engage Scotland Conference 2008
What do We-Think?
Thursday 11 & Friday 12 September 2008
Tramway & The Lighthouse, Glasgow

Increasingly art galleries and cultural organisations are working with their audiences to find ways of breaking down barriers to access and enjoyment of contemporary art and culture.

What do We-Think? looks at how ‘open-source’ and ‘mass-collaboration’ trends currently transforming the world of business could be applied to the cultural sector.

Specifically the conference asks how these phenomena could revolutionise how arts organisations engage with audiences, not just in relation to marketing but at the more fundamental level of making and interpreting art.

Keynote Speaker: Charles Leadbeater, Ideas Generator, Strategic Advisor and “Wizard of the Web”
Chair: Moira Jeffrey, Journalist, Broadcaster and Art Critic for Scotland on Sunday.

On day one of the conference, hosted by Tramway, Charles Leadbeater – one of the world’s leading authorities on innovation and creativity in organisations and author of We-Think and What Next? 21 Ideas for 21st Century Education – will give a keynote presentation. This will be followed by leading experts from across the arts sector (representing artists, galleries and academia ) reflecting on what they think about the idea of We-Think and the implications that this has for how we talk about art.

Day two will be hosted by The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Architecture, Design and the City. The day will begin with presentations reflecting innovative interpretative practice in the gallery sector in Scotland. Delegates will then collaborate to progress discussions on several of the key issues emerging from day one. The two-day event will culminate with a mass creative lunch at the Lighthouse.

The conference themes reflect some of the findings of engage Scotland’s recent Interpretations action research project addressing interpretation methods at four Scottish galleries.

The conference is intended for gallery educators, artists, curators, arts organisation directors, cultural co-ordinators, policy makers, students, funders and others working in the education and cultural sectors.

Visit www.engagescotland.org.uk for regular programme and speaker updates.