What Future do We Want? An invitation to join us for an Open Space discussion about the future of the visual arts in Bristol, taking place at St. Georges.
*Important Updates
The venue has changed to the Paintworks event space
Paintworks is located on the Bath Road, just outside the city centre. There is free parking and bike stands at the location. Parking is found at the far right of the Paintworks site (next to Block C)
If you are coming via bus, Paintworks is served by a number of buses running from the centre of Bristol harbour area, from Temple Meads station and between Bristol and Bath: 1, 57, 349 and X39.
By rail from Temple Meads station, head left along the A4 towards Bath then bear left at the Three Lamps junction. Continue for half a mile, Paintworks is on the left hand side. It is approximately a 12 minute walk.
A map illustrating the Paintworks location can be found here.
The timings for the event have been extended to allow for more people to have their say. The event will now run from 10:00am to 5:00pm. If you cannot stay for the whole day, we would encourage you to come for 10:00am as the introduction to the day is crucial.
Over the past few months, we’ve been talking about the Visual Arts in Bristol with a great many people. The conversations have been passionate and committed, some concerned, others hopeful about the future. Certainly the ground beneath our feet is shifting. There is a dynamic energy bristling through the Visual Arts in our city and a shared desire to improve the profile of what we all do nationally and internationally.
Bristol is an incredibly fertile context for artistic practice. More and more artists are coming to live and work here, whether due to the international reputation of our artistic and curatorial talent, the level of critical debate on offer, the potential of cross-artform exchange, the richness of collections and archives, the viral nature of artistic interventions across public spaces, or the vitality of our studios.
But despite the tenacity and vision of individuals across the city, the future looks uncertain. Government and local authority funding will decrease across the public sector – affecting everyone from artists to arts organisations, art schools to start-up designers, freelancers to arts educators – changing the way in which we live and work in this city.
The visual arts are a vital component of Bristol’s cultural success, but unlike Theatre or Digital Media here, there is a broad consensus that the visual arts sector has not yet succeeded in telling a cohesive and dynamic story locally. Why not? What’s holding us back?
We feel passionate about the visual arts in this city and compelled to start a conversation that might open up different perspectives. So, we’re inviting you to join us for an Open Space discussion on Monday 16th September about the future of the visual arts in Bristol.
We want to discuss with you what a thriving visual arts ecology might look like: What kinds of support and opportunities do artists and curators need at different stages of their careers? What do you think the role of funded organisations should be? Do we have the spaces and resources we need? What can be learnt from other Visual Arts communities around the globe? What do audiences value about the Visual Arts in this city and how can we foster wider and deeper engagement with what we do? What might we expect from our funders and patrons? Do you think the Visual Arts are championed as one of Bristol’s great success stories and if not, why not?
Our discussions might lead to all sorts of outcomes. One might be a Visual Arts strategy for the city – but would that be useful, to whom and what would this enable us to do together?
We’re going to be using a format for the meeting called Open Space, which may be familiar to you. It is an interactive and inclusive way of structuring a meeting that allows you, the participant, to set the agenda. A strength of Open Space is its ability to unite groups of enormous diversity. So, whoever you are, if you have an interest in the Visual Arts in Bristol, we’d like to invite you to join us to see if we can work together to imagine the future for the Visual Arts.
The event is free, and we’ll provide food and drink and make sure you are well looked after. All that we ask is that you tell us that you’re coming by booking your free ticket at http://visartsbristol.eventbrite.co.uk/.
We’re also taking this opportunity to start to build a picture of the Bristol Visual Arts highlights and achievements over the past year. You can contribute by taking part in a very short survey and post questions and ideas for the Open Space event at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZZ57VSV.
This invitation is open to everyone, so please pass this invitation on to anyone you think might be interested. We hope to see you there.
Best wishes
Alexis, Claire, Helen, Julie, Phil and Tom
Alexis Butt, Acting Director, RWA; Claire Doherty, Director, Situations; Helen Legg, Director, Spike Island; Julie Finch, Director and Phil Walker, Public Programmes Manager, Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives and Tom Trevor, Director, Arnolfini.
Visual Arts in Bristol – What Future Do We Want? will take place at St. Georges, Great George Street, Off Park Street, Bristol BS1 5RR on 16th September 2013 11am – 3pm.
There are 150 places available for this event and they will be issued on a first come first served basis. Book your free ticket at http://visartsbristol.eventbrite.co.uk/
To find out more about Open Space go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Space_Technology
With thanks to St. Georges for their support for this event.
