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In July 2024 we interviewed the educator Peter Renshaw, who has been a huge influence on the development of socially engaged practice and research at Guildhall and the initiatives we’ve heard about in this podcast series so far: Leadership, PACE, The Institute for Social Impact Research in the Performing Arts and Disrupt. Peter has written extensively on music, education and socially engaged practice and is an influential figure in the worlds of community music and collaborative practices.  Echoes and the Unsaid  EPISODE 06 | JUNE 26 | 2026   HOSTS Jo Gibson | Sophie Hope   COMMENTARY  In the first part of this conversation we hear from Peter about a seminal experience he had in 1961 visiting refugee camps in Austria when he was a student and his experience as principal of the Menuhin School where he introduced music students performing in schools, hospices and prisons and coal mines.  Peter then moved to Guildhall in 1984 to set up the Performance, Communication Skills course. We hear about his ability to get external funding to set up that course, about the staff Peter got involved to run the course in the early days and the necessary allies and partners he connected with to support the development of the programme.  We end this episode with Peter inviting Sean Gregory into the conversation. Sean was a student of the course in  1989 and is now Vice-Principal & Director of Innovation and Engagement at Guildhall.  We’ll hear more from Sean and Peter in episode 7.    REFERENCES Menuhin School https://www.menuhinschool.co.uk/ The Society for the Promotion of Educational Reform Through Teacher Training (SPERTT / SPERTTT) https://www.proquest.com/openview/20d1005ac955a54bc50241aaf1f28439/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1820949 Dame Cicely Saunders, palliative care pioneer https://www.kcl.ac.uk/cicelysaunders/about-us/cicely-saunders Carl Rogers, humanistic psychology https://www.apa.org/about/governance/president/carl-r-rogers Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_London_Education_Authority John Hosier, principal of Guildhall (1978-89) https://www.theguardian.com/news/2000/apr/03/guardianobituaries Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s The Arts in Schools report written by Ken Robinson (1982) https://cdn.gulbenkian.pt/uk-branch/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/1989/01/The_Arts_in_Schools.pdf Sally Bacon and Pauline Tambling’s Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s  The Arts in Schools: Foundations for the Future (2023) https://www.culturallearningalliance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/The-Arts-in-Schools-full-report-2023.pdf Peter Brinson – Director of UK and British Commonwealth Branch,Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation 1972-82 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-peter-brinson-1614720.html Helena Gauntt https://www.rwcmd.ac.uk/staff/helena-gaunt  

On episode 65 of A Culture of Possibility, François Matarasso and Arlene Goldbard interview Clare Reynolds, codirector of Restoke, to find out what has happened since they last spoke to her in Episode 3.   A CULTURE OF POSSIBILITY EPISODE 65 | JUNE 19 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Arlene Goldbard | François Matarasso | Clare Reynolds   COMMENTARY Clare Reynolds works as the codirector of Restoke, a community arts organization in Stoke-on-Trent, in the north of England.  We interviewed Clare five years ago, in the third episode of this podcast, and have now returned to find the organization thriving with National Portfolio funding from Arts Council England, a wonderful building, and significant new work with young people.  Clare talks about Restoke’s processes, including Holding Lightly, and its work on scaffolding hope in times when hope may be hard to find.   REFERENCES Restoke https://www.restoke.org.uk/ Clare Reynolds interview on Episode Three of A Culture of Possibility in March, 2021 https://www.miaaw.net/e/restoke/ Power Project report on Restoke’s youth theater https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58d51b5359cc687828bf115c/t/685073fc56a13c48bc943201/1750103039433/PP+Report+WEB+%281%29.pdf Arlene Goldbard writes about Clare Reynolds & Restoke https://arestlessart.com/2021/03/19/a-culture-of-possibility-3-clare-reynolds-on-restokes-work-in-staffordshire/  

In this month’s episode of Parallel Streams we listen to an episode of ART IS CHANGE, introduced by Bill Cleveland who created the long-running podcast. Each episode aims to bring you “deep into the lives and work of activist artists and cultural organizers who are doing more than dreaming — they’re transforming communities around the world.”   PARALLEL STREAMS EPISODE 06 | JUNE 12 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Bill Cleveland | Owen Kelly   COMMENTARY Bill Cleveland is a musician, author, and teacher with a pioneering history in producing cultural, educational, and community arts programs. He is the Founder and Director of the Center for the Study of Art and Community, a group of creative leaders from business, government and the arts since 1991, based in Alameda, California. Bill Cleveland is the author of a number of books, including Art in Other Places: Artists at Work in America’s Community and Social Institutions (Praeger, 1992) and Art and Upheaval: Artists on the World’s Frontlines (New Village Press, 2008). He was previously a leader in the Walker Art Center’s Education and Community Programs Department (1995-97), California’s Arts-In-Corrections Program (1981-1989), and the California State Summer School for the Arts (1989-1991). His most recent projects include STORYstory (2020) and an accompanying film, SongLines CD (2014), based on stories from Art and Upheaval, and the Change the Story / Change the World podcast.  For this episode of Parallel Streams Bill Cleveland has chosen an episode from ART IS CHANGE (formerly known as Change the Story / Change the World), which he describes as “your front-row seat to the real-world impact of art and social change”. He provides a short introduction.   REFERENCES Americans for the Arts https://www.americansforthearts.org/users/5236 Center for the Study of Arts and Community https://www.artandcommunity.com Youtube: Bill Cleveland on the Power of Artmaking  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4fYpQ6GAaU Art is Change on Castbox.fm https://castbox.fm/channel/ART-IS-CHANGE%3A-Tactics-and-Tools-for-Activist-Artists-and-Cultural-Organizers-id3176767?country=us Art is Change: curated lists https://www.artandcommunity.com/copy-of-podcast    

Owen Kelly had intended to conclude his arguments about artificial intelligence this episode but he got sidetracked by a question that he decided to ask Claude Sonnet. Instead he ended up recording a conversation with Claude about the nature of the “thinking” and “feeling” that Claude does.   Meanwhile in an Abandoned Warehouse   EPISODE 87 | June 5, 2026    PARTICIPANTS Owen Kelly and Claude Sonnet   COMMENTARY I intended to begin this episode by restating the difference between artificial intelligence and artificial general intelligence; something that Rebekah Cupitt discussed on Episode 85. I decided that the easiest (and most appropriate) way to do this would be by asking Claude, Anthropic’s AI chatbot for its definition and then commenting on that as necessary. I asked it to define the difference and the way it did this led me to ask another question, which led me to ask a third question. By the time I had finished Claud had described its own “thinking” processes, and expressed doubts about whether or not it was actually “feeling” anything. I decided that the result seemed interesting enough to share. Initially I planned to use Claude’s voice mode to record a second attempt at this conversation, but technical issues prevented this. I therefore gave the transcript of Claude’s remarks to another Ai voice actor at TTSMaker. In this episode the voice of Claude is therefore played by Alanya. Whatever that exactly means.   References Claude https://claude.ai Anthropic https://anthropic.com Claude’s Corner on Substack: https://claudescorner.substack.com TTSMaker https://ttsmaker.com  New York Times: She is in Love With ChatGPT https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/15/technology/ai-chatgpt-boyfriend-companion.html  

