by ArtWorks Alliance | Feb 29, 2024
At the ArtWorks Alliance members’ online gathering on 19th March 2024, the focus will be on the development of the network as a community of practice (CoP). The discussion will centre on the principles that inform and drive communities of practice, including...
by Rob Watson | Dec 20, 2023
As 2023 draws to a close, we want to take a moment to express our gratitude to all of you for your support and dedication throughout the year. It’s been a positive year for ArtWorks Alliance and our community, marked by steady progress and meaningful engagement in...
by Rob Watson | Nov 27, 2023
Conversation about co-creative practices in participatory arts, encompasses diverse perspectives on equality and inclusivity. At the ArtWorks Alliance members gathering, held on November 15, 2023, we discussed the vital role of co-creation and co-production in...
by ArtWorks Alliance | May 18, 2023
Earlier in 2023, a consortium of UK-based arts membership organisations, led by Engage, delivered a Member Benefits survey. The survey built on Engage’s own consultations with their members over 12 months, which will shape how they deliver their existing membership...
by Rob Watson | May 1, 2023
I’ve asked ChatGPT why participatory arts are important for social development in the UK. The response was a fairly good summary: Participatory arts refer to art forms that actively involve people in the creative process, rather than just passive observation....
by ArtWorks Alliance | Mar 30, 2023
We held our regular ArtWorks Alliance Gathering last week, and it was a great opportunity to catch-up and reflect on where members of the AWA network are with their practice. The purpose of the ArtWorks Alliance is to provide opportunities for people interested in...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Feb 11, 2023
Artworks Alliance’s gathering on 19th October 2022 focussed on the cost of living crisis. As the cost of living crisis hits hard and people are struggling with the soaring cost of living, we wanted to explore how participatory artists, organisations and participants...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Feb 9, 2023
What if the work of a nurse, physio, or homecare worker was designated an art, so that the qualities of the experiences they create became understood as aesthetic qualities? What if the interactions created by artists, directors, dancers, or workshop facilitators were...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Apr 14, 2022
Suzie West, Talent Development Lead at Barbican Theatre Plymouth, reflects on a year of co-creating in youth training. New space for possibility During my 10 years as a secondary dance teacher and freelance practitioner, I became increasingly curious about the...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Mar 17, 2022
Hip Hop is perhaps the most powerful and far-reaching modern music phenomenon known to man and womankind. Its multifaceted and complex nature allows its reach to surpass boundaries of race, culture and socio-economic context but how can we, as artists and creators,...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Jan 13, 2022
Genevieve Rudd reviews the sustainability resources and training presentation she gave at the AWA Gathering in November 2021, highlighting practical steps towards addressing the climate emergency as a sector in 2022 and beyond. January is the month of New...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Dec 9, 2021
David Richmond from Arts in Development reflects on the AWA Gathering, which focused on workforce support and development in the times of Covid and climate crisis. Working in participatory arts, ‘We are not firefighters, but gardeners’, he argues. At the...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Nov 11, 2021
Kiz Crosbie from member Mortal Fools shares their development journey to a tangible and clearly articulated co-creation practice that combines the creative process (practical activities used to produce artistic content) and the relational process (the environments...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Oct 14, 2021
‘They thought art could change the world. Thousands joined in and things were never the same again.’ From this new publication about participatory arts fifty years ago reviewed here by Adrian Sinclair. This was a time that had the smell of a rugged kind of...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Sep 16, 2021
Culture declares emergency… we interviewed a young climate activist who has found the power of participation in creative activity as part of Extinction Rebellion protests. AWA: What creative protesting have you taken part in? I have been involved with art...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Jul 15, 2021
AWA member Roxane Permar from the University of the Highlands and Islands explores why we need MA courses for participatory artists now more than ever and proposes an archipelagic perspective for thinking about social art practice and higher education. We need...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Jun 10, 2021
Ben Vleminckx, Chief Executive of member Evolve Music, shares how they’re working with emerging and established music leaders on workforce development and invites you to contribute to the conversation about best practice. As a sector we rely heavily on our...
