Slides from a presentation I made to the annual Arts & Audiences conference of the Nordic States, which in 2014 had a focus on the role of digital in audience development for the arts. From the programme: "Bursting the community arts bubble: connecting with communities making culture on their own terms. Is the game up for the traditional model of "community art" making (& funding)? This session offers a few provocations towards re-thinking our approaches to producing "community arts", in an era when the digital shift blurs the line between professional and amateur creative, but also creates new kinds of cultural disenfranchisement."

1. BURSTING THE BUBBLE
Connecting with people making
culture on their own terms
@timj0nes
about.me/timj0nes
Arts & Audiences Conference, Reykjavik, Oct 2014

2. innovation in
“community arts”

3. innovation in
“community (using the) arts”

4. ‘communities’ and boxes

5. 3 challenges: 3 projects

6. it’s all (post) digital now

7. CHALLENGE 1: COMMUNITY LED
CREATIVITY

8. NODE.LONDON
using digital to build cultural infrastructure

9. • a month long city-wide season of art & technology events
• networked, open, distributed, events
• 90+ volunteer organisers (artists, producers, venues,
mavericks)
• no centralised curation
• volunteers worked only on aspects of the project they were
motivated to
• no voting – consensus based approach
• model adopted by NODE.Stockholm (2008)

10. SEASON OF MEDIA ARTS LONDON, March 2006
• 450 events
• 40 venues, from major cultural institutions to grassroots
• print catalogue, ‘central’ website, publication
• huge boost to networking and resource awareness
• audiences ‘beyond the fold’?

11. CHALLENGE 2: USER CENTRED DESIGN

12. THE POTLUCK
mixing food, art & creativity for intercultural placemaking

13. CHICAGO urban geography, race/ethnicity

14. harnessing the potential of the
‘intercultural neighbourhood’

15. we think that to bring neighbourhoods together
FOOD JUST WORKS

16. it’s a fun and popular way
to explore themes of
CULTURE
PLACE
IDENTITY
MIGRATION

17. the ingredients

18. FOOD SHARING EVENTS
inviting dialogue about neighbourhood futures1

19. proactive inclusivity as a design principle
everyone is welcomed to the table

20. TRAINING
in creative/artistic community activism2

21. so forming local practitioner groups committed to
inclusive neighbourhood development

22. we’ve worked with 35 artists/activists and our events have reached
thousands of local people

23. an interactive installation at the
Smart Museum of Contemporary Art
Audience 80,000
1,700 public
contributions

24. A NETWORK OF PARTNERS
• Columbia College
• The Jane Addams Hull House Museum
• The Inspiration Kitchen
• Dorchester Projects
• En Las Tablas Performing Arts Center

25. Potluck: Chicago has been established as a sustainable collective

26. CHALLENGE 3: ENTERPRISE

27. MULTIWALKS www.multiwalks.com
@multiwalks

28. inspired by global mass migration and urbanisation

29. • a free mobile app offering neighbourhood walks by
migrant artists (Italy, Norway, UK)
• a workflow to create more walks
• a ‘@Diversity’ award from the European Commission

30. collaborating with
Business Improvement Districts (BIDs)
to develop the Local Visitor Economy

31. revealing coexistent stories of place to
encourage emergent forms of tourism

32. using a digital platform to invent
socially engaged street art

33. • street art murals reflecting historical figures from the history
and politics of Reggio Emilia, Italy
• young people from migrant backgrounds interviewing local
residents to provide media content for the app

34. BONUS
CHALLENGE
persistent platforms and frameworks
beyond ‘pond to pond’ funding

35. SOME FOCUSSING QUESTIONS

36. how can we make more
inclusive and representative
the ways we bring together
communities, artists, producers, technologists?

37. how can we give communities
‘producer power’
as well as the benefits of participation?

38. what changes in our institutions do we
want?aims: structure: make up: programme:
partnerships

39. what changes to financing structures
are needed for greater impact
and to support greater social change?

40. what ideas and approaches
might engage artists
with the potential of social creativity
in new and important ways?

41. how can we routinely build
digital ‘ladders of participation’
into projects and programmes?

42. thank you for taking part! @timj0nes
about.me/timj0nes