In mid October of, ICAF Advisor Eugene van Erven visited Barcelona to view the community opera ‘La Gata Perduda’, translated as ‘The Lost Cat’, co-created by the residents of El Raval from mid-2018 to 2022. Whilst visiting, Eugene had the opportunity to interview Eva García from Comuart to learn more about the context and methodology…
Our Early Bird tickets are now available to purchase for ICAF 2023! There will be three main ticket types available. The Festival Package will give you access to all festival activities, presentations and performances and includes lunch and dinner during the entire 5-day festival The Daily Fee gains you access to all activities, presentations and performances…
This year ICAF has been invited to oversee the role of Thinking Partner for the upcoming Buffer Fringe Performing Arts Festival, happening this October. Since 2014, Buffer Fringe Performing Arts Festival, organized by the Home for Cooperation, has been questioning sensitive topics, challenging and playing with dominant narratives, and giving space to artists and activists…
We are continuing our ICAF Tip series, this time with a reading recommendation; James Thompson’s “Care Aesthetics. For Artful Care and Careful Art”, published this year by Routledge. “What if the work of a nurse, physio, or homecare worker was designated an art, so that the qualities of the experiences they create became understood as aesthetic qualities? What…
Big hART, Australia’s leading arts and social change organisation, toured Europe during the Autumn, visiting the Netherlands along the way. The tour showcased Big hART’s acclaimed audio-visual work “Acoustic Life of Zinc”, featuring an immersive soundscape created purely from sounds recorded in the smelter. The ICAF team had the pleasure of attending the event, alongside dr.…
For all our Dutch and Flemish colleagues; we are happy to welcome you to our ICAF NWE MKRS festival from 3 to 5 June 2022 in Rotterdam! ICAF NWE MKRS is a festival produced especially for young artist-facilitators within the community arts sector in the Netherlands, and, each year, it offers a fantastic opportunity to recognise…
Last month Jasmina, Anamaria and Eugene had the pleasure of travelling to Porto to meet and exchange with friends and collaborators MEXE Associação Cultural, Festival FAACCC and Edith Scher and Matemurga de Villa Crespo, and to share knowledge and ideas and discuss future plans. Another reason for our visit was to experience the mesmerising performance of Matemurga de Villa Crespo, programmed by MEXE Associação Cultural, which successfully…
It was with heavy hearts that we learnt last week that dear ICAF friend and collaborator Sally Gordon had passed away. Since 1984, Sally Gordon had been the founding director of a community-based theatre company called El Teatro de la Realidad (Theatre of Reality). The theatre performed plays based on the lives of the participants,…
We are in the process of developing a brand-new online platform, that will act as a 24/7 accessible ICAF. The platform will document, discuss, and help to develop the community arts field at large. Users will have the opportunity to get inspired through an archive and library of community arts media and resources, engage with…
Our first ICAF Reads is a critical summary, in English, of Teatro de Vecinos: de la comunidad para la comunidad (Neighborhood: From the Community for the Community) by Edith Scher, translated and written by Eugene van Erven. Edith Scher is an Argentinian writer, musician, academic, actress, and director of the Matemurga theater group. She studied…