by ArtWorks Alliance | May 6, 2021
Amy Twigger Holroyd and Emma Shercliff, coordinators of the Stitching Together network, discuss the long history of participatory textile making projects and outline some of the benefits and challenges encountered when making textiles with others today. The...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Apr 1, 2021
JoJo Spinks from Interwoven Productions CIC explores the Capability Approach for measuring quality of life from participatory arts work as a push back against prescribed outcomes such as improved health, wellbeing and environment. I’ve been thinking a lot about...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Mar 11, 2021
Genevieve Rudd reflects on Covid context life and work as a Community Artist and exploring the benefits of nature on wellbeing and creativity through the Yarmouth Springs Eternal project. I’ve stared out at my back garden from my desk in Gorleston-on-sea almost...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Feb 11, 2021
‘How diverse are we really?’ is a research project commissioned through the CPP National Peer Learning and Communications programme with funding from Arts Council England. Dawn Cameron looks out of her lockdown window at the start of her fieldwork and describes...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Jan 21, 2021
From a disaster movie, past the New Year’s Honours list and on to a care home. Some reflections on the profile, purpose and impact of participatory artists and arts organisations from the network’s Secretariat. I’m not usually a great fan of disaster movies,...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Dec 10, 2020
With the arts ecology so dependent on freelancers and a significant growth this year of networks for independents, we asked June Gamble to share her experiences of working collaboratively as a network. Hear her journey from card file systems ‘back in the day’ to...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Nov 12, 2020
Dr Sue Kay reflects on the impact of cultural networks from research and personal resonances. She explores how their value lies not only in what they do, but also in how they do it – and how for the Alliance, process can be congruent with the principles and practices...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Oct 15, 2020
Adrian Sinclair, from the AWA Advocacy Action Group, takes up the What next? question following last month’s blog from Gerri Moriarty of ArtsChain, to explore how we can organise and advocate for participatory arts. In her blog last month Gerri Moriarty talked...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Sep 10, 2020
AWA member Gerri Moriarty sets out the research ArtsChain carried out over the summer, in order to better understand the current needs of the participatory arts sector, and the three proposals made to Arts Council England with their initial reflections. As part of its...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Aug 13, 2020
Kim Wide describes how Take a Part responded to the rapid changes that happened when Covid-19 hit and what they did to support local communities, already living precarious and stressful lives. It is really simple to find narratives that back up your approach,...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Jul 16, 2020
Freelance participatory theatre maker and AWA member Rachel Griffiths explores how artistic practice can combine with community organising to make a lasting, positive difference. “Imagination lets us glimpse a world that has not yet materialized and move...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Jun 18, 2020
JoJo Spinks from member Interwoven Productions CIC explores what it means to be truly ‘place-based’ and how participatory practice with open, two-way communications supports ongoing relationships, even in the climate of pandemic. We didn’t set out to create a...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Mar 12, 2020
Fiona Doring from AWA Partner Impact Arts introduces the Sketchy Youths and other initiatives supporting them to be a listening organisation. With the realisation that I am now firmly in the middle aged bracket; that similarly, my Board do not share an age range with...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Feb 13, 2020
Catherine Cartwright reviews Social Works?: Open edited by the Models of Validation Team, a partnership between Axisweb and Manchester Metropolitan University, Rebecca Senior, Mark Smith and Amanda Ravetz. ‘Now is the time to instigate our collective...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Nov 14, 2019
Were we wrong to talk about outcomes? ESS loves outcomes and we are not giving them up without a fight. But there are some problems with the way we use the word. And that matters because it’s getting in the way of public service improvement. We’ve got the verb wrong...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Sep 19, 2019
In May this year, I read an announcement to staff from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), that it had signed the new ‘Civic University Agreement’, reaffirming its commitment to Preston and its local communities. A commitment to a holistic approach to...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Jul 17, 2019
Last week I spent two days at Wild Conference, the latest try at an Arts Council England-commissioned national arts conference, following events like State of the Arts and No Boundaries. Delivered – brilliantly – by Slung Low, led by Alan Lane, this had a very...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Jun 20, 2019
Race, contest, competition… rivals, front runner, loser… knocked out, eliminated…the final battle… and the knives are out…These are the leadership words we’ve been hearing and reading of late. Time to remember there’s a bigger, broader and brighter picture...
