GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: Legacies of community arts and culture as agency for social justice and transformation now The community arts work undertaken in Ireland in the 1970s, 80s and 90s fomented new forms of empathy, resistance and solidarity. An event in October will explore the legacies and collective memories of this field of practice and will be accompanied by a set of Legacy Papers. Following up on the challenge from Claiming Our Future’s Broken Politics event it seems timely to look back and to amplify how community arts and cultural work can be mobilised in and through civil society, in order to forge a synchronised network of activists and practitioners.
Place: Institute for Lifecourse & Society, North Campus, Daingean, NUI Galway, Galway City. Date: October 17 at 6pm (Evening only) and October 18 from 10.00am to 4.30pm.
This event is free and bookings can be made by emailing your contact details to: legacyevent@gmail.com
Details: Monday 17th October at 6pm Whose interests are addressed in the aesthetics and validation of documentation in community arts and media? In this session we will consider who benefits from documentation in community arts and media and how documentation can create deeper connections between diverse practices. Participants are invited to bring along resources related to arts and culture in and with communities during the 1970s, 80s and 90s, from which artist Fiona Woods will establish a Living Archive reading room to photograph and log these materials. Activist film maker, Paula Geraghty will explore questions such as: who is all this work for; how do we share what we create; how can we hold the memories; and how can documentation assist people newly working in the aesthetics of resistance.
Tuesday 18th October at 10am Where is community arts positioned as an artistic tradition within civil society and what is its agency today?
A panel of practitioners drawn from the cultural, community and equality fields will examine the sustainability of community arts traditions and the impetus for cultural democracy. The implementation of Culture 2025, and the Policy Framework for Local and Community Development are important opportunities, but can community arts find its agency therein? Art historian, Catherine Marshall will explore some precedents in the tradition of community arts and whether it has some features of an art historical movement. A panel will respond to the legacy of ‘policies’, ‘histories’ and ‘traditions’ including, artist and Director of Create, Ailbhe Murphy, artist, Fiona Woods, as well as Niall Crowley from Claiming Our Future.
Tuesday 18th October at Midday How do we create new channels for community culture to address human and cultural rights and solidarity? The institutionalisation of the field of practice previously described as community arts has, it is argued, regulated and disciplined the practice, shaping an outcomes-based mentality. This session will consider case-studies of bottom-up networks and projects that offer noninstitutional approaches through practices that foreground the role of community, with artist, Deirdre O’Mahony, the XPO Project; Ed Carroll and Vita Gelūnienė, the Cabbage Field, Kaunas.
Tuesday 18th October at 2 pm
A deliberation focused on continuity and commitment to grow a synchronised network of living practices. Possible Questions for deliberation: 1. How can cultural work take forward some of the themes emerging from this event? 2. What kind of platform for solidarity and communication would support the cultural work that needs to happen? A creative team has come together to accompany our exchanges, led by Brian Fleming, Catherine Young, Sean Millar, Sharon Murphy and Florian Blanche. The event is convened by a number of individuals, and groups including, ALa Theatre Group, Blue Drum, Community Knowledge Initiative, NUI Galway, Galway City Community Network, Lacuna reading group, Third Space Galway. Website: LegacyPapers