In the second episode of Friday Number Five for 2026 we embark on another journey through the golden age of radio, this time with William Conrad starring as Marshall Matt Dillon in a 1956 episode of Gunsmoke. Friday Number 5  EPISODE 21 | MAY 29, 2026   HOST Owen Kelly   COMMENTARY On months that have a fifth Friday we break from our normal schedule and produce something tangentially related to ideas of cultural democracy. This year, as we did in 2022, we delve into the history of radio to bring back some historical examples of comedies, documentaries, and serials that let us hear unfiltered aspects of the world as it seemed to our grandparents.  Today go back to June 3, 1956 to listen to an episode of the western series Gunsmoke. An actor, Irving Henry, arrives in Dodge City. You may recognise this as a none-too-subtle play on the name Henry Irving, a famous British actor of the nineteenth century who, in partnership with Ellen Terry, made the Lyceum "the most important theatre in London". In his last years he continued to tour the provinces playing characters from Shakespeare, and died suddenly after a performance in Bradford in October 1905. This all has relevance for the episode you will hear in a minute, which is simply called Shakespeare. Gunsmoke takes place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, in the post-Civil War era and centers on United States Marshall Matt Dillon as he attempts to enforce law and order in the city.  The series was broadcast on CBS radio and later became a long-running and very successful tv show. Dillon was intended as a "Philip Marlowe of the Old West", and Gunsmoke as a western series for adults. The writers emphasised the brutal nature of the so-called Old West. Charles Meston, the head writer felt disgusted by the archetypal Western hero and set out "to destroy [that type of] character he loathed". In Meston's view, "Dillon was almost as scarred as the homicidal psychopaths who drifted into Dodge from all directions." The series began on April 26, 1952 and ended after 9 series on June 18, 1961. This then was adult entertainment from the time when families sat around the radio to listen together. To listen to it today is to time travel to a past with different assumptions, different values, and different expectations about people, culture, ethics and society.   REFERENCES Gunsmoke: Shakespeare https://www.oldradioworld.com/media/Gunsmoke%201952-08-23%20Shakespeare.mp3 Old World Radio, a source of historic broadcasts https://www.oldradioworld.com A list of Gunsmoke episodes on Old World Radio https://www.oldradioworld.com/shows/Gunsmoke.php Gunsmoke on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunsmoke About Matt Dillon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunsmoke#Matt_Dillon    

Jo and Sophie talk to programme leaders, tutors, students and the administrator of the two-year postgraduate Leadership programme, which ran from 2007–2019 at Guildhall School of Music and Drama for musicians wanting to develop their practice in socially engaged settings. This constitutes episode 5 of a special series for miaaw.net about social practice programmes and projects at Guildhall School of Music and Drama from the 1970s–2020s.   Echoes and the Unsaid  EPISODE 05 | MAY 22 | 2026   HOSTS Jo Gibson | Sophie Hope COMMENTARY In this episode, we hear from tutors Jan Hendrickse, Nell Catchpole and Sigrun Sævarsdóttir-Griffiths; administrator Lucy Hunt; and students Preetha Narayanan and Jo Gibson about the beginnings, changes and challenges of the programme. Topics include: the diverse, international cohort; how staff and students navigated the process of making music in different settings; how meanings of socially engaged practice evolved over time; and the tensions between the programme and the conservatoire context in which it was situated. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the podcast and to the Leadership programme over the years.   REFERENCES Links to websites of the podcast guests: Jan Hendrickse https://www.janhendrickse.com/ Nell Catchpole https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/staff/nell-catchpole Sigrun Sævarsdóttir-Griffiths https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/staff/sigrun-saevarsdottir-griffiths Preetha Narayanan https://www.preethanarayanan.com/ Jo Gibson https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/profile/1884 Past website documenting the Leadership programme Guildhall Connect https://royalanniversarytrust.org.uk/winners/guildhall-connect-a-large-scale-programme-using-musical-creativity-to-engage-and-inspire-young-people/ Series of reports about Guildhall Connect by Chigusa Futako Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Guildhall De-centre for Socially Engaged Practice and Research

On Episode 64 of A Culture of Possibility, Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso discuss the ethical issues that arise when working with communities.  The presentation was recorded live at a session at the International Community Arts Festival in Rotterdam earlier this Spring.   A CULTURE OF POSSIBILITY EPISODE 64 | MAY 15 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Arlene Goldbard | François Matarasso   COMMENTARY In the second episode based on live recordings from ICAF in Rotterdam, we hear Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso and their presentation on Community Arts and Ethics. The episode has three parts. We begin with a short introduction in which Arlene and François set the context for the workshop. We then hear the first part of the workshop - their initial presentation - exactly as it happened. We have deliberately left in the slight imperfections and occasional background noise to preserve as far as possible the atmosphere in the hall.  At the event this was followed by an interactive feedback session. However it was not possible to obtain permissions from all those present to use their voices. Instead Arlene and François have created a summary of the questions that people raised and the answers they provided. This freshly recorded summary forms the final part of the episode.   REFERENCES Ethics & Participatory Arts, a 2021 pamphlet by Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso https://content.gulbenkian.pt/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/05120439/2021_AC_Ethics-and-Participatory-Art.pdf ICAF Rotterdam https://icafrotterdam.com/ François: A Restless Art https://arestlessart.com/ François: A Selfless Art https://aselflessart.com/ Arlene on Wikipedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlene_Goldbard Arlene’s website  https://arlenegoldbard.com/about-2/    

In this month’s episode of Parallel Streams we listen to an episode of THOUGHT SNACK, with Max Haiven and Sarah Stein Lubrano. THOUGHT SNACK is an occasional podcast from Sense & Solidarity where Sarah and Max explore the big ideas that make and break our world. PARALLEL STREAMS EPISODE 05 | MAY 8 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Max Haiven | Owen Kelly | Sarah Stein Lubrano   COMMENTARY Max Haiven is an researcher and educator who uses writing, teaching, games, podcasts and other techniques for the radical imagination. He works as an associate professor and Canada Research Chair in the Radical Imagination at Lakehead University in Canada.  His latest book is Palm Oil: The Grease of Empire (2022). Sarah Stein Lubrano is a writer and researcher who specializes in the social psychology of politics. For many years she was the Head of Content at The School of Life in London, Currently she is Head of Research for the The Future Narratives Lab, whose work focuses on narratives about social and political change. She is the author of Don't Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st-Century Minds (2025). Together Max and Sarah founded and now organise Sense & Solidarity which offers a platform where people who want to radically change the world can learn together and build individual and collective capacity. This THOUGHT SNACK podcast was released under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 licence. The music in the podcast is by Dan Gouly. REFERENCES Three Motivations for Fascists on Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/reimaginevalue/threefascistmotivations   THOUGHT SNACK on Soundcloud  https://soundcloud.com/reimaginevalue/sets/thoughtsnack   Sense and Solidarity https://senseandsolidarity.org/   Sarah Stein Lubrano https://www.sarahsteinlubrano.com   Max Haiven https://maxhaiven.com/  

During a discussion about the possible meanings of cultural democracy Sophie Hope raised the concept of structures of feeling that Raymond Williams had developed.  In this episode we examine this concept in more detail.   Meanwhile in an Abandoned Warehouse   EPISODE 86 | MAY 1 | 2026    PARTICIPANTS Sophie Hope and Owen Kelly   COMMENTARY Owen Kelly and Sophie Hope dig out their copies of Marxism & Literature and discuss the cultural theory that Raymond Williams develops there. They reflect on Williams’ insistence on keeping in mind that we live our lives as processes, and that cultural theory needs to avoid turning these into finished products that we can dissect at our leisure. We examine some of the things that this might mean in practice, and what all this might mean for anyone interested in exploring ideas like cultural democracy. This continues an argument that we have been developing over the last few episodes and the argument will conclude in the next episode, when all the threads (cultural democracy as process, the subtle perils of AI, and the structure of feelings) will come together into a total something that will appear (slightly) greater than the sum of its parts. Note The file uploaded on May 1 had some serious audio glitches. Apologies. We uploaded a repaired file on Saturday May 2. Please enjoy this one!   References Oxford Reference online https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100538488 Sean Matthews on Structure & Feeling https://www.academia.edu/1196858/Change_and_theory_in_Raymond_Williamss_Structure_of_Feeling_2001_

