CONFERENCE: ENCC Shortcut Europe, Cities and Territorial Challenges 

Cities and territorial challenges: the role of cultural centres in resilience and development dynamics.

Castlefield Gallery’s director Kwong Lee is pleased to be speaking at the next European Network of Cultural Centres Shortcut conference at Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre from the 17-19 February 2016.

Representatives of ongoing social, political and economic transformations, European cities have to re-invent their mode of development and sustainability, taking into account democratic, social, economic and environmental challenges ; they need to connect to local issues as well as to globalized dynamics. What role do artistic and creative stakeholders, and specifically cultural centre, play in this landscape of development and change ? How do they offer spaces for experimentation to engage citizens  in new forms of participation, of economic, social or environmental resilience? How may they contribute to the interconnection of their local territories at a European and international level? What are the benefits and challenges of developing new relationships with local and international cultural centre and stakeholders? These are some of the issues that will be explored during the forthcoming ENCC conference in Bury – UK, February 2016.

Bury – UK is an interesting example of such challenges and dynamics. The city has focused on its cultural sector as one of the main assets in its development strategy, with Bury Arts Museum playing a key role in this process. In recent years Bury Arts Museum has prioritised building strong and productive partnerships with international culturalcentres, including those in China, Japan and Taiwan. Bury is therefore a fascinating example of a cultural centreworking internationally whilst also negotiating a myriad of local issues – while developing their model of international working Bury Art Museum have had to engage local authorities, partner organisations and local audiences, clearly informing them of the benefits of this model and how it contributes to the town’s territorial development.

The conference is co-organised by Bury Arts Museum and ENCC. It will provide participants an opportunity to meet people from across the cultural sector around the main topic, including local and international cultural stakeholders, policy makers, activists, academics. The event will also follow previous ENCC meetings by providing a forum for networking, capacity building and engaging in analysis and debate.

Speakers include: 
Artists Philip Davenport and Lois Blackburn – Arthur + Martha
Catharine Braithwaite – Freelance Arts Marketing Communications
Dr. Raül Abeledo Sanchis, University of Valencia (Spain) 
Hilary Jennings – Transition Network
Kwong Lee – Castlefield Gallery
Rachel Marsden – Transcultural Curator
Tom Higham – FutureEverything
Tony Butler – Derby Museum Trust
Tony Trehy – Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre
.

For more info and to book your place click here.