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A Restless Art

A Restless Art

How participation won, and why it matters

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  • Case studies
    • Fun Palaces
    • The Portland Inn Project
      • O Portland Inn Projeto – Um caso de estudo de arte participativa
    • ‘Men & Girls Dance’, Fevered Sleep
      • ‘Men & Girls Dance’, Um caso de estudo de arte participativa
    • Movimento de Expressão Fotográfica
      • Movimento de Expressão Fotográfica – Um caso de estudo de arte participativa
    • ‘We’re here because we’re here’
      • ‘We’re here because we’re here’ – Um caso de estudo de arte participativa
    • ‘Bed’, Entelechy Arts
      • ‘Bed’, Entelechy Arts – Um caso de estudo de arte participativa
    • Welfare State International
      • Welfare State International – Um caso de estudo de arte participativa
    • Festival de Música de Setúbal
      • Festival de Música de Setúbal – um caso de estudo de arte participativa
  • Projects
    • ‘L’Ego do Meu Bairro’ Olho.te
    • Project links
    • The Cabbage Field Opera (Lithuania)
    • Valleys Kids (Wales)
    • ‘I am the Museum’ (Bosnia Herzegovina)
    • El Colegio del Cuerpo (Colombia)
    • Multistory (UK)
    • Restoke (UK)
    • Streetwise Opera
    • Toinen Koti (Finnish National Theatre)
    • Dotrščina Virtual Museum (Croatia)
    • Geração SOMA, Vo’Arte (Portugal)
    • A Bao A Qu (Spain)
    • The Lawnmowers Independent Theatre Company (UK)
    • Banlieues Bleues (France)
    • Mahatat for contemporary art (Egypt)
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    • Community and participatory art beyond Europe
  • About
    • François Matarasso
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Category: social change

February 10, 2022 A Restless Art / Cultural democracy / England / Northern Ireland / Scotland / social change / Theatre / Third generation / Wales / Writing

Signal Fires

In another time, I was asked by Fuel Theatre to write the introduction for a book called Signal Fires, collecting

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July 18, 2021 A Restless Art / Art and young people / Art in criminal justice / Cultural democracy / cultural diversity / Democratisation of culture / Ethics / First Generation / Funding / Ireland / Opera / Portugal / Reflexive practice / Research / Second generation / social change / Spain / Third generation

Still thinking about co-creation

In March, I posted a question on Twitter about co-creation.  What do artists mean by ‘co-creation’? I’m writing about the

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April 24, 2021 A Restless Art / Music / Opera / social change / Spain / Third generation

‘What I’ve Been Looking For’

The Musicals Choir was started by Cristina Colomer, director of the Escola de Músics in Raval, for young people experiencing

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October 2, 2020 A Restless Art / Cultural democracy / Democratisation of culture / Ideas / social change

Participation, cultural rights and the 2020 Rome Charter

Yesterday was the opening day of an international conference, focusing on the 2020 Rome Charter that was published in the summer. Along

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July 15, 2020 A Restless Art / Ethics / social change / Where do you stand?

Art for social change – or social justice?

In 1990s Britain the term community art began to be replaced by participatory arts, which many people hoped didn’t carry ‘the baggage of

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May 1, 2020 A Restless Art / social change / Third generation

Arts and homelessness during Covid-19

‘Stay home’ is good advice, but it depends on having a home to stay in. Across the world, millions of

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April 2, 2020 A Restless Art / Art and older people / Art and young people / Cultural democracy / Dance / Democratisation of culture / England / Music / social change / Third generation

This is what we’re working to protect

Everyone knows the theatres are closed, along with cinemas, concert halls, museums and galleries. Yesterday, the 2020 Edinburgh Festivals were

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October 14, 2019 A Restless Art / Cultural democracy / Democratisation of culture / Education / England / Europe / social change / Theatre / Visual art

Anne Peaker Memorial Lecture

Tomorrow evening at the Young Vic Theatre in London, I will give the 10th Annual Anne Peaker Memorial lecture, on

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October 3, 2019 A Restless Art / Cultural democracy / Democratisation of culture / England / Europe / social change / Third generation

It’s Fun Palaces weekend

When I was a young and earnest community artist, I bridled at the word fun. The art we made wasn’t

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October 12, 2018 A Restless Art / Cultural democracy / Democratisation of culture / England / Europe / France / Germany / Ireland / Lithuania / Netherlands / Northern Ireland / Portugal / Professional artists / social change / Third generation / Where do you stand?

Is there a community arts movement once more?

ICAF (the International Community Arts Festival in Rotterdam) has just published a photo book of the 2017 edition, and an

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