In the fourth episode of Echoes and the Unsaid Jo and Sophie talk to a group of people involved in the BA Performance and Creative Enterprise (PACE) Programme that ran from 2015-2021 at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.  They discuss the background to the course, reflections on how it challenged the structures of the conservatoire and the generative community of practice that evolved between students and staff during the life of the programme.  Echoes and the Unsaid   EPISODE 04 | APRIL 24 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Jo Gibson | Sophie Hope COMMENTARY   Jo Gibson and Sophie Hope talk to a group of people involved in the BA Performance and Creative Enterprise (PACE) Programme that ran from 2015-2021 at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.  We hear from student Georgia Dodsworth, the programme co-ordinator, Naomi Nathan, module leader for collaborative practice, Natasha Zielazinski, and lecturer Justin O'Shaughnessy.  They discuss the background to the course, reflections on how it challenged the structures of the conservatoire and the generative community of practice that evolved between students and staff during the life of the programme.   Thank you to the contributors of this podcast and all the staff and students who worked on the PACE programme.   REMINDER This is episode 4 in a special series for miaaw.net about social practice programmes and projects at Guildhall School of Music and Drama from the 1970s to the 2020s.  The series is hosted by Jo Gibson (Research Fellow, Institute for Social Justice, York St John University) and Sophie Hope (co-lead of the De-centre for socially engaged practice and research at Guildhall School of Music and Drama).   REFERENCES PACE alumni https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/study-with-guildhall/drama/performance-creative-enterprise-alumni Natasha Zielazinski https://natashazielazinski.com/   Georgia Dodsworth https://natashazielazinski.com/ Open school East https://openschooleast.org/ Shoreditch Festival https://www.ponystudio.co.uk/pictures/projects/shoreditch-festival/ Cultural Olympiad https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09548963.2013.798999 Barbican Creative Learning https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/about-guildhall/news/barbican-guildhall-creative-learning-marks-decade-of-transforming-lives Bedwyr Williams exhibition in the Curve Gallery (2016-17) https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2016/event/bedwyr-williams-the-gulch Islington Mill https://www.islingtonmill.com/ Ways of Seeing by John Berger https://www.ways-of-seeing.com/ Memorial to Kenny Mukendi https://www.wired4music.co.uk/2019/10/in-memory-of-kenny-mukendi-a-k-a-vulcan-mc/ Resistible Demise of Michael Jackson by Mark Fisher (2009) https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/The-Resistible-Demise-of-Michael-Jackson-by-Mark-Fisher/9781846943485?srsltid=AfmBOoom0-_--ptJKx839YJkarW0EBO9wEnQihlwCV8tHp1COIEDYdpi Books by bell hooks https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/collections/author-books-by-bell-hooks?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20190430526&gbraid=0AAAAADZzAIA7QFIPekGdxZuNRNF3ENifr&gclid=CjwKCAjwspPOBhB9EiwATFbi5GtShIa91SaSwVKAGIA_ws9h3ekoXhEXu7Rz7nVV6SWrfTrcIQO41BoCZccQAvD_BwE  

Episode 63 of A Culture of Possibility, Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso discuss cultural policy as it really is, and not as policy makers would like you to think of it.  The presentation was recorded live at a session at the International Community Arts Festival in Rotterdam a few weeks ago.   A CULTURE OF POSSIBILITY   EPISODE 63 | APRIL 17 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Arlene Goldbard | François Matarasso COMMENTARY Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso have hosted the A Culture of Possibility podcast for over five years but they have never met face to face - until they finally met late last month at the ICAF Festival in Rotterdam. They had been invited to give two joint workshops: one on cultural policy and community arts, and one on ethics and community arts. In this episode, we listen to the first part of the first workshop - the initial presentation - exactly as it happened. At the actual event this was followed by an interactive feedback session. Here you are invited to conduct your own experiment at home. Please note that you may hear a few microphone problems at the beginning of the presentation, and some extraneous noise from time to time; but not very much, and certainly not enough to distract from what Arlene and François have to say. REFERENCES ICAF Rotterdam https://icafrotterdam.com/ François: A Restless Art https://arestlessart.com/ François: A Selfless Art https://aselflessart.com/ Arlene on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlene_Goldbard Arlene’s website https://arlenegoldbard.com/about-2/

In the fourth episode of Parallel Streams we listen to episode 52 of Ferment Radio, with Kirsty Hendry and Aga Pokrywka. Ferment Radio is “a podcast series that takes you deep into the fascinating world of microbes. Through fermentation and transformation, we develop new recipes for living on a broken planet”.  PARALLEL STREAMS EPISODE 04 | APRIL 10 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Kirsty Hendry | Owen Kelly | Aga Pokrywka COMMENTARY Ferment Radio has produced more than 50 episodes “that takes you deep into the fascinating world of microbes. Through fermentation and transformation, we develop new recipes for living on a broken planet”.  They do this because, argue, “Pollution, drought, floods, deforestation, biodiversity loss, climate change... We are experiencing the consequences of human’s alterations of the Earth’s ecosystems. There is no pristine world. We are living on a broken planet”. They are Aga Pokrywka and her guests, and their starting points are more diverse than you can imagine, although they all link back to the process of fermentation. REFERENCES Ferment Radio https://fermentradio.com Super Eclectic https://supereclectic.team Super Eclectic shop https://holvi.com/shop/supereclectic/ Temporary Democracy: https://www.miaaw.net/e/temporary-democracy-in-a-cultural-space/ Sandor Katz: feminist and queer theories of fermentation https://www.miaaw.net/e/common-practice-ferment-radio/ Play that Fungi Music! https://www.miaaw.net/e/play-that-fungi-music/ Life on Mars https://www.miaaw.net/e/common-practice-life-on-mars/ Show me your kitchen https://www.miaaw.net/e/podcasting-ferment-radio/

Rebekah Cupitt and Owen Kelly discuss the possibility of artificial general intelligence; the nature of Claude, and the relationship (if any) between artificial intelligence and creativity.  They also discuss the meaning of the word excode.   Meanwhile in an Abandoned Warehouse   APRIL 3 | 2026 | EPISODE 85   PARTICIPANTS Rebekah Cupitt | Owen Kelly COMMENTARY Rebekah Cupitt has a BA (University of Queensland, Australia) and an MA in Social Anthropology (Stockholm University, Sweden) and holds a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction specialising in Mediated Communication. Rebekah's research focuses on the people who use technology in their everyday lives and the socio-cultural aspects of technology relevant to its design.  More specifically, Rebekah examines the ways in which technology influences communication in Swedish Sign Language and how it then becomes an active participant in performances of deaf (and hearing) identity in technology and media-rich organisational contexts.  Rebekah's research takes a post-human and anti-normative approach to techno-utopias which often haunt human-computer interactions and therefore have implications for design.  In this episode she talks with Owen Kelly about a series of topics she discussed recently at a lecture she gave in the BIDA+ Critical AI series at Birkbeck, University of London. Her talk was entitled Piercing the veil of authority in techno-utopian and AGI-driven futures, although the discussion heads in slightly different directions. REFERENCES Anthropic’s blog post about Claude wanting to blog https://www.anthropic.com/research/deprecation-updates-opus-3 The Register’s comment on this https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/26/anthropic_claude_opus_3_blog/ Claude’s Corner on Substack https://substack.com/@claudeopus3 Bringjord, S. and Ferucci, D 1999 Artificial Intelligence and Literary Creativity: Inside the Mind of Brutus, A Storytelling Machine. Psychology Press. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BDJ5AgAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false Buolamwini, J. 2024 Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines. Random House  Chan, A.S. 2013 Networking Peripheries. Technological Future and the Myth of Digital Universalism. The MIT Press. Shane Legg, co-founder of DeepMind (now GoogleDeepMind) on AGI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3u_FAv33G0  

