This regional conference is a sharing of professional experience between practitioners/artists using participatory creative cultural activity in multi-disciplinary ways in community learning and development circumstances.

The discussions, practical activities and showing and sharing of films, animations and other “products” will explore a range of approaches, practices and outcomes and consider these experiences in the context of good practice and better benefits for participants.

The conference comes at the end of a 3-year Arts Council funded programme run by Community Music East Ltd. (CME). The products of the programme are on the web at www.artforall.org.uk The programme was developed just as CME was exploring the potential to work in multi-disciplinary ways - incorporating film, animation and other media but also picking up on the other disciplines such as acting, scripting, writing, dance/movement and visual arts work that might link in as well as music-related activity. CME explored the implications of managing and making sense of multiple art disciplines and reconciling them to its educational principles and ethos in tutor training activity. By arranging and managing participant collaborations products were produced that provided a range of interesting engagement and learning circumstances.

“The Art for All?? Conference will be the ideal opportunity to ask some questions around the efficacy and value of this kind of work. To explore whether expectations are realistic and helpful. Particularly as these sorts of activity, seen as so attractive to the hard to reach and disadvantaged beneficiary, have become very compelling to government-funded initiatives and associated with significant expectations of social and economic outcomes. Though these are perhaps more focused on the potential statistical outcomes of short-term targets met rather than the developmental ones, such as valuable learning experiences for the participant that could inform their understanding of and engagement with society and the economy.”
Ben Higham CME Director

Bursaries are available.  For more information or to book your place, please call 01603 628367 or e-mail enquiries@cme.org.uk. Full schedule of the conference is available as a pdf (259K)