship. This is not an international programme parachuted into the town, but a locally based individual shaping a national conversation from Swindon outward. As debates about education, innovation and the future of work continue, Swindon’s connection to that debate runs, unexpectedly, through a supper table.
