There are two important community arts festivals on the horizon, in Rotterdam and Porto. I’ve mentioned them before but it’s worth doing it again because there’s news of both:
- ICAF in Rotterdam (29 March- 2 April 2017) has now published its programme and is open for registrations: follow this link to the download the programme book and timetable..
- The deadline for submissions to EIRPAC, an academic conference linked with MEXE IV in Porto (Sept 2017) has just been extended to 10 March: click on this link for more information.
Opportunities like this are valuable for anyone working in the field. By its nature, participatory arts work tends to be local and timely, which makes seeing other people’s work difficult. Meeting peers working in other places and situations is invaluable. The programme for ICAF is very rich and includes work from Australia, Lithuania, Ireland, China, the USA, Russia, Peru, Pakistan, Suriname, Kenya, Britain and many other countries. Even if you can’t be there, the ICAF programme book makes fascinating reading.
François Matarasso 