A museum is a strange place
On 9 November 2022, I was invited by Fondazione Brescia Musei to contribute to a discussion on ‘participatory museums today’,
Category: Essays
Old Words #8: Music and Social Change
Re-reading this text, it struck me as rather dense, perhaps because it deals with questions I have thought about for
Prisoners of Love, Amateurs and Professionals (Old Words #3)
This essay is a slightly revised version of a chapter in Where We Dream, West Bromwich Operatic Society and the
Making Nothing Happen (Old Words #2)
This essay was originally written in 2016, and revisited in the darker year of 2022 Download a PDF of this essay here On
Reflecting on culture and development
For the past 18 month or so, I have been working with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
My good companions
At midnight on 27 March 2020, Bob Dylan (or his office) used Twitter to announce the release of a song
Georgina Barney – An Artist on Farming
Georgina Barney is captivated by farming, in theory, art and practice. Today she publishes GB Farming: An Island Journey, a book
Making nothing happen: art and civil society in troubled times
This is the text of a talk given on 3 September 2016 in Berlin at an event to mark the fifth
Both Sides of the Coin
Both Sides of the Coin: The Distinctive Value of Art in Health Care A text commissioned by artsandhealth.ie, an Irish arts
Whose line is it, anyway?
One lovely evening this summer, I stood waiting in the lobby of the Market Theatre in the Herefordshire town of
Parliament of Dreams 