Canterbury Arts Conference 2020

CArtsCon is an annual conference that brings together people who are interested in the arts to share their ideas, knowledge, and experience around a theme. The theme for 2020 is “Art: Building Bridges“. CArtsCon 2020 will be from July 14 to 17.

Throughout the centuries, art has found a way to bring peoples together. From the steady beat of a war drum hailing warriors for battle, to an outdoor rock concert in front of the Pyramids in Giza, art is everywhere.

While art has been used to polarise as much as unite, it remains a bridge that allows us to see what is on each side of any divide. Art continues to be the medium through which creativity and social zeitgeist flow — an attempt to bring both together. This year’s theme celebrates the aspects of art as a bridge and artists as the builders. The focus is on collaboration, congregation and unification, while celebrating differences, debates and diversity.

How has art helped to changed minds over an issue, contentious or otherwise? How has art shaped a pathway forward? Can art bridge cultural and other divides such as language, religion, culture, or even geographic distance? We’re eager to learn how art has been a bridge in your experience, or how it might be.
 
Also, anyone who works with communities is welcome to come forward and share how art has been able to bridge community divisions and bring people together.

Come along and join (or add to) the debates and discussions.

Some of the topics below can serve as a guide for speakers and presenters:

• How has art informed your understanding of a topic or an issue?
• How has art functioned as a bridge to knowledge?
• How has art been used as propaganda? What have been the results?
• What role has art played in contributing to a global culture?
• How has art traversed the past to the present, and how will it bridge the present to the future?
• What are some of the issues where art might be used to reach across diametrically opposing views?
• How might art be used effectively where words have failed?
• How has/can art foster social inclusion?
• How can art facilitate the exchange of dialogues and ideas?
• How can we ensure that a ‘bridge’ will not be one directional?
• How can art bridge gaps between children and parents, students and teachers, populations and leaders, and such?
• How can art bridge casual visual literacy and intellectual visual literacy?
• How has art spanned across time, culture and human passion?
• How are the arts a bridge to literacy?
• What is the connection between the arts and sustainability?
• How might art function as a bridge in cultural evolution?

These and other sub-topics will be explored through a variety of tracks. The tracks will include: Visual Presentations; Arts Workshops; Academic Papers; Creative Writing; A Short Film Festival; Art History Classes; Art Demos; Industry Panel; and, an Art Exhibit.