More carpenters than jackasses
In this part of Northern Europe, midwinter skies are often bright and clear. The low sun floods in like stage
Author: François Matarasso
Community artist, writer, researcher, trainer, consultant, policymaker – I’ve had many roles since I started work in community arts in 1980, but always in the hope of protecting human rights. I work independently, mostly in Europe, from my home in France. I always work with others, accompanying them, sometimes guiding, in the journeys they want to make. My latest book is about the history, theory and practice of community art: it’s free to download from www.arestlessart.com
Virtual Realities, Part One
If you invite people to co-create a Virtual Reality opera no one has the first idea what you have in mind.
‘Write this down’
It was the end of a long day. We’d run out of time and the guards needed to get us
Building Capabilities: Rethinking the social value of culture
Today will see the third performance of O Tempo (Somos Nós) , “Time (It’s Us), this time at the Gulbenkian Concert
The meaning of risk in community art
Three days ago, anticipating the first performance of the Leiria prison opera, I wrote that I didn’t expect to see
This is special
In the dusty hall of a disused prison workshop, 30 people shuffle into a big circle. Silence falls. They draw
Start by valuing what’s already there
Last night, Arlene Goldbard and I recorded the next episode of our blog, ‘A Culture of Possibility’. Our guest was
Reflecting on ‘El Cabaret de la Gata’
A long journey needs resting points It is a surprise, in my sixties, to find myself working on opera, as
‘Cabaret de la Gata’– Traction takes off
As the pandemic recedes—or perhaps becomes normalised—it is becoming hard to recall the strangeness of those lockdown months, and the
Building bridges
It’s just over two years since I met the people involved in the Traction co-creation opera projects, in Donostia, at
Regular Marvels 