The Arts Council and Local Government will jointly host its second biennial conference, Places Matter, on 27 and 28 March 2019 in the Bailey Allen Hall, NUI Galway.

The conference will be of interest to public and civil servants, artists, arts organisations, politicians, academics and anyone interested in improving how we build inclusion in the arts based on the principles of inclusivity and equality.

Our population has increased by 70% from 1961 to almost 5 million in 2016 and today the 535,475 non-Irish people living in Ireland come from 200 different nations and 13.5% of us live with a disability. The Government estimates that in the next 20 years our population is set to grow by a further million people. The conference will address the theme of Ireland’s rapidly changing demographic and ask; how we are collectively responding in growing and diversifying our audiences and the artists that we work with.

PROGRAMME

27 March, 1.30pm–4pm | Cube and Stage, NUIG

Workshop with Nina Simon | Director, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History

OF/BY/FOR ALL is a global initiative to help civic and cultural organisations increase relevance and financial sustainability. Get inspired, get new tools, and get ready to make your organisation stronger. Learn how to define communities of interest and be more representative of their interests and explore the challenges of doing this work well.

27 March , 6pm-8pm | Pálás Cinema

Launch of Arts Council Equality, Human Rights and Diversity Policy

28 March, 9.30am–4pm | Bailey Allen Hall, NUIG

Places Matter Conference

Conference keynote speakers

• Nina Simon | Director, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History
• Abid Hussain | Director of Diversity, Arts Council England
• Prof William Schabas | Chairman, Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUIG

Contributors

• Lorraine Maher | activist
• Nita Mishra | poet
• Rosaleen McDonagh | playwright
• Kunle Animashaun | theatre practitioner
• Helen Marriage | creative director
• Melatu Uche Okorie | author
• Rusangano Family
• Denise Chaila

Conference Chair

• Dr Ronit Lentin

Retired Associate Professor of Sociology and director of the MPhil in Race, Ethnicity, Conflict, Sociology in Trinity College and founder member of the Trinity Immigration Initiative.

This conference is a joint initiative of the Arts Council and CCMA arising from A Framework for Collaboration 2016-2025.