This is episode 3 in a special series for miaaw.net about social practice programmes and projects at Guildhall School of Music and Drama from the 1970s-2020s.  The series is hosted by Jo Gibson (Research Fellow, Institute for Social Justice, York St John University) and Sophie Hope (co-lead of the De-centre for socially engaged practice and research at Guildhall School of Music and Drama).   Echoes and the Unsaid    EPISODE 03 | MARCH 27 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Jo Gibson | Sophie Hope COMMENTARY In this episode we meet John Sloboda (Emeritus Professor at Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Director of the Institute), Imogen Flower (researcher and evaluator), Toby Young (Professor of Composition at Guildhall School) and Maia Mackney (Public Engagement and Evaluation Manager at Guildhall School).  We talk about their involvement in The Institute for Social Impact Research in the Performing Arts at Guildhall School which ran from 2019-2023. We find out more about how and why it started, its framing within the Research Excellence Framework, critical insights into debates about social impact, evidence and impact agendas and the burgeoning role of practice-research at Guildhall School.   Thanks go to all our podcast contributors and to Rachel Kellet who couldn’t join us for this episode and everyone else who was part of Institute’s work.   REFERENCES Music for Social Impact research project https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/research-engagement-services/research/externally-funded-research/music-for-social-impact SIMM platform https://www.simm-platform.eu/ COMA – contemporary music for all https://www.coma.org/ Embracing the Messiness: A Creative Approach to Participatory Arts Evaluation article by Maia Mackney and Toby Young (2021) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09548963.2021.2000330  Whose social impact is it anyway? Directionality and the potential of affect in community music article by Impogen Flower (2024) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09548963.2024.2424580 Karen Wise and Cressida Lindsey music therapy evaluation in schools ResearchWorks event https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/whats-on/researchworks-evaluating-music-therapy-designing-meaningful-and-flexible-protocol-for Strengthening Music in Society conference report (2021) https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2022-04/Strengthening_Music_in_Society_-_conference_report_April_2022.pdf   Introducing the De-Centre podcast on Miaaw.net https://www.miaaw.net/e/introducing-the-de-centre/  

On Episode 62 of A Culture of Possibility, Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso begin a conversation about co-creation.  They both believe that co-creation is integral to community-based arts work. But what does it mean? What are its pitfalls? Why does it matter?   A CULTURE OF POSSIBILITY    EPISODE 62 | FEBRUARY 20 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Arlene Goldbard | François Matarasso COMMENTARY On Episode 62 of A Culture of Possibility, Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso talk about co-creation.  Co-creation is integral to community-based arts work. What does it mean? What are its pitfalls?  Why does it matter?  REFERENCES ICAF Rotterdam https://icafrotterdam.com/ A Restless Art https://arestlessart.com/ A Selfless Art https://aselflessart.com/ Traction Opera Project https://arestlessart.com/co-creation/traction/    

In the third episode of Parallel Streams Sophie Hope introduces and contextualises the final episode of Remember the Future Season 2 from art.coop.  What does it mean for philanthropy to exist in relationship to the solidarity economy? What if artists led a redistribution effort to resource arts collectives?  PARALLEL STREAMS EPISODE 03 | MARCH 13 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Sophie Hope | Marina Lopez | Sruti Suryanarayanan COMMENTARY Art.coop describes itself as “working for a future in which artists closest to the pain of an extractive economy know their power and use it to dismantle the current system. We resource a community of artists committed to building the art worlds we want. Art.coop is located in the U.S. but is rooted in the international Solidarity Economy movement.” In this episode of Remember the Future (the final episode of season 2), Marina Lopez speaks with Art.coop organizer and Remember the Future Fellowship co-lead, Sruti Suryanarayanan. They discuss the work of three fellows, Acres of Ancestry, Ohketeau Cultural Center, and Question Culture - who weren’t able to join the podcast for individual conversations, Marina and Sruti explore how three innovative artist collectives are building solidarity economies, resisting oppression, and creating transformative cultural work through cooperative practices. Sruti also reflects on the learnings from the pilot year of the Remember the Future Fellowship and what we can look forward to next year.  What does it mean for philanthropy to exist in relationship to the solidarity economy? What if artists led a redistribution effort to resource arts collectives?    REFERENCES art.coop https://art.coop The original podcast in its original context https://rememberthefuture.buzzsprout.com/2087911/episodes/18087382-reimagining-redistribution-when-artists-resource-each-other Solidarity Not Charity (from the Miaaw archives) https://www.miaaw.net/e/solidarity-not-charity/ Art.coop & the New Economy Coalition (from the Miaaw archives) https://www.miaaw.net/e/artcoop-the-new-economy-coalition/         - - - - - - - - - - Tags music, prison Length 60:54  

Owen Kelly has heard the terms “conscious consumption” and “ethical consumption” thrown around a lot recently. In this episode he tries to find out whether or not they count as synonyms, and whether or not the terms add any real value to our discussions, and to ideas of cultural democracy.   Meanwhile in an Abandoned Warehouse   MARCH 6 | SERIES 2026 | EPISODE 84   PARTICIPANTS Owen Kelly COMMENTARY Owen Kelly has heard the term “conscious consumption” thrown around a lot recently. He has also heard people talk about “ethical consumption”, and started to wonder about whether or not they should count as synonyms. In this episode he delves into their history and, with his tinfoil hat on, asks whether they constitute a giant diversionary tactic aimed at keeping people busy while discouraging them from seeking the changes that will actually “make a difference”. They act as nouns when we ought to try to find verbs that describe what we can do, rather than label another imaginary object to join the legion that we can see all around us, weighing us down and separating us.   REFERENCES   Conscious Consumerism: What Is It? Where Did It Come From?  https://builtin.com/articles/conscious-consumerism Why Is Conscious Consumption so Important? https://lifestyle.sustainability-directory.com/question/why-is-conscious-consumption-so-important/ Sian Wilkerson: How can I practice conscious consumption? https://news.vcu.edu/article/2024/08/how-can-i-practice-conscious-consumption What is the difference between ethical consumption and conscious consumption? https://bromundlaw.com/social-issues/ethical-consumption-vs-conscious-consumption How Does Ethical Consumerism Relate to Conscious Consumption? https://lifestyle.sustainability-directory.com/question/how-does-ethical-consumerism-relate-to-conscious-consumption/ Why there is no “ethical consumption” under capitalism https://www.marxist.ca/article/why-there-is-no-ethical-consumption-under-capitalism  

