François Matarasso

What participatory art needs: Resources

Participatory art receives more public funding today than it did, but that is still a very small proportion of public budgets for culture. What’s more, the expansion of funding has produced an increase in volume of work rather than changing the conditions of its creation. Many participatory art organisations and artists are not much better…

What participatory art needs

In Britain, participatory art is at a tipping point. It will continue to grow, but how that happens will be influenced by choices that lie with public institutions: the Arts Councils in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, art schools and universities, local councils and services.

‘Here we found a space to think’

When I argued – as I still do – that people benefit from participating in art, it is because of its potential for learning, emancipation and empowerment. Experience changes us. Powerful experiences, such as those that come from creating art with other people, can change us deeply. But that change is something we do for…

Castelvecchi Chronicle

On Saturday, the postman brought a copy of the Castelvecchi Chronicle, a newspaper of goings on, in and around a fish and chip shop in Paisley. It’s a delight. Little stories from customers, organised under rubrics such as “Lost and Found’, ‘Good News!’ and ‘Wish of the Day’. Glimpses of life, change, hopes and losses. The words…

Resource: ‘The Art of Dialogue Cookbook’

The ideas vary in style, duration and resources, from a short workshop to projects lasting several months There’s are lots of nourishing stuff, some you might want to adapt and replicate, some that could just spark new ideas in your own work

Community art is improvisation

Someone asked what plan I’d prepared before the project and there was some surprise when I said that I didn’t have one, just an idea.