Roundtable: Co-Creating Spaces of Belonging
This roundtable will explore key issues related to creative placemaking, drawing on Forest of Imagination and the work of socially engaged artist Caitlin Shepherd, combining short presentations, informal discussion and engagement.
Forest of Imagination is a unique collaboration between the creative and cultural industries and the community of Bath. Forest of Imagination has grown out of partnership and collective ambition to make a difference in the city, co-founded by Grant Associates and 5x5x5=creativity and hosted by the Research Centre for Cultural and Creative Industries, Bath Spa University.
Forest of Imagination deliberately brings the sensory experience of nature and wildness to an urban context. Forest of Imagination shines a light on the importance of global forests, the capacity of Bath as a creative ecosystem, the natural wonder of the city and above all the capacity of Forests to inspire creativity in everyone.
Forest of Imagination is about creative placemaking through temporary transformation of familiar city spaces and creative social engagement. It emphasises how everyone can engage in a conversation about imagination and creativity set within an urban landscape and public realm context. Forest of Imagination reveals the collaborative and creative ecology of the city in a new and engaging way and gives permission for a new way of experiencing and enjoying nature in a city environment.
Over six years Forest of Imagination has become part of Bath’s extensive calendar of events and festivals. This is a project about social innovation – unlocking the creative capacity of a community and expressing this through the joyful transformation of a familiar landscape or public place, all within a strong ecological and sustainable framework. Designers and Artists are at the heart of this project and are demonstrating their capacity to lead, inspire and inform change through creative design and collaborative working.
Caitlin Shepherd is an artist, researcher and educator concerned with making socially engaged site-specific artwork. Using sound and built structures as main mediums to explore personal stories of political systems, Caitlin uses installations, oral histories and sound documentary to explore themes of class identity, social mobility and economic inequality. Currently a PhD candidate at UWE DCRC, part of the 3d3 consortium. Caitlin’s research examines how working-class identity and experience is excluded from contemporary art discourse and practice, with a particular focus on relational aesthetics.
Andrew Grant and Penny Hay will offer a short presentation followed by discussion with the audience about creative placemaking and civic innovation.
Caitlin Shepherd will draw on her own practice as a socially engaged artist, focusing on issues of class identity, social mobility and economic inequality.
This roundtable will discuss how we can enact an alternative set of values including everyday creativity, sustainability, inclusive placemaking and co-creation with diverse communities to create urban cultures and spaces of belonging.