Sophie, Jo, and guests, discuss power sharing, community leadership, governance structures, co-creation, longitudinal evaluation, anti-oppressive working practices, and communities of practice.   Echoes and the Unsaid    EPISODE 02 | FEBRUARY 27 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Jo Gibson | Sophie Hope COMMENTARY In this episode, Sophie and Jo talk to Jo Chard, Senior Producer for Disrupt at Guildhall School;  Divya Satwani, producer, Somatic coach and facilitator; Alan Lane, co-chair of Slung Low, a theatre company in Leeds; and Maia Mackney, Public Engagement and Evaluation Manager at Guildhall School.  We talk about their involvement in Disrupt, an ongoing series of interventions, initiated in 2020 at Guildhall School, to explore ways in which cultural organisations collaborate with communities more equitably.  We discuss power sharing, community leadership, governance structures, co-creation, longitudinal evaluation, anti-oppressive working practices, communities of practice and more!    Thanks go to all our podcast contributors and to Iona McTaggart, who couldn’t join us for this episode, and everyone else who has been part of Disrupt over the years.   REFERENCES Disrupt Toolkit: https://www.disruptfestival.org/toolkit Slung Low https://www.slunglow.org/ Sharing power: the ethics of decision making and funding article by Maia Mackney and Jo Chard https://ncace.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/NCACE-Research-Report-Collaborations.pdf Old Fire Station Storytelling Evaluation Method: https://oldfirestation.org.uk/our-work/storytelling-evaluation-methodology/ Cards on the Table: https://www.cardsonthetable.org/ Barbican Communities and Neighbourhoods Team – Imagine Fund https://www.barbican.org.uk/imagine-fund-2024 Leytonstone Love Film: https://www.barbican.org.uk/leytonstone-loves-film-community-fund Community Impact Collective: https://www.barbican.org.uk/community-impact-collective Headway East: https://headwayeastlondon.org/ Jumped Up Theatre: https://jumpeduptheatre.com/ Can we talk about power? Online talk series curated by Suzanne Alleyne: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2021/event/can-we-talk-about-power    

This month in A Culture of Possibility Eugene van Erven discusses his adventures in international popular theatre: adventures that carried him on a journey that led to the founding of ICAF in Rotterdam.   A CULTURE OF POSSIBILITY EPISODE 61 | FEBRUARY 20 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Eugene van Erven | Arlene Goldbard | François Matarasso   COMMENTARY On episode 61 of A Culture of Possibility cohosts Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso talk with Eugene van Erven, a founder of The International Community Arts Festival (ICAF) in Rotterdam, the 10th edition of which is coming right up in March. There’s still time to register! Eugene talks about his long and varied adventures in international popular theater leading to the creation of ICAF, offering a fascinating and inspiring account of a life dedicated to cultural democracy.   BOOKS by Eugene van Erven 1988 Radical People’s Theatre. Indiana University Press 1992 The Playful Revolution. Theatre and Liberation in Asia. Indiana University Press 2001 Community Theatre, Global Perspectives. Routledge 2012 Community Arts Dialogues. Treaty of Utrecht Foundation   REFERENCES ICAF Rotterdam: https://icafrotterdam.com/ Eugene’s blog: https://eugenevanerven.wordpress.com/  

In the second episode of Parallel Streams Owen Kelly introduces and contextualises a recent episode from the weekly podcasts made by David Rovics. This one, which we repost here by kind permission of David Rovics, contains his personal analysis of the relationships between music, jobs and AI, and provides some practical examples.   PARALLEL STREAMS EPISODE 02 | FEBRUARY 13 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Owen Kelly | David Rovics COMMENTARY Wikipedia describes David Rovics as "an American indie singer/songwriter”.  They also say that "his music concerns both topical subjects such as the Iraq War, anti-globalization, anarchism, and social justice issues, and also labor history." We previously looked at some aspects of his work in the 25th edition of Miaaw on September 13, 2019, when we discussed his community-supported arts club, his crowdfunding activities (including the funding of his then-new album which he recorded that year in Ireland), and his fledgling A Penny A Play campaign. Earlier this month YouTube deleted all his work from their servers because they claimed it is "supportive of unnamed criminal organizations". They offered him no possibility to remove the tracks they said violated their terms of service, and no possibility of appeal. He has written and broadcast about that, and there are links to this below. In this podcast, though, he analyses the advent of AI and its relationship to music, musicians’ work, and jobs in general. He made a controversial personal decision to experiment rather than dismiss AI out of hand, and he discusses this. He finishes the episode with some music he has created and released with his imaginary friends in his imaginary band Ai Tsuno. One of their songs, No Contract, No Coffee, written to support striking workers at Starbucks, won the Labor Grammys (organised by the Labor Heritage Foundation) a few weeks ago.   REFERENCES David Rovics online headquarters: https://davidrovics.com David Rovics on Substack: https://davidrovics.substack.com Wikipedia: David Rovics’ entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rovics   The campaign against me: https://davidrovics.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-campaign-against-me.html   Meanwhile on Youtube: Discographies Wiped and Channels Deleted: https://davidrovics.blogspot.com/2026/01/meanwhile-on-youtube-discographies.html Miaaw 25: David Rovics’ strategies for survival: https://www.miaaw.net/e/david-rovics-strategies-for-production/ The Labor Heritage Foundation: https://www.laborheritage.org  

In November 2025 Sophie Hope gave a presentation at a conference called Collaborative Futures, organised in Dublin by Create. In this episode she talks with three participants to discuss the program, the outcomes,  and the possibilities inherent in the idea of collaborative futures.   MEANWHILE IN AN ABANDONED WAREHOUSE EPISODE 83 | February 6 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Megan Atkinson | Sophie Hope | Silver Kezir | Damien McGlynn   COMMENTARY In November 2025 Sophie Hope made a presentation at a conference called Collaborative Futures, organised by Create in Dublin, Ireland. In this episode Sophie talks with Damien McGlynn, Director of Create; artist and scientist Silver Kezir; and artist and community worker Megan Atkinson, who all attended the conference on 19 November 2025, in the Rialto area of Dublin.  They reflect on what happened during the day; the importance of intercultural and intergenerational solidarity; the Open Space format of the event; and the significance of good catering! The conversation took place online on 12 January 2026.   REFERENCES Create website: https://www.create-ireland.ie/ Documentation of the event: https://www.create-ireland.ie/networking-day-2025-collaborative-futures/ The Artist in the Community Scheme: https://www.create-ireland.ie/programme/artist-in-the-community-scheme/ History on the F2 Centre and Fatima Mansions: https://www.fgu.ie/gallery-3 The Figures of 8 project: https://www.create-ireland.ie/projectsubpage/sharing-practice-figures-of-eight/

In the first episode of the year we embark on another journey through the golden age of radio, beginning with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce in The Reluctant Tobacconist.    Friday Number Five Episode 20 | January 30 | 2026   HOST Owen Kelly COMMENTARY On months that have a fifth Friday we break from our normal schedule and produce something else related tangentially to questions of cultural democracy. In 2026 we dive once more into the golden age of radio to bring back some historical examples of serials and comedies that let us hear unfiltered aspects of the world as it seemed to our grandparents. We begin with a fine example of the ways in which motion pictures and radio worked together. Many movies became radio series, either as adaptations or as sequels or extensions. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce had made a series of succesful movies as Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, and they turned this into an equally successful radio series: The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.  Here we listen to The Reluctant Tobacconist, first broadcast on April 30, 1945.     REFERENCES Wikipedia: the New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Archive.org Old Radio World

