Stimulate cultural change through this innovative workshop on creative practice and ecological citizenship.

Summer School

Sun 10 July 2011 to Sat 23 July 2011

Tutor(s):
Hildegard Kurt
Shelley Sacks

Where is this taking Place?

Richard Hamilton Building
Oxford Brookes University

Price:	Code:
£650	AGENT

Course Information:

Focus

In our times of great ecological and social challenge, there is a growing awareness that we all need to contribute to reshaping how we live in the world.

But there are many questions - even if we are already active in one way or another.

These questions include a concern with approaches to eco-activism: How can we deepen and further develop our skills and methods of working towards change? How can we improve ways of engaging and mobilising people that are not yet involved? How can we better understand the role of imagination in enhancing ecological and active citizenship? In what way is the idea of social sculpture relevant to this field of work?

This two week workshop:

• provides an opportunity to explore the many different ways and levels on which we can be or become better ‘agents of change’ and how we can deepen our understanding of ecological citizenship
• provides a forum for exploring the importance of imagination in transformative work
• enables participants to develop forms of creative cultural action that relate directly to each of our own life-work situations

Whilst the methods and concerns addressed on the workshop deal with issues of global relevance, practices are explored in relation to each individual’s field of work, enabling them to take home new ‘instruments’ for transformative work.

People active in local organisations and projects in and around Oxford and London will join us to share insights and questions that relate to our core themes and practices.

The workshop is embedded in the exploratory practices and research of the Social Sculpture Research Unit and informed by its network of active members and associates. In this sense it also provides an introduction to social sculpture and its role in bringing about a viable world.

Who Would Benefit from this Workshop?

Everyone interested in resilience, the role of imagination in transformation and enhancing ecological citizenship. This includes:

People in NGOs, think tanks, consultancies and community groups who are trying to mobilise citizens and facilitate attitudinal change and who want to deepen and further their practice

Students of all disciplines, particularly those interested in ways of engaging people in attitudinal change
 

Artists interested in art and ecology, transitional practices and connective aesthetics

Scientists interested in holistic perspectives and methodologies and ways of connecting scientific research to attitudinal change.

The facilitators Shelley Sacks and Hildegard Kurt have extensive experience working together in this field of creative change towards an ecologically just and viable world.

Participants will encounter creative methods for change, not in the abstract, but through exploratory practices that relate both to textual material and draw on their own experience. This approach fosters in-depth exchanges between participants and with the facilitators. It leads to the development of tools and instruments that are not only illuminating for the participants themselves but can be taken home and used with others in diverse fields of work.

This summer school also provides a useful basis for people wanting to engage in doctoral research in the field of social sculpture, art and ecology and creative cultural action, or those interested in joining the Masters in Social Sculpture.

Registration:  Please register and pay for this course by following the link on the right hand side of the page.  You will be required to submit a statement of not longer than one page about why you would like to participate.  Please include details about your past and current activities.  Are they related in some way to the themes or practices of this summer shcool?  Please describe and give examples on the registration form.

Please note accomodation is not included in the price for this course.  University accomodation is available on a self-catering basis charged on a price per person per night.  Persons are responsible for their own meals.  Costs for this accomodation will be available shortly.

For more details about this course, contact:

 For more details about this course, contact the tutors