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Using international case studies and in-situ projects, the school explores the visible and invisible forms of labour and the distinct, yet interconnected skills and spheres involved in socially engaged work.

Summer School Areas of Inquiry:

• The various forms of ‘value’ associated with collaborative and socially engaged practice.
• Managing expectations with commissioners, funders, and community partners.
• Re-examining the commissioning process, providing time for preliminary research before co-production.
• Building trust with ‘critical friends’ and ‘champions’ in long-term projects.
• Navigating the relationship between craft, care, and the essential role of aesthetics in collaborative and socially engaged projects.
• Addressing the challenges of co-creating material and cultural infrastructures within contested public spaces.
• Balancing artistic authorship with the collaborative dynamics of working with communities and collectives.
• Documenting and ‘finding the story’ of a project in partnership with diverse allies and communities.
• Identifying and establishing both temporary and permanent venues for exhibiting collaborative and socially engaged work, including galleries, public museums and private and public collections, archives and other civic and community spaces.
• Exploring innovative approaches to critical evaluation with potential commissioners, collaborators, and participants.

Over five days (13-17 July), artists gathered for the Summer School on Cultural Diversity and Collaborative Practice in Leenane, Connemara, Co Galway, Ireland.

We were finally back in place after 2 years of being online – with contributions from Haven for Artists, Beirut; in addition to Mozilla Fest, Amsterdam and London;  Deveron Projects, Aberdeenshire, Scotland; Ismail Einashe speaking from Nairobi, Kenya; and Kit Braybrooke from Berlin and much more.

The 2022 Summer School programme lays out a a five-day residency enabling a ‘think and do’ collaborative approach, utilising a combination of creative workshops, critical and comparative case studies, a creative group challenge, one-to-one mentoring, together with international guest artists including curators, policymakers and activists. In addition to an extensive reading list for research beyond the school.

Image credit: Leenane, Killary, Co Galway - Ireland

We are delighted to announce the publication of the programme for the 2021 Autumn School on Cultural Diversity and Collaborative Practice.

Now in its fourth year, the 2021 School will take the form of a five-day virtual residency enabling a ‘think and do’ collaborative approach, utilizing creative workshops, critical and comparative case studies, a creative group challenge, one-to-one mentoring.

International guest artists including curators, policymakers and activists: Dana Olărescu, Dominik Czechowski, Ismail Einashe, Isabel Lima, Nike Jonah.

A special feature in 2021 will include a School event with investigative journalist, Ismail Einashe, at Platforma 6 on 22^nd October.

The 2021 School on Cultural Diversity and Collaborative Practice is an initiative of Create, the national development agency for collaborative arts (Ireland) and Counterpoints Arts’ Learning Lab (UK); it is funded by the Arts Council of Ireland’s Artist in the Community (AIC) Scheme.