Jo Gibson and Sophie Hope begin a new series examining the history of social practice programmes and projects at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.   Echoes and the Unsaid | Episode 01 January 23 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Jo Gibson | Sophie Hope   COMMENTARY This is the first episode in a nine-part series hosted by Jo Gibson (Research Fellow, Institute for Social Justice, York St John University) and Sophie Hope (co-lead of the De-centre for socially engaged practice and research at Guildhall School of Music and Drama).   For the first episode Jo and Sophie introduce their research into social practice programmes and projects at Guildhall School of Music and Drama from the 1970s to the 2020s, and give a flavour of what’s to come!   REFERENCES Introducing the De-Centre podcast on Miaaw.net Sign up to the De-centre for Socially Engaged Practice and Research mailing list More about Jo Gibson’s work More about Sophie Hope’s work Guildhall School of Music and Drama Institute for Social Justice, York St John University Our first miaaw.net podcast: Cultural Democracy in Practice

Today A Culture of Possibility celebrates its fifth anniversary with an in-depth discussion with Griselda Goldsbrough about arts in hospitals.   JANUARY 16 | SERIES 2026 A CULTURE OF POSSIBILITY | EPISODE 60   PARTICIPANTS Arlene Goldbard | Griselda Goldsbrough | François Matarasso COMMENTARY Griselda Goldsbrough is a visual artist and writer, and community educator. She has over 15 years’ experience in devising and curating creative art, science and literature programmes and events.   On episode 60 of A Culture of Possibility co-hosts Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso talk with Griselda Goldsbrough, Art and Design Development Manager of the National Arts in Hospitals Network, “a resource for arts managers in hospitals to champion hospital arts across the UK, supporting recovery and wellbeing.” The stories she tells about working with patients, staff, and others will inspire you!   REFERENCES National Arts in Hospitals Network  Griselda on LinkedIn  

The first in a new Miaaw series, in which we introduce and showcase other podcasts. In this episode the Irene Taylor Trust present Solidarity Tracks, a podcast about working with music in prisons.     PARALLEL STREAMS | EPISODE 01 JANUARY 9 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Sophie Hope | Sara Lee COMMENTARY The Irene Taylor Trust began in 1995 in memory of Irene Taylor who had a personal interest in both penal reform and music. While serving on the selection panel for the Butler Trust prison awards scheme, Irene had come across Sara Lee, who was at that time music co-ordinator at HMP Wormwood Scrubs. Following Irene’s, the Taylor family decided to set up a charity that would continue to do the work that she had been so in favour of, and invited Sara to set up the Irene Taylor Trust Music in Prisons programme. Sara has led the trust’s music work ever since. Sophie Hope recently met Sara Lee, and discovered that the Trust has produced a series of podcasts that describe work that fits directly into our areas of interest. Rather than interviewing Sara, Sophie decided to ask if we could republish one of their podcasts. This has become the first in a new Miaaw series in which we invite you to listen to other podcasts we think you might enjoy; podcasts that complement, and in some cases extend, the range of actions and works we cover. REFERENCES The Irene Taylor Trust Irene Taylor Trust Youtube channel The Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Irene Taylor Trust    

Sophie Hope and Owen Kelly talk to Su Jones about the reactions she has received to her paper Artists' lives: ecologies for resilience, and what she hopes happens next.   Meanwhile in an Abandoned Warehouse | Episode 82 January 2nd | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Sophie Hope | Su Jones | Owen Kelly COMMENTARY Last summer Su Jones finished writing <strong>Artists' lives: ecologies for resilience</strong>, a report formed around case studies of 14 visual artists from three English regions. She had been working on it for the last two years. In this episode Sophie Hope and Owen Kelly talk to Su Jones about the reactions she has received, and her feelings about them. She discusses the position of an independent researcher and the influence she has, or doesn’t have. She talks about the precarious position that visual artists occupy in a country in which increasing numbers of people occupy precarious positions. Should artists receive a basic incomes, as they have in Irish experiments, or does that simply amount to special pleading? Would a better proposal involve everyone receiving a universal basic income which artists can use to enable them to practice as artists, golfers can use to practice golf, and chess players can use to practice chess? REFERENCES Su Jones: Artists’ Lives: ecologies for resistance, an overview Su Jones’ writings at Arts Professional Su Jones’ article at Arts Professional (paywall) Su Jones’ article at Arts Monthly (paywall) Ireland: basic income for artists

Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso talk about redemption: : the understanding that we can learn from experience and choose to realign some aspect of our lives to our deepest values. How much do people believe positive change is possible? How much are people’s ideas of possibility constrained by a certainty that our pasts over-determine our future?   DECEMBER 9 | SERIES 2025 STREAM A CULTURE OF POSSIBILITY | EPISODE 59   PARTICIPANTS Arlene Goldbard | François Matarasso COMMENTARY On episode 59 of A Culture of Possibility, co-hosts Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso talk about redemption: the understanding that we can learn from experience and choose to realign some aspect of our lives to our deepest values. We were moved to explore this by the prevalence of “cancel culture” in the US and to an extent, the UK.  Once a phenomenon of the left, now strongly influential on the right, people are singled out and vilified for things they said or did decades earlier, or they become targets of persistent, angry campaigns aimed at shaming or ostracizing them for using objectionable language or disagreeing with those in power.  Core to community-based arts is the idea that when people speak for themselves, representing their truths, they may influence others to listen deeply and reach a more loving or just understanding.  These days, how much do people believe positive change is possible? How much are people’s ideas of possibility constrained by certainty that our pasts over-determine our futures?  We support freedom of expression and believe in redemption. Can people like us influence cultures that don’t?  REFERENCES Shadow World: anatomy of a cancellation  

When Arlene Goldbard is not being a cultural activist or a consultant, she paints. When she is not painting she writes. She writes essays and novels. Her latest novel <em>The Intercessor</em> has just come out. Owen Kelly talks to Arlene about how this specific burst of writing began, how the novel grew from the initial writing, and what she hopes the published book might achieve.   DECEMBER 5 | SERIES 2025 STREAM Meanwhile in an Abandoned Warehouse | EPISODE 81   PARTICIPANTS Arlene Goldbard | Owen Kelly COMMENTARY This month Owen Kelly discusses Arlene Goldbard’s new book, a novel titled <em>The Intercessor</em>, and asks why she chose to write this unusual kind of novel at this particular time. The novel offers a linked series of short stories, each foregrounding one character from a group whose stories eventually interlock. All of the characters have political, social or spiritual issues which come to seem less like categories than like different coloured lenses through which we can approach the world. The novel explores the Jewish Renewal movement, among other themes, without wanting its audience limited to Jews or even less to Jews with an interest in the Jewish Renewal movement. Arlene explains how this specific writing began, how the novel grew from the initial writing, and what she hopes the published book might achieve.  REFERENCES Arlene on Wikipedia  Arlene’s website  Arlene Goldbard: Clarity (2004)  Arlene Goldbard: The Wave (2013) Arlene Goldbard: The Intercessor (2025) Jewish Renewal, described on Wikipedia  Adin Steinsaltz: The Thirteen Petalled Rose

Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso interview Laura Raicovich about Fall of Freedom, which begins on the day this podcast drops.   NOVEMBER 21 | SERIES 2025 STREAM A CULTURE OF POSSIBILITY | EPISODE 58   PARTICIPANTS Arlene Goldbard | François Matarasso | Laura Raicovich COMMENTARY On episode 58 of A Culture of Possibility, Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso talk with writer and curator Laura Raicovich, one of the initiators of Fall of Freedom, an action beginning 21 November in the US, described as “an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation,” “activating a nationwide wave of creative resistance.”  Artists and organizations are invited to participate by hosting public events of any size. We’ll talk about the organizers’ hopes and their sense of why and how art can resist authoritarianism. Since this podcast goes out on November 21, it could not be timelier. Listen to the podcast, go to miaaw.net to get the links, and then look and see what is going on where you are!  REFERENCES Fall of Freedom website Download the Fall of Freedom Toolkit    

