Keynote at Social Making 2022

I am delighted to be joining the social practice powerhouse Kim Wide MBE and the Take A Part team in Plymouth in July, at its Social Making summit.

I will be in a keynote conversation with Kim, talking cultural institutions and social practice:

Square peg, round hole?

Should social makers bother with institutions? And do institutions know what they are doing?

The 2020 syndemic put social responsibility and accountability into sharp relief for cultural institutions, and many called upon social makers to programme their way through this. Social makers were also knocking on the institutional door, wanting to work with them to make good on their own desire to work with publics in need.

Why though? Why did so many think the museum space a suitable one for social making? Why were museums being looked upon for leadership by social makers? Do institutions know what they are asking for? Where does the power lie in this institutional- social maker relationship?

Cara works with and for museums as a social practice professional and knows the inherent tensions and the incredible transformative power in these relationships from first hand experience inside and out of the institutional setting. In this session, Cara will speak with Kim Wide of Take A Part to the pivotal time that social making is in vis a vis cultural institutions and will ask, why should you bother?

More information on Social Making here.