Monday, 5 September 2011

Embrace the Place

Summer is finally over!

After a mad stint in the galleries, the Summer School Holiday Programmes are over, and it's time to take a nap.    It has been lovely, coming back from Florence straight into an amazing series of workshops and programmes across three sites.

I spent Saturday at Tate Britain assisting with the Embrace the Place event, an artist-led community garden festival replete with potato-digging, honey sampling and cycle-powered tunes.  The event transformed the parking bay area of TB into a series of workshops, hangout spots and stages for art interventions and musical interludes.  Highlight of the day:  The City Shanty Band (pictured below) who gave a rip-roaring performance of country tunes with city style:


I think there are some really amazing programmes happening right now with community engagement and the Big Galleries.  It is far too easy to be cynical and undermining of these efforts, or maybe I am just being a bit naive, but any programme that seeks to involve local spaces, communities of all ages, sizes and cultures, can only be better than not having anything at all for fear of stepping on sensitive toes.  The event was a huge success, I met loads of people, and it was a brilliant cap to a busy summer of families and museum learning.  



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