Please download a PDF exhibition catalogue here.
If you would like to to explore some creative exercises yourself, you can download a workbook here.
Inclusive Arts Practitioners work alongside marginalised individuals and groups to create spaces for meaningful dialogue and creative exchange. Communication is enabled through making art together, through careful embodied listening and a willingness to learn and unlearn from each other. The materials involved in the making process and the environments in which it takes place are integral to the practice.
On the 25th March 2020 I taught my first MA Inclusive Arts Practice session online. I was acutely aware of how this changed the way we interacted with each other, limiting our gestural and embodied exchanges, dispersing us geographically and preventing any physical or material exchange. I felt saddened by this loss of face-to-face human interaction and wondered how the qualities that underpin Inclusive Arts practice could be sustained when we were unable to be together in person.
All the students’ research projects have been changed by the pandemic, but it has not had the negative impact on their work that I feared. This cohort of students has inspired me to see new possibilities and potential roles for Inclusive Arts Practice. Each week as we discussed their work, new avenues for developing practice, rethinking approaches and contextualising established ideas emerged. Further, their work highlights a need for engaging in the arts during difficult times and the role it can play in bringing people together, even if they are not physically in the same room. It also brought to the fore a need for us to think about how we can reach those who are more permanently isolated or confined to their homes.
I conclude this academic year with mixed feelings. The pandemic is obviously devastating and far from over and it is far from the ideal situation in which to complete your post-graduate study. The students graduating this year do so during a global crisis that undoubtedly has a profound impact on personal and professional lives. Over these last few months I have seen the challenges students have overcome to get to this point and the immense amount of resourcefulness and resilience it has taken. Their ability to get through and even thrive in challenging circumstances will hopefully equip them to deal with whatever comes next. I hope they will continue to pursue their innovative research and practice that has the potential to make a real and profound contribution to the field. Emboldened by this, I see real opportunity for Inclusive Arts Practice. It is with some excitement that I anticipate the next chapter in its development and its role in responding to these unprecedented and ever changing times.
Jayne Lloyd
Course Leader, MA Inclusive Arts Practice
Further information:
enquiries@brighton.ac.uk
How to apply for this course