ISLANDNESS - Online Conference & workshop

An online con­fer­ence and work­shop as part of the ​‘How Can I Stay? (I don’t want to not want to stay)’ programme.
This conference explored the idea of islands and their social, cultural and geographical place in time - are they places for endings or locations for beginnings?
We take the metaphor and reality of the island as an area of interrogation. In many ways, island communities and artists working within these communities are at the forefront of the stress-tests of how to sustain an artistic practice, far from metropolitan centres.
In our workshop, we will use case studies of arts organisations working on and between islands, who can show us how to celebrate the cultural distinctiveness of these creative communities - to explore the split identities, choosing island life because of rather than in spite of its distinctive framing.
Chaired by artist, researcher and lecturer Dr Laura Hopes, we hear from Tammy Bedford from Culture on Scilly in the Isles of Scilly, Heather Fulton of Atlas Arts in Skye in conversation with artist Lauren Gault and Djamila Boulil from the University of Groningen in conversation with Georgia Newman, Deputy Director, Creative Island and lead for the IW Creative Network.
This event was convened by Dr Laura Hopes and Georgia Newman.