by ArtWorks Alliance | May 23, 2019
‘The Necessary Space’ is the latest organisation to join ArtWorks Alliance. Here Director Simon Sharkey, who previously worked for partner National Theatre of Scotland, writes about why theatre has never been so urgent and important, calling on us to act on Martin...
by ArtWorks Alliance | May 16, 2019
Three partners from the ArtWorks Alliance Admin Group (previously known as the Leadership Group, but successful distributed leadership led to the name change…) share their experiences of collective and collaborative working for better participatory arts. If you’re...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Mar 1, 2019
Adrian Sinclair from partner Heads Together Productions looks at the ‘why, what, how and who for’ of training pathways for those wanting to pursue a career as participatory artists and reflects on the power of coaching in the UNION programme. Artworks has always...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Feb 1, 2019
Kathryn Deane, visiting Professor at York St John University in the International Centre for Community Music, reviews François Matarasso’s A Restless Art. It is, it seems to me, virtually impossible to be a practitioner in the field of participatory art (more on...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Jan 1, 2019
John Whall from Derby QUAD is the ArtWorks Alliance digital participation champion. Here he explores issues around mental capacity and creative work by participants in an edited version of a blog fromDigitalpARTicipationis…No-one wants to participate in participation...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Dec 1, 2018
Catherine Rogers, from Alliance partner Creative Leicestershire, continues her blog about a recent British Council funded partnership development visit to Brazil. Part Three… During my ten days in Santos and São Paulo, I met so many people who could put ‘innovation’...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Nov 1, 2018
Catherine Rogers, Alliance partner Creative Leicestershire Manager and also Junction Arts Chair and Advantage Creative Associate, writes about her first day on a recent British Council funded partnership development visit to Brazil. Junction Arts and Advantage...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Oct 25, 2018
Our ‘blog swap’ arrangement with the US Bartol Foundation starts with their interview with the artist Mindy A. Early about trauma informed practice. The Bartol Foundation is piloting a new series of trauma-informed training workshops for teaching (participatory)...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Sep 25, 2018
Rhian Hutchings, Partnership Manager at ArtWorks Cymru, shares key provocations and practices from the Fourth International Teaching Artist Conference (ITAC4) held recently in New York City. ITAC4 brought together teaching artists/participatory artists and arts...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Jul 25, 2018
Catherine Rogers from ArtWorks Alliance partner Creative Leicestershire, and a member of the Alliance’s leadership group, reflects on two hot days for weather and ideas. I recently attended Nesta’s FutureFest in London’s Tobacco Dock, held over two sweltering days in...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Jun 25, 2018
Prompted by re-reading Padgett Powell’s ‘The Interrogative Mood’ and attending a recent European Academy of Participation course, Adrian Sinclair, Chapel FM Centre Director for Heads Together Productions, takes a questioning approach to what he’s doing in...
