Opus

Opus is a ‘think and do tank’ based in Sheffield, established in 2008. Our core projects include Now Then Magazine, Festival of Debate, Wordlife, Opus Distribution and UBI Lab Network.

We believe we can live in a place where everyone works to make things better for each other.‘Better’ to us means fair, diverse, accessible, independent and heard.

Opus works to contribute upstream solutions to complex system problems. We do this through strategic partnerships, engaging arts and culture, research, identifying leverage points, and co-creation. We incubate and deploy services, projects, platforms, decentralised networks and movements proportionate to the challenges ahead.

Opus is multidisciplinary, cross-sector and adaptive, working across hyper-local, regional, national and international contexts. We work with citizens, communities, neighbourhoods, business, voluntary groups, cities, campaigns, research institutions, infrastructure organisations and governments to address the entangled ecological, social, economic, political and cultural crisis we collectively face.

We recognise that this is a long-term and systemic approach to social change — that’s why we create platforms which champion social causes, independent businesses, not-for-profits, emerging talent, active citizenship and community participation.

We reach over 150,000 people a year through live events, broadcasting and publishing in Sheffield and beyond. We hold organisational trustee and board positions with Voluntary Action Sheffield, Cohesion Sheffield, Sheffield Climate Alliance  and Healthwatch Sheffield.

Learn more about what we do and why we do it in our Review 2021 (December 2021).