As a culminating gesture in our legacy year programme, Mansions of the Future is proud to announce our two-day Innovation in Engagement conference on Thursday 17th and Friday 18th June 2021 which will be delivered in partnership with the University of Lincoln’s Centre for Culture and Creativity.
The Innovation in Engagement Conference 2021 will profile and celebrate innovative social and cultural organisations and initiatives which adopt radically inclusive and collaborative practices. Funded by The University of Lincoln’s Centre for Culture and Creativity, and supported by Common Wealth and the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art the co-authored programme will present new ways of coming together, being together and exercising solidarity and new economies in increasingly divisive global politics.
The conference will champion, necessarily diverse organisations across the UK that are delivering work that takes risks, is led for and with underrepresented groups and present viable and vibrant alternatives to the statistical exclusivity of the sector. The two-day conference will feature perspectives, projects and strategies for change from creative practitioners, activists, organisations, charities, artists, policy makers and communities.
With increased dialogue around socially engaged practices specifically within the artist-led sector, MotF recognises an associated paucity of cross-organisational and infrastructural dialogue. The Innovation in Engagement conference will be an urgent response to this omission – facilitating national cross-organisational and cross-sector learning as well as the generous sharing of the complex challenges associated with delivering radically inclusive work. The conference seeks to addresses a gap in knowledge and exchange for and with cultural organisations and institutions.
In the fall-out from the COVID pandemic and in stark acknowledgement of the Black Lives Matter campaign, MotF recognises it is more pertinent than ever to re-interrogate civic value of our cultural organisations. Situating such conversations in the immediate aftermath of such global events will serve to re-imagine, and begin to re-build, cultural organisations that are responsive to the needs of their community and serve as civic institutions for public benefit.
The conference will also provide an opportunity for Mansions of the Future to critically reflect on its contribution and impact within the city.
Full programme to be announced in May 2021 , visit the dedicated conference website and sign up to our conference mailing list to be the first to hear about announcements and updates
For all general enquiries please contact our Conference Coordinators Carys and Kerry on carys@mansionsofthefuture.org / kerry@mansionsofthefuture.org