François Matarasso

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…

Uma Arte Irequietta

The Portuguese edition of A Restless Art will be published by the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian this week, with events in Porto (8 May) and Lisbon (9 May). The book has been translated with sensitivity and dedication by Isabel Lucena, who has brought her exceptional knowledge of participatory art in Portugal and the UK to the…

Searching for light in the participatory museum

For the past three months, I’ve been following a Museums Association initiative called Partnerships with Purpose. It builds on 10 years of research and development work supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, from Whose Cake is it Anyway? (in 2011) to a programme called Our Museum (2012-2015). Partnerships with Purpose aims to turn the knowledge about working with communities…