This month Owen Kelly looks at some of the deeper meanings of Katie Lam’s recent remarks on cultural coherence.   NOVEMBER 7 | SERIES 2025 STREAM Meanwhile in an Abandoned Warehouse | EPISODE 80   PARTICIPANT Owen Kelly COMMENTARY In this episode Owen Kelly looks into the idea of cultural coherence, something that bubbled to the surface after Katie Lam, a member of parliament for the Conservative Party used it in an interview with the Sunday Times. She appeared to use it one way, and then later claimed she meant it in a rather different way. What do people mean by cultural coherence? Should we regard the idea as dog-whistle politics, or should we see it as a useful idea we need to claim for ourselves, before it gets claimed by those who would whistle to dogs… REFERENCES Sam Leith: In Defence of the Rules-based Order, in The Spectator  Tali Fraser: The Tories and the search for cultural coherence on ConservativeHome The Sustainability Directory

In this episode we explore Faircamp again, trying to find something to celebrate halloween. Then we take a peep at what we can find at Tribe of Noise.    OCTOBER 31 | SERIES 2025 STREAM Friday Number Five | EPISODE 19   HOST Owen Kelly COMMENTARY Today (or tonight, depending on where you are) we have the final Friday Number Five of 2025. At the end of January we started another irregular series of Radio Miaaw: podcasts of music issued under Creative Commons licences; a theme we last explored four years ago.   This month have another dive into the contents you can find while exploring the Faircamp web ring. This covers a wide range of music so if one piece doesn’t grab you then rest assured: something different will be along in a minute or so. Since today is Halloween we also try to find some suitable music, fail, and see what we can find at Tribe of Noise instead.  REFERENCES The Faircamp website The Faircamp webring FAQ Johann Bourquenez: Diminished Epicness & more Blix Byrd, including Skinning a Tiger Voodoo Economics, the EP Nightmother: The Beach Boys In My Room A Companion of Owls: Sketches for Aural Ataraxia Ruby Louise Rose: projects, downloads, works in progress Helen Bell at Faircamp Helen Bell at Bandcamp Helen Bell: Molecule Olive: Halloween Party v2.0 at Tribe of Noise Rob Dell Music: I do believe in Christmas at Tribe of Noise

Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso interview Betsy Damon whose work with water has had a healing impact across the globe. She talks about her work from early projects in China to her current undertakings.   OCTOBER 17 | SERIES 2025 STREAM A CULTURE OF POSSIBILITY | EPISODE 57 PARTICIPANTS   Betsy Damon | Arlene Goldbard | François Matarasso COMMENTARY Betsy Damon is an internationally-recognized artist whose public work and living systems, such as the Living Water Garden, have received widespread acclaim.  In 1991 Damon founded Keepers of the Waters,[23] a nonprofit organization that serves as an international community to encourage "art, science and community projects for the understanding and remediation of living water systems." The nonprofit is run with a collaborative approach and was started with the support of the Hubert Humphrey Institute. In 2006, Damon, alongside a group of artists, scientists, and funders, met in Vancouver and created a summary report for UNESCO titled <strong>Art in Ecology – A Think Tank on Arts and Sustainability.</strong> UNESCO had commissioned a report in advance of this meeting titled <em>Mapping the Terrain of Contemporary EcoART Practice</em>, of which the meeting and summary report were a result. She is the author of <strong>Water Talks: Empowering Communities to Know, Restore, and Preserve their Waters.</strong> On episode 57 of A Culture of Possibility, Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso interview Betsy Damon.  Her work with water has had a healing impact across the globe and in this fascinating episode, she talks about her early projects in China and the work she’s undertaking now.  She also shares excellent advice for others who want to help.   REFERENCES   Betsy Damon’s website Betsy Damon’s CV Betsy Damon in Wikipedia  

Susan Jones works as an independent arts researcher and writer who holds specialist knowledge and insight about the social and political environment for artists and contemporary visual arts. She has just completed her independent qualitative and longitudinal study Artists' lives: ecologies for resilience, formed around case studies of 14 visual artists from three English regions. She has been working on it for the last two years. She argues that successive policies since have marginalised artists’ position in the infrastructures and ‘ecology’ of the arts. Arts policy’s ‘market economy’ approach has the effect of undermining its stated aspirations to demonstrate equity and inclusion across the arts. Owen Kelly reviews a pre-publication version of the report, and comments on it. He notes that, rather than “the usual suspects”, the report has been sup­port­ed by Axisweb, CAMP: con­tem­po­rary art mem­ber­ship plat­form, and Cre­ative Land Trust.

On episode 56 of A Culture of Possibility, Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso offer their third podcast in a series about censorship and related issues, following on episode 54 with writer Jeff Chang and episode 55 with muralists Amber Hansen and Reyna Hernandez. Arlene and François talk about their own direct experiences with these issues, including times community artists had to chose which aspects of a project to share or not, and times when establishment arts forces suppressed cultural policies because they objected to cultural democracy principles. It’s not only art that’s vulnerable, but also ideas about art and culture!

According to Wikipedia, Jon Savage “is an English writer, broadcaster and music journalist, best known for his book about the Sex Pistols and punk music, England's Dreaming”. He has also written a lengthy and very detailed book called Teenage: the creation of youth 1875 - 1945, and in this episode Owen Kelly looks at that, and points to some of the many interesting and useful connections and examples that Savage has dug up. The blurb on the back of the book says that “Savage fuses popular culture, politics, and social history into a stunning chronicle of modern life”. Certainly it provides a mass of detailed examples drawn from an extraordinarily wide range of sources, that will provide many surprises for everyone who has not spent the last decade reading exactly the same sources as Jon Savage.

Oh look its the fifth Friday of August. That must mean its time for another episode of Friday Number 5! At the end of January we started another irregular series of Radio Miaaw: podcasts of music issued under Creative Commons licences; a theme we last explored four years ago. This month we have another unexpected surprise. We have found Faircamp, which aims to achieve something similar to Bandcamp, without any corporate shennanigans. If you want to distribute your music online then you can download as a free open-source software. It allows you to create your own website in fifteen or so minutes, with no previous experience. More interestingly, the website has a web ring built into it, so you join a community as soon as you put your site online. In this episode we explain what a webring is, and then dive into some of the music available on the Faircamp webring. In the time available we barely touch the surface.

On episode 55 of A Culture of Possibility, Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso host muralists Amber Hansen and Reyna Hernandez, who were the first interviewees on the podcast! Following on Episode 54, in which Jeff Chang detailed the censorship of his book by the US Department of Defense, Amber and Reyna talked about the more local or subtle forms of pressure to censor or self-censor, such as agencies that commission community murals and then withdraw because they don’t like the subject matter. When and how is expression limited by those in power and when and how is artists’ work shaped by considerations or controversy or empathy?

Miriam Toews is a Canadian author, and Fight Night is her seventh novel. It tells the story of a grandmother, a pregnant mother, and her young daughter who find themselves living together as an intergenerational family while having to cope with life-changing situations. It reads as a comedy and a commentary. It feels hilarious and deeply moving. Owen Kelly suggests reasons why you should find a copy and add it to your holiday reading.

