François Matarasso

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  • A Summer Special – Revisiting ‘Regular Marvels’

    Sally Cottis by Mik Godley, from a photograph by François Matarasso, originally published in Winter Fires, Art, Agency and Old Age (2012) Yesterday, I was talking with a friend about books we’ve written, and what happened to them. Since mine have mostly been published intentionally outside the mainstream, they sink or swim on their own—no…

  • A rare opportunity

    Years of austerity and the resulting sense that our society is falling apart, coupled with the experience of Coronavirus and Lockdown, have thrown into relief the pain caused by the lost opportunities to mourn lives that have been lost, our fear and impotence in the face of climate change, the plight of so many refugees…

  • Trusting the child

    For ten years, a group of artists and educators have set up a summer camp in the centre of Bath and invited children to come and play with them, creatively, exploring nature and humanity’s place within it. The invitation changes according to who is involved, where the activity is happening and what resources are available.…

  • Closer to the truth

    When pride comes tumbling off the great white stallionYou move closer to the truth Tony Joe White This week, I’ve been thinking about Fada Theatre, a company of Syrian asylum seekers who performed at ICAF in 2017. It was a powerful experience that helped me understand some things about co-creation by professional and non-professional artists…

  • Cultural democratisation and cultural democracy – a critical distinction

    Last week I had lunch with an old friend who holds a senior position in the arts. During our conversation, he asked me to explain the difference between cultural democratisation and cultural democracy. So I did. He understood the first, he said, but not the second. So I tried again. Still not. And again, in…

  • Beyond ‘teachy’

    ‘At that time, the problem that was bothering me most about the writing was that, although I’m speaking out of my heart, it comes out on paper like somebody’s talking from a pulpit, pontificating. I didn’t know how to beat this. Whenever you write your private, personal thoughts and put them in essay form, and…