The Artist's Journey 2
14 February
@ Theatre Deli
Free & open to all
Being an artist can take you to places you never thought were possible, but the paths are unclear and the maps complicated. Last years Artist’s Journey conference highlighted just a few of the directions that a creative practice might take, revisiting the familiar and sharing the picnics enjoyed along the way, to help us each to plan our own creative excursions.
This year, against a backdrop of global political turmoil and burgeoning inequality, the conference will consider how extraordinary practices and initiatives are supporting the preservation of multiculturalist values, solidarity and freedom of expression. As creative freedom becomes increasingly constrained; through limited funding, through the dismantling of creativity within education and through an increasingly monetised understanding of value, the need to work collectively, in unison, critically and creatively has become more urgent.
The Artist’s Journey #2 will share the collective journeys of artists who have a range of practices and approaches and who continue to plot a course for their development. The talks and discussions will explore the potential of collaboration, the power of a collective voice, and ways of protecting and sustaining the freedom to make art.
This day is about looking at the substance, criticality, methods, brilliance, humour and strategies that artists use to establish themselves and to work out what we need more of, or what is missing. What does ‘continuing professional development’ mean? And how can we create advocacy to make sure that artists are supported in a way that has effect?
Artist’s Journey #2 is supported by Making Ways and is a partnership between Yorkshire & Humber Visual Arts Network (YVAN), Rose Butler; Fine Art, Sheffield Hallam University and Kerry Campbell, Public Programmes Curator at Bloc Projects, Sheffield. The cross-organisational partnership provides continuing professional development support for individual artists and small-scale, organisations and artist-led collectives in Yorkshire & Humber, addressing (but not limited to) recent graduates and early career practitioners.
Images by Peter Martin