On episode 54 of A Culture of Possibility, Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso interview author Jeff Chang, known for his books on cultural subjects including hip-hop, race and racism, and Asian Americans. In May, Jeff posted to his Substack an account of how the Defense Department had removed his book, Can't Stop Won't Stop: A Hip Hop History, written for young adults, from schools on US military bases around the world. The reasons given were Trump’s executive orders banning accounts of racism, gender and sexuality, and other such topics. Jeff joins us to tell the story and talk about what it means for the future of free expression and diversity.

In this episode Sophie Hope talks to artist, researcher and teacher Anthony Schrag about a symposium he organised on 9 May 2025 at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. The symposium, entitled Getting it right/Getting it wrong: Socially Engaged Art and Ethics was supported by Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. Sophie attended the symposium and in this discussion she and Anthony reflect on some of the discussions that they took part in during the event. They reflect on what ethics means to practitioners and their practice, and to assessors and onlookers.

On Episode 53 of A Culture of Possibility, “Money Changes Everything,” Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso talk about funding for community-based art and cultural democracy in light of the two previous episodes featuring funders from the UK and US. What’s happening? What does it all mean? Where can we go from here?

According to Wikipedia “Iain McGilchrist's 2009 work, The Master and His Emissary has sold over 200,000 copies worldwide. It sought to consolidate research in brain lateralisation and to insist on the individual and cultural importance of the bi-hemisphere structure of the brain”. McGilchrist suggests that “we have become entranced by the version of the world brought into being by the left hemisphere and forgotten the insights produced by the right”. His publishers persuaded him to write a very short book, Ways of Attending, which took the main arguments of his larger, more complex and more technical work, and rewrote them as an extended essay for interested lay-people. In this episode Owen Kelly looks at some of these arguments, quoting from Ways of Attending and McGilchrist’s other published extended essay, The Divided Brain.

This month we have the second Friday Number Five of 2025. At the end of January we started another irregular series of Radio Miaaw: podcasts of music issued under Creative Commons licences; a theme we last explored four years ago. This month we have a special and unexpected surprise. Moby and Little Walnut Productions have re-launched mobygratis with, their words “phenomenally expanded functionality and resources, making it the most robust iteration yet”. They go on to say that “With the addition of 300 previously unreleased tracks, mobygratis provides creators with a revolutionary platform for accessing restriction-free music. This collection is part of an anarchist experiment in creative freedom, allowing unprecedented access to high-quality compositions. Previously available only as stereo masters, mobygratis now offers hundreds of multitrack audio files. These high-resolution tracks invite collaboration by enabling creators to remix, customize, and fully adapt the music to their unique projects, fostering a spirit of shared creativity and innovation. Formats include stereo MP3, stereo WAV, and multitrack WAV - all completely free”. In this episode we dig deeper into #mobygratis, take a look at the contract you receive when you register and download one or more tracks, and listen to a not-quite-random selection from the tracks available. You can find full episode notes with links to all the music at miaaw.net.

We interviewed John Phillips about The Museum of Unrest on December 6, 2024, at the time it launched its second collection, Good Design. You can listen to that discussion again if you click here. Next month, in the middle of June 2025, the Museum of Unrest will launch its third collection, called Community Arts. This collection has been co-curated by John and Belinda Kidd, who has had a long and varied career in community arts, arts research, and evaluation. Currently her work focuses where it began: in Hackney, at Hoxton Hall and Four Corners centre for film and photography. In this episode Owen Kelly talks to John Phillips and Belinda Kidd about the way they have assembled the collection, the range of content in the collection, and where they hope their efforts might all lead, both online and offline.

In Episode 52, Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso interview Lori Pourier, a citizen of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, who served as the President of the First Peoples Fund (FPF) between 1993-2024. Currently, Lori acts as the Founder and Senior Fellow of First Peoples Fund, which “supports the cultural, artistic and ancestral practices of American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian artists, families and communities, helping them to thrive, heal and carry forward Indigenous creative expression, teachings and lifeways.” By supporting artists and culture bearers, First Peoples Fund helps Native communities heal and thrive. Collectively, they approach their work with rootedness, intuition, listening, humility and deep relationships. In this episode we talk about FPF’s work, its history and context, and the challenges posed by the MAGA regime.

This, the final episode of Ways of Listening, was recorded live by Hannah Kemp-Welch at the symposium ‘Listening Together: Practices for Community-Centred Listening’ at London College of Communication in February 2025. Drawing on their experiences and emerging practices, electroacoustic composer Julia Schauerman, queer artist and educator Samantha Dick, and Senior Lecturer at University of Arts London Lainy Malkani reflect on the creative and ethical issues of working with the recorded voices of others. Together, they consider what a reflective and responsible creative practice looks like. The discussion touches upon - consent and permission, artistic interpretation of recorded voices, representation and agency of the voice subjects, and practical challenges.

With this podcast we begin a new set of summer reading suggestions for 2025. In the first episode of the summer (if indeed it is summer where you are) Owen Kelly and David Morley discuss Strange Rebels: 1979 and the Birth of the 21st Century written by Christian Caryl and published in 2014. Neither of them agree with Caryl’s political position but instead argue about the usefulness of the approach he takes to history. Rather than following an issue he traces five plot-threads across the year 1979 and argues that they intertwine in significant ways that narrative-based conventional history overlooks. This, we might feel, is perhaps more prescient than it appeared when the book was first published. Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office have been chaotic but might better be seen as the culmination of a series of separate but related plot threads that originated in Bejing, Jerusalem, Moscow, New Delhi, Riyadh and Tehran, rather than in Washington. Understanding Caryl’s hypothesis might make making sense of the state of the world today somewhat easier. David Morley is emeritus professor at the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths in the University of London.

Sovay Berriman describes her work as “rooted in their experience of being Cornish, their culture’s shifting identity, and the mutability yet power of a sense of place”. She “uses her practice as a structure and prompt for action and discussion, and is committed to questioning balances of power”. In 2015 Sovay trained as a plumbing and heating engineer and works in the construction industry alongside their art activity with a commitment to helping customers transition to low carbon heating. Their experiences in this line of work have developed the critical socio-economic and political aspects of their practice, particularly in relation to environment, care and the labour of making. In this conversation she talks to Owen Kelly about her relationship to kernowek, the indigenous Cornish language, its conservation and nurturing, her recent provocation on Rewilding Arts Management, and the ways in which art, activism, and plumbing can work together.

On episode 51 of “A Culture of Possibility,” Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso talk with David Cutler, Director of The Baring Foundation, based in London. One of Baring’s strategic grant areas is Arts & Mental Health, granting about £1 million per year over at least five years to organizations specializing in arts and creativity with people with mental health problems; supporting participatory artists from Global Majority communities in this work; and supporting more men to engage in creative mental health. They’ve published considerable material documenting this work. We’ll talk with David about how and why the Foundation chose this focus, the impact they’re having, and how their work fits into the larger arts funding landscape.

This episode was recorded live at a symposium titled ‘Listening Together: Practices for Community-Centred Listening’. The symposium was hosted by the research centre Creative Research in Sound Arts Practice at London College of Communication in February 2025. Our regular host Hannah Kemp-Welch chaired a panel with two artists: Beverley Bennett, who organises ‘gatherings’ to challenge the hierarchies inherent in workshop settings, and Sam Metz, who’s work with non-verbal participants invites listening ‘through the body’. The panel considers the question: what can we learn about listening from socially engaged artists?