Dominic Campbell, 26 January 2014

Called by Dominic Campbell

Attendees; Frances Rifkin, Wendy Thomson, Jonathon Petherbridge, Andrew Loretto,

Jane Hobson, Isabel Carr, Noreen Meehan

Summary;

Discussion had four areas;

1) To introduce an ongoing series of roundtables and online engagement where the

interests and focus of a spectrum of practice embracing engaged, community and

participatory practices is being articulated through the voices of generations of

practitioners, commissioners, participants and thinkers.

Connected Conversations: Passing It On is the inaugural project of Arts and Society

supported by Arts Council England and the RSA delivered in partnership with

Connected Culture, a London based network celebrating participatory arts that is

facilitated through theatre company, Spare Tyre.

Read more about it here www.connectedculture.co.uk.

Fascinating submissions from those attending can be read here;

http://practitionersroundtable.blogspot.co.uk/

http://commissionersroundtable.blogspot.co.uk/

http://thinkersroundtable.blogspot.co.uk/

You can join in through #connectedconverssations or submit your own contributions at

www.connectedculture.co.uk or by emailing [email protected].

2) Was to ask attendees at DD9 what conversations, with whom, and what networks

inform what they do.

3) Was to ask “Who would you like to talk to?”

4) Was to ask “How might we move on from talking”

The discussion looked at how real world and online conversations introduce you to

others, who is present how you find (or don't) the information you might need. We

talked about Festivals as connectors, and described how we or our practices connect

ourselves with others or other knowledges to each other or people to people. We

talked about the art of conversation and the art of hosting or providing a receptacle for

difference and how it’s perhaps being changed by online engagement

Reference was made to:

SCUDD.org.uk/list, Timebank, SkillShare, StepChange at the NT, CLore Leadership

courses, “6 hour coffee breaks” run by Mike White and Mary Robson in

Durham/Newcastle with artists and the NHS, BEAM in Wakefield, London International

Festival of Architecture, The Art of Conversation by Selig, Kaite O’Reilly writer and

scientist, Susan Greenfield nurologist, Ken Robinson.

Consultation and forum groups and the time these can take up.

How to filter through all the information we receive to find what is of most value

How its useful to have an ally and a guide from within an organsation, sector or

specialism when trying to work with one that is outside of your reference (eg a local

authority, science field, health sector etc)

The value of putting your art or yourself into different contexts

People we would like to talk to:

Those who shape the way we live; Town planers, and futureologists, Dynastic

Planners and Private Equity Firms, Nurologists and Dermatologists, those I don’t

know, people with a profile, more artists.

The difference natures of online and face to face engagement, what “dialogue” is

(whats going on in the space between us when we meet) nad how we act as carriers

and links and mobile connectors by carrying conversations and thoughts within us.

We teased out the subtle difference between anecdotal bollix and oral history

We touched on what is required to engage with those unlike you or who hold opinions

contrary and perhaps opposed to your own

Overheard

There is a question that isn’t being articulated and to which we therefore don't yet have

the answer.

What is the internet doing to how we think and how we converse?

Do we now assume all knowledge is digitized

The value of a creative space as a place of engagement

3rd level education (e.g night courses) as one of the few places for encountering a

cross section of society

If I’ve missed anything out please add here….