Unlocked: Creativity and Culture for Positive Change

Unlocked: Creativity and Culture for Positive Change 

The cultural sector and creative industries are recognised for supporting levelling up agendas and seen as key drivers of employment and innovation across the globe (UNDP & UNESCO, 2013) with the institutions and organisations delivering creative education at the heart of these agendas since their inception. After the seismic impacts of the global pandemic, there is a pressing need for cultural, economic and social transformation and recovery.

This conference will explore the past, present and future of art and design education (as site of practice for communities, learning, research and innovation) and its capacity for impact and influence through purpose, policy and action for place, community, industry and social justice. We will share local, national and international case studies and projects, hear from exemplars and experts, and develop thinking towards: how we can develop collaboratively conceived, co-created approaches to art and design education that address and foster equity, inclusion, social mobility and environmental sustainability fit for the 21st Century; how we can mobilise creativity as a method of research creation and knowledge exchange that uniquely leverages art and design to address and enact much needed change in society; how we can support, develop, realise, and sustain, creativity at the heart of communities, cities, places; how we can foster interdisciplinary connections and sustain social innovation with and for citizens and communities at a local, national and global scale and, through creativity, support cultural and economic recovery, and environmental sustainability.