The Social Art Summit [1-2 Nov 2018], took place across twelve sites in Sheffield, convening over 300 practitioners and wider audiences, for an artist-led review of socially engaged practice.
It was organised by Social Art Network [SAN], co-founded by Eelyn Lee and R.M. Sánchez-Camus (Marcelo) in 2016, as a UK based community of artists committed to building agency for the field of social art practice.
The Social Art Summit was co-convened by Eelyn and Marcelo with guest-convener Ian Nesbitt. Partners included Site Gallery, a-n and Axis, who launched Issue 1 of Social Works? Open, an artist-led journal exploring social practice art in the UK and beyond.
Social Art Summit was supported by Arts Council England and Site Gallery.
A Research Paper commisisoned by a-n, reflecting on the event can be read here.
Rasheedah Phillips [L] from Black Quantum Futurism gave a keynote address
Background
Social Art Network grew out of the Collaborative Arts Peer Forum, a group of twelve artists with socially engaged practices who met regularly at Peckham Platform, to test the benefits of peer-to-peer support. Convened by Eelyn Lee with support from Artquest and Peckham Platform, the group shared practice and identified four key factors needed to support artists and strengthen the field:
- A platform to showcase and discuss current work
- Expanded critical and reflective dialogue around the work
- A national network of artists to strengthen peer support and artist's development
- A database of current, past and historic projects
Legacy
Following the Social Art Summit, SAN meet-ups began to happen around the UK including London, Sheffield, Stoke-on-Trent, Nottingham, Brighton, Newcastle, Manchester and Inverness. On 25th April 2019 SAN hosted the Social Art Assembly at Tate Exchange to unpack the learnings from the Summit, and launch the Research Publication.
In 2019 SAN partnered with Kickstarter to support UK artists develop crowdfunding campaigns for ten social practice projects, and launched Social Art Publications.
