‘The MIAAW Monthly’, a cultural democracy email
For the last couple of years, I’ve been doing a podcast with Arlene Goldbard, in which we talk with like-minded people
Author: François Matarasso
Community artist, writer, researcher, trainer, consultant, policymaker – I’ve had many roles since I started work in community arts in 1980, but always in the hope of protecting human rights. I work independently, mostly in Europe, from my home in France. I always work with others, accompanying them, sometimes guiding, in the journeys they want to make. My latest, perhaps my last, book is about the history, theory and practice of community art: it’s free to download from www.arestlessart.com
Access ≠ Democracy
When I began in community art, the photocopier was new technology. In the printshop where I was an apprentice, we
Traction – an EU research project
An article by Emanuela Barbiroglio published in Horizon, The EU Research and Innovation Magazine,10 August 2022 A prison opera and digital
Virtual Realities, Part One
Early in 2020, Irish National Opera (INO) began work on an unusual community project—a new VR opera, co-created with people from three
There is always an alternative. Always.
On Tuesday, I facilitated a talk for the Scottish Culture Collective by my friend Heba El Cheikh. She spoke about her work as a
Can you teach community art?
TL;DR? No. In the 1980s, when the first generation of community artists had been around for long enough to feel
‘Write this down’
It was the end of a long day. We’d run out of time and the guards needed to get us
Building Capabilities: Rethinking the social value of culture
Today will see the third performance of O Tempo (Somos Nós) , “Time (It’s Us), this time at the Gulbenkian Concert
‘From little things, big things grow’
Between the Traction opera performances in the prison last week, and those that will take place in Lisbon at the
The meaning of risk in community art
Three days ago, anticipating the first performance of the Leiria prison opera, I wrote that I didn’t expect to see
A Restless Art 