On 4th November, the University’s Music Department hosted Re:locating the Arts, a symposium which explored research and current practice on themes of location in the output of arts organisations, co-organised with partner organisation Manchester Camerata. With contributions from academia, postgraduate researchers, and professionals working in industry, the event provided an opportunity for a disciplinary diverse range of voices to interrogate current thinking around the role of geographical location in designing and delivering effective arts programmes.
With representatives from theatre, music, orchestral production, and music education, the event began with a roundtable discussion that examined routes to finding a home within a community. Presentations covered a breadth of topics spotlighting current initiatives and relocations in arts organisations; experimental AI in collective practice; festival partnerships; the positioning of the arts within (and by) universities; civic capital in classical music outreach projects; ethics, rights, and regulations in the University of Sheffield’s Access Folk’s participant-led research; and preliminary findings from the University’s research partnership with English National Opera.
This symposium was the third in an ongoing series of Think Tank events, in which themes emerging from a collaborative PhD project are discussed and interrogated by a diverse range of voices and disciplines. The Think Tank series will continue in 2026 with an event focusing on the theme which was considered the most urgent for further interrogation: community.
This event was funded by the North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership, part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Thanks also to Creative Manchester for their generous support.
For more information on the Think Tank series, please email [email protected]
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