This month I have two conference speeches to give. It will be the first time in more than two years that I’ve spoken in this way and I’m doing so with some ambivalence. I accepted both invitations because they seemed more important than my personal reservations. So this week, I will talk to people involved in rural touring and arts development in Prague: I have taken the idea of resistance as my theme. And later in the month, I will think about art and healing with members of the National Arts in Hospitals Network, with my own recent experience of hospital care in mind. In both cases, I’ll be taking my ideas into new areas, walking out onto thin ice that might not carry my weight. But we need courage in these difficult times and the only place to find it is in ourselves. Wish me luck.
Although I’ll still post occasionally here, my writing is now hosted on a new website, A Selfless Art. Do check it out if you’re interested in my ideas in future.
The image for this post was created using AI
François Matarasso 
Responses to “A return to speaking”
hi François, happy to hear that you are back with your activities. Please check here if the link to your new website is correctly attached – Although I’ll still post occasionally here, my writing is now hosted on a new website, A Selfless Art. Do check it out if you’re interested in my ideas in future. It doesn’t work now. Best, Joanna from Warsaw
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Hi Joanna, thanks for the tip. I’ve corrected the link now.
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[celebrate] Hugo Seabra reacted to your message:
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Dear Francois. Good luck with your ‘return to speaking’. So much that is going on in the word leaves me speechless these days I admire your bravery in stepping onto the ice.
The trick, I understand, is to control your breath, in the unlikely event that the ice does give way 😮💨
I would be particularly interested to discuss your explorartion of Hospital Arts (having run Milton Keynes General programme for its first 4 years) and perhaps in time we can pick up a conversation about Creative Health more broadly?
I would welcome your perspective on this sector as it has grown considerably since our Clore days and West Yorkshire is set to explore new waters with the establishment of a Creative Health system in the coming months.
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I’m so looking forward to meeting you in York at the NAHN conference and I have no doubt the thin ice will carry the weight of your words. On Wednesday at St Nicks I saw the most beautiful cobwebs holding tiny drops of dew – delicate, but strong and full of quiet resilience.
That’s what your voice is like in these times: strong, articulate and holding so much. The weight of it all at the moment makes your thoughts and words feel especially needed. You inspire me deeply, (as you know!!) and I ripple those inspirations out wherever I can. Thank you for coming.
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Thank you; I’m looking forward to it too. I hope that my talk next week will be more substantial as I share some of my new thinking.
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It’s probably just what we need, as the thought of many arts in hospitals service getting closed is a weight – a bit of new thinking is required
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hello lovely I was going to subscribe but the link to a selfless art is not working… just letting you know Baci
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Thank you – I just checked it and it works now x
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