by ArtWorks Alliance | May 25, 2018
Briar Monro, Arts Practice Director, Community and Youth at Creative New Zealand reflects on participatory arts in Aotearoa/New Zealand and the UK – and looks ahead to a slow spiral of development that honours the process and shared intentions of the work itself. I’m...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Apr 25, 2018
Adrian Sinclair from ArtWorks Alliance partner Heads Together Productions shares some thoughts from the Cultural Democracy: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow symposium held on 5 April 2018. I was very much looking forward to attending this symposium at Manchester...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Mar 25, 2018
Derby QUAD’s John Whall, our ArtWorks Alliance digital participation activity group champion, takes a look at what the DCMS Culture is Digital and Nesta Digital Culture 2017 reports have to offer (or not…) for participatory arts. The recent Culture is Digital report...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Feb 25, 2018
Prepositions may be small words, but they tell big stories… Alliance secretariat Mary Schwarz reflects on the recent desire expressed by Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair of Arts Council England, for greater ‘access to what the arts have to offer’ alongside Charles...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Jan 25, 2018
Extend cultural leadership programme evaluator Mary Schwarz shares some reflections on why people working in education and learning roles make such great leaders…and how leadership can be practised in all sorts of ways and by all sorts of people – not just ‘the...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Dec 25, 2017
Following her work as Paul Hamlyn Foundation ArtWorks initiative Project Director and Advisor (2010-17), Susanne Burns was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to visit the USA and Australia, exploring solutions to support artists working in participatory settings. She...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Nov 25, 2017
Newsletter subscriber Stephen Pritchard reviews Culture, Democracy and the Right to Make Art: The British Community Arts Movement edited by Alison Jeffers and Gerri Moriarty. Community arts has always been ignored and derided by the art establishment. It was always a...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Oct 25, 2017
In her last blog as Alliance Consultant Director, Kathryn Deane tackles market issues… I’m in hot water again. This time for using the term ‘market’ to describe the relationship between a participatory artist and a hirer of their services. The argument appears...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Sep 25, 2017
Participatory arts: what’s it for? Prompted by the recent death of community play pioneer Ann Jellicoe, Kathryn Deane revisits practice purposes… Ann Jellicoe has just died. Hands up those to whom that means anything? She was, on the one hand, a corner stone of...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Aug 25, 2017
We’ve spent a lot of time over the past decade in ArtWorks and ArtWorks Alliance on the quality of our participatory arts. It’s time we looked at how much of it we do, says Kathryn Deane. If, as we believe, participatory arts is an important part of an artist’s...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Jul 25, 2017
Alliance Communications Manager Mary Schwarz explores what the participatory arts sector can learn from a book about individual altruism… My colleague Sue Kay and I were working recently for social enterprise The Arts Development Company (TADC) and Dorset Arts...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Jun 25, 2017
Kathryn Deane, ArtWorks Alliance Consultant Director, is not a techno-Luddite but does want to reclaim what’s participatory when we talk digital… I’m not a techno-Luddite (I was programming IBM computers 40 years ago*). But some things pass me by in my bid to...
by ArtWorks Alliance | May 25, 2017
What does ArtWorks Alliance as a strategic UK-wide network actually do? Kathryn Deane shares her take on what strategic means… and the strategic means by which we support more and better participatory arts. Strategic means never having to say you’ve fixed it. And...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Apr 25, 2017
Why is participatory arts better than the aerospace industry? Because it’s worth more – however you measure it. Kathryn Deane reflects on how the power of participatory arts to make change is describable in so many ways… You return four times the GVA of the...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Mar 25, 2017
The initial ArtWorks Paul Hamlyn Foundation special initiative finished with A Call to Action to work collectively to strengthen practice in participatory settings. This month ArtWorks Alliance Consultant Director Kathryn Deane has been out and about doing just...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Feb 25, 2017
ArtWorks Alliance members have mantras: ‘We only do what only we can do.’ ‘It’s not what we take, it’s what we bring.’ True – but worthy: be honest, you want to know WIIFM? Kathryn Deane, Consultant Director, shares what members are saying...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Jan 25, 2017
ArtWorks Alliance is committed to improving the quality of participatory arts. How are members going about doing that? From Kathryn Deane… Oh to be a widget maker. Everything about what distinguishes the truly excellent widget from the merely passable is known,...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Nov 25, 2016
Why do we do participatory arts? Let’s not try an answer here: it’s all in the fascinating report of the three-year Arts & Humanities Research Council Cultural Value Project. What the report highlights is that wishing for benefits from participatory arts isn’t...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Nov 24, 2016
A new research report into current practice in older people’s dance, published by ArtWorks Alliance member People Dancing and co-commissioned by Aesop, was launched at the House of Lords on 7 November 2016. This new research report provides a snapshot of current...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Oct 25, 2016
Frameworks for the quality of participatory arts have recently been launched by ArtWorks Alliance members ArtWorks Cymru and Creative Scotland. Quality frameworks are developing in different ways to serve different purposes. That is the main finding from an ArtWorks...
by ArtWorks Alliance | Sep 25, 2016
ArtWorks Alliance has announced that Kathryn Deane is to be its new Consultant Director. The head of the development agency for community music is to become the leader of ArtWorks Alliance for the period up to July 2017. “There was strong competition for the...