A year on, a panel of speakers debate the challenges and opportunities for the arts as Britain leaves the EU. Featuring speaker Judith Knight, co-Director of Artsadmin.

A year on from the referendum which decided that Britain will leave the EU, and as the Brexit process gets under way, what do the arts in the UK stand to gain or lose? How can the arts flourish as Britain repositions itself in the world?

While many in the creative sector remain pessimistic about the consequences of leaving the EU, others, like Grayson Perry, are prepared to see the opportunities to challenge the ‘same old comfortable ideas’ and, in doing so, ‘reach new audiences’. Both the Creative Industries Federation and the Arts Council recognize the need to operate ‘outside our comfort zone’. The government has identified the creative sector a priority in its new industrial strategy. The upheaval caused by Brexit might see a burst of new artistic creativity.

As we commence shaping post-Brexit Britain, the third in this series of public debates explores the fundamental issues affecting the future of the arts. What new narratives are emerging for artists internationally? What are the main obstacles to creative development and how do we overcome them? What will free the creative energies of artists? What are the issues we need to address as the debate about the future of the arts in Britain continues?

What to Expect

A wide-ranging discussion/debate, introduced by a panel of invited speakers from a variety of organisations, with plenty of time for questions, commentary and debate from the audience.

Who's Involved

Bryan Appleyard is an award-winning and frequently commended journalist. Currently he is a special feature writer, commentator, reviewer and columnist for The Sunday Times. He has written for the New York Times, The New Statesman, Prospect, The Spectator, The Sun and numerous other publications. He is also author of ten books, most recently Bedford Park: A Novel.

Candida Gertler, OBE, co-founded Outset Contemporary Art Fund in 2003. Outset is a hub for creative funding solutions for contemporary art and the only international and independent philanthropic organisation raising private and corporate funds to support new art for the public arena. For more than a decade, Candida has served as Executive Member of the Tate International Council.

Stefano Rabolli Pansera is an Italian architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and curator. He is the founding director of Beyond Entropy Ltd, a research-based studio practicing architecture, urbanism and cultural analysis. In 2013, he co-curated the Angola Pavilion the 55th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia which won the Golden Lion for "best national participation”.

Judith Knight is the founding director of Artsadmin, which she set up in 1979. Over the last 38 years, the organisation has produced and supported the work of independent artists and companies working across all artistic disciplines, much of it site specific and participatory.   Its base Toynbee Studios is centre for the creation of new work, with rehearsal spaces, a free advisory service, bursary schemes, education programme, showcases, workshops and performances. Working with and in Europe has always been a crucial part of Artsadmin's activities, and it is currently a member of two different EU funded partnerships, one of which focusses on arts and environment.

James Heartfield is a political historian, who writes and lectures on a range of topics from creative industries to the history of the British Empire. He is the author of several books, including The European Union and the End of Politics (2013) and Unpatriotic History of the Second World War (ZER0 2012).

Jeremy Hutchison is an artist based in London. He works with situational performance rehearsing ways to disrupt the tyranny of common sense. He has exhibited at the ICA, V&A, Modern Art Oxford and the EVA Biennial, and returned from a residency at Raw Material Company in Dakar.

Pauline Hadaway (Chair) has worked in arts and education in the UK and Ireland since 1990. A former director of Belfast Exposed photography and co-founder of The Liverpool Salon, a forum for public debate on Merseyside, Pauline is now teaching and undertaking doctoral research at the University of Manchester’s Institute of Cultural Practices. Her publications include: ‘Policing the Public Gaze’ (2009), ‘Re-imagining Titanic, re-imaging Belfast’, in ‘Relaunching Titanic: Memory and Marketing in the ‘Post Conflict City’ (2013) and ‘Escaping the Panopticon’ in Photography Reframed, I.B Tauris (September 2017).

INVOKE DEMOCRACY NOW is a non-partisan campaign group set up to promote and defend our democratic rights and freedoms.  We believe that the referendum on our membership of the European Union was a unique and significant opportunity to engage in democracy and that the result must thus be upheld.

In association with

Institute of Ideas Arts and Society Forum aims to encourage open discussion of issues and controversies relating to the state of the arts today, aligned with the Institute of Ideas' mission to expand the boundaries of public debate.

New Narratives is a group of architects, designers, planners, artists, creatives who view our post-Brexit world as a once in a lifetime opportunity to rethink every aspect of what we do; as a springboard to action and as a transformation of our existing tired creative and cultural sectors.

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COMPETITION: Win 1x pair of tickets to attend Invoke Democracy Now presents Democracy in the Arts in Europe: What Future for the Arts? at Rich Mix at 19:00 on Tuesday 20 June. To enter the competition, send an email to lizzy@run-riot.com with the correct answer in the ‘subject’ line. The winner will be randomly selected.

Q: Artist Grayson Perry has suggested that Brexit allows opportunities to challenge the ‘same old comfortable ideas’ and …?
A: .1) Make more money .2) Reach new audiences .3) Make a mess of the UK arts scene .4) Breath new energy into the UK arts scene