This is a weekly series of articles curated by Voluntary Arts and authored by cultural thinkers and doers. The series will be published between November 2017 and February 2018. It is being shaped in response to the emerging practice of cultural commoning and as a way of articulating ideas that have arisen in conversations about Our Cultural Commons over the past two years across the UK and Republic of Ireland.
Our intention is that the series will help make visible the cultural commons in action and will encourage new approaches to sustaining creative cultural activity in local places. And we hope that the articles and the conversation they stimulate will contribute to the forming of ever more enabling cultural policy.
Across Northern Ireland from citizens through to local councils and Arts Council Northern Ireland we are engaged in developing a range of arts strategies and cultural policies. Get an overview of the cultural strategy landscape and some insights and provocations Read more
A Civic Conversation Read more
Presentations from a series of conversational seminars exploring cultural participation, democracy and the economy through the lens of the commoning and cooperative movements Read more
Robin Simpson, Chief Executive of Voluntary Arts, describes how in this changing world, that for many of us feels deeply unsettling, we may find ways of responding constructively in new approaches which draw on old traditions. Read more
John Fox MBE distills a lifetime of experience liberating art from 'the ghettos of theatres and galleries and restoring it to participating communities.' Read more
"I was in the forest today and I came out taller than the trees" Karin Eyben tells a story of commoning in a local forest in Northern Ireland Read more
Dr. Peter Doran asks questions about a neoliberal world seeking to enclose and marketise our attention Read more
Niamh Goggin of Small Change (NI) Ltd questions the systems of creation and distribution Read more
Tom Jones, of No. 11 Arts in Birmingham, shares an example of cultural commons in practice Read more
The Common Interchange of Ordinary Intelligence Imagine Belfast Festival of Ideas and Politics, 12-18 March 2018 Read more
Dr. Abigail Gilmore of the University of Manchester considers the function of parks as common spaces Read more
Liam Murphy shares his thoughts on digital commons and the CultureBanking approach to IP rights Read more
Andrew Kim, Artistic Director of Handmade Parade, writes about producing participatory cultural events in West Yorkshire Read more
Denis Stewart, Chair of Voluntary Arts Ireland shares some thoughts and reflections on cultural commoning Read more
David Francis of TRACS describes how The People's Parish projects connects with local culture across Scotland Read more
Daria Stenina of Cardboardia explains the origins of the planet's most friendly and creative country Read more
Beeban Kidron OBE discusses the unique power of convening in real life and her work in the digital world Read more
Robert Livingstone questions how Scotland's cultural ecology operates Read more
Jamie Gahlon's case story of Boston-based knowledge commons by and for the theatre community Read more
Nat O'Connor of Ulster University considers cultural commoning and its effects on our society Read more
Kevin Murphy & Denis Stewart introduce our new series of articles on cultural commoning Read more