François Matarasso

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arestlessart.com/

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  • The legitimacy of non-participation

    ‘The problem, of course, is when you choose not to participate, most people don’t see it as a noble protest. Most people don’t notice at all. The absence of your voice doesn’t take up as much space as its presence. And so we have to choose: to be distorted or to be overlooked.’ Nina Simon…

  • What next for ‘A Restless Art’?

    More exploration than research The research period for ‘A Restless Art’ is gradually drawing to an end. I have a couple of further conversations with projects scheduled this week.  On Friday, I’ll be speaking at a conference on ‘Art and Hope’, organised by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation bringing together many of the projects supported through…

  • Community arts and power

    One way of understanding community art – using that term very loosely – is through its relationship with power. Any form of artistic work that, in one way or another, hopes to bring about change cannot avoid responding to existing structures of power and the institutions that organise them socially. Government and policy; state agencies;…

  • A hippo among fish: thinking about children and music

    What’s really striking is the confidence with which these children are making music together – because, make no mistake, that is what they are doing. Themes invented by individual children are being developed by the class and their teacher into real pieces of music. The names (‘Cho – co – la – de – fon –…

  • Participatory arts, older people and living with dementia – Guest blog

    Since 2010, the Baring Foundation has focused on improving older people’s quality of life through opportunities to participate in the arts. The Foundation is small and so its work aims to influence policy and practice through projects, partnerships and publications. It has supported a very wide range of work in the past six years, which is documented on…

  • Traditional music, young people and community in the Scottish Highlands

    ‘The fèis is very important to me because I am not very musical. I don’t play any instruments or sing, so coming to the fèis makes me see how brilliant all the different musical instruments sound, and to be lucky to meet so many talented people. I love having a go on instruments such as…