We’ve collected some inspiring material for our spring reading list, featuring Stella Duffy and François Matarasso. “I really do believe in the community. I really do believe in the genius in every person. And I’ve heard that greatness come out of them, that great thing which is in people.” Novelist and theatre maker Stella Duffy quotes these words of Joan Littlewood in her article on A Restless Art: Thinking About Community and Participatory Art. It’s this quote that inspired Stella Duffy to create Fun Palaces, which is both an ongoing campaign for culture by, for and with all, and also an annual weekend of events, where arts and sciences are a vital catalyst for community engagement and full participation for everyone, from the grassroots up. During ICAF 2017, Stella has promised to create a special workshop-edition of an ICAF Fun Palace.
This spring we are also reading François Matarasso’s Bread and Salt: Stories of Art and Migration. This book weaves together the stories of eighteen artists living in Europe whose lives began far away from here. Both their narratives and creative practices are a distinctive contribution to intercultural dialogue in Europe. You can find it on our digital library.