François Matarasso

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.

I Remember: Leicester

The books have arrived, and I’m making 12 parcels of authors’ copies and more for people who’ve helped along the way. After the longest and most difficult book I’ve worked on, here is the quickest. It’s also been a delight from start to finish and, as I didn’t write this one, I can say that…

Let’s talk about money

In the past ten days, I have visited two exceptional community art projects: ACERT in Tondela (Portugal) and Cork Community Art Link in Ireland. ACERT has been making art with people since the 1970s, and Art Link since the 1990s. They have much in common—visionary leadership, an original aesthetic, strong principles and committed local support.…

Now available: ‘Uma Arte Irrequieta’

Download Uma Arte Irrequieta, Reflexões sobre o triunfo e importância da prática participativa It is not an accident that A Restless Art is appearing in two languages (and I hope others in due course). At a basic level, it is a commitment to recognising that a single language, even one with the beauty and suppleness…