About

About Forming ideas

Forming Ideas is a professional development programme aiming to broaden and strengthen the debate around contemporary craft practice. It will offer curators the opportunity to establish sustainable national and international networks and nurture working partnerships that will lead to future collaborative projects.

Forming Ideas is part of Arts Council England’s Forming the Future a strategic programme for the Crafts in England.

Activities

Forming Ideas is a series of international visits, conferences and online discussions that will create a dynamic network.

There will be international group visits to Cairo, all five Nordic Countries and Brazil between October 2008 and Spring 2010. Curators from England will be given the opportunity to explore contemporary craft in these regions, discuss the barriers and opportunities facing practitioners and curators, extend their network and broker potential working partnerships. Even more people will have access to conferences, debates and our online resource.

Curators given the opportunity to travel will be expected to share their new knowledge and ideas with the wider crafts sector through organising platforms for debate. These platforms will be held in the UK between Summer 2009 and Autumn 2010. Longer term it is hoped that the programme will help nurture collaborative working relationships that will result in challenging exhibitions and projects.

www.formingideas.co.uk will allow the Forming Ideas community to grow, exchange ideas and knowledge and keep up to date with the programme’s development.

Who is Forming ideas for?

Forming Ideas is for

Curators working across England in art galleries, museums, or independently and want to explore issues around contemporary craft practice, work on challenging craft projects and extend their national and international network.

Curators, artists, designers, writers across the world who want to engaged with issues of contemporary craft practice. Conferences and online debate are open to all.