I’m finalising the wording for our brochure at the venue right now.
What follows is my suggested wording for that first iteration, as well as the conversation topic that i most want to consider at that time. It ties quite closely to @noemi’s Brussels conversation about ‘secure spaces for artists’ but with that added layer that is very local to Bedford about redefining civic spaces and town centres.
I’ve named it Culture culture until we have a better suggestion for a name. Personally, i’m not super offended by that idea as i think the 2 meanings of the word together do actually connote what the core area of this discussion series is aiming to achieve: to create a fertile environment for the growth and development of arts & cultural practices.
I have started to talk to local orgs and people who i’d like to have included in the conversation. The next big step for me will be to find a suitable image to use for this event.
WED 8 MAY 7PM
WordSetFree & Edgeryders present
Culture culture: A networked conversation about cultural growth and development
FREE 14+ Spoken Word
‘Culture culture’ is a curated deep inquiry into the most urgent challenges faced by cultural and art collectives across European cities. Culture culture offers participants a local/global platform for conversation and access to useful information and support which tends to be unavailable or expensive.
Over six months, one question per month will convene artists, activists, cultural workers to a local meetup in locations across Europe where they will engage in constructive conversation and draw points of action for mutual support and collaboration. The meetups are synchronized to address complementary issues across each location, so each event feeds into the wider conversation.
WordSetFree and Edgeryders Culture Squad will work with you, the participants, to produce and document the events, connecting our local stories into a bigger narrative, and connecting participants with resources from a network of thousands of people doing cultural and activist work across the world.
Opening topic will be:
How can arts and culture create a secure environment for artists and citizens to lead the ongoing renovation and redefinition of civic spaces?
Otherwise if you want something in particular I would suggest a tighter brief about the type of image/concept you are after and an artist or designer in the group could potentially be commissioned or have something suitable already in their archives…
Hi Jason, thanks for reaching out.
At present most of the pertinent details can be found here on the platform. You can see the work in progress as we’re discussing it here: The Networked Culture Conversation Series - #19 by noemi
I will send you an email directly though so we can connect directly through that medium as well. Unless there’s anything particularly mission sensitive i’d always prefer to share it online here so anyone can engage with it later on.
What drew you to the idea that Edgeryders Culture Squad are exploring? Perhaps you’d be interested in setting something up in London?
Thanks for the suggestion. I will have a look through the archive you suggested.
Excuse my vagueness in the OP. We’re looking at creating a visual identity for the series of events that extends across all of the locations (this is correct @noemi, @natalia_skoczylas?) so my note was a call out to other ER colleagues to remind us that we need to start that process quite soon.
We will discuss to see if there’s some money available to commission something specific that could be used across all of these events. Might be a sensible use of some of our funds.
Hei yes, I was saying we will need a template for flyers and digital materials - but those can be made in Canva.com or the like, and shared with the team so they can be adapted to each city.
To those we can add a selection of good images from platforms like the one @Tnt1 so generously shared. <3
My preference is for minimal stuff now so we can focus on the content and getting going…
But that’s just me.
I agree that something minimal is preferable, as that helps to work across a variety of locations. Something simple that can be augmented by other ‘area specific’ artwork might work.
Noemi, I’ll send you the PechaKucha style guide so you can see how they make it work for them
I am a designer and art director so could potentially help out (depending on timelines) creating the assets. You can view examples of my work at www.tyroneprobert.com
I currently run a FB group with over a 1000 artists/ maker members.
Can I copy the concept note and put out via the group, the Black Arts Alliance, UK, and British Black and Asian Studies Association, or is it too early?
Also, no mention of events in the UK - not friends anymore? And the Culture Squad link appears to be set to private or a 404 error.
Hi Jason, you’re more than welcome to circulate the idea around. The more people who are drawn to the idea and interested in running their own iterations and feeding the discussions, participants and ideas back into the wider networked conversation the better.