Here is the link to Livestream the event: https://www.youtube.com/live/qSF2QY_45ck

Can artistic and design-led methods help government be more people-centred and participatory? Join us for this exciting, interdisciplinary event looking at how creative, people-centred and participatory approaches can play a role in forging a renewed relationship between the public and policymakers.

This event is supported by Policy Lab.

Speakers:

Tamara Finkelstein, Permanent Secretary, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs and Head of Policy Profession
Catherine Howe, Chief Executive, Adur and Worthing Councils
Yara El-Sherbini, one half of pioneering social practice artist duo YARA + DAVINA
Kieran Sheehan, Co-Director, Everyone Here, a new community arts programme based in West Cumbria running a long-term citizens jury
(Chair) Miriam Levin, Director of Participatory Programmes, Demos

Artistic and creative approaches can transform how people are represented and involved in public life. This event seeks to bring together policymakers, artists and civil society, to consider how we can support more approachable, engaging and inclusive experiences of government.

Our speakers will provide first-hand experiences, from the challenges and opportunities of bringing creative, people-centred approaches into national government, to participatory arts and policymaking in local government and an arts-led citizens’ jury in Cumbria.

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About the Speakers:

TAMARA FINKELSTEIN

Tamara Finkelstein is Permanent Secretary at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs having previously lead the department’s work on EU Exit Delivery. Before that she lead the Building Safety Programme in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Much of her career has been at HM Treasury where she started as an economist, and her roles included private secretary and speechwriter to the Chancellor, and leading on public services expenditure including health, education and housing. She has worked in a number of other government departments on policy and delivery in health and children’s services including as Deputy Head of Sure Start, and as Director General for Community Care at the Department of Health and Social Care, with responsibility for social care and community services.

Her board experience includes roles on the boards of NS&I, the Debt Management Office and the UK Border Agency. She was Secretary to Lord Hutton’s Independent Public Service Pensions Commission.

She is head of the Government Policy Profession and senior sponsor of the Civil Service Jewish Network.

CATHERINE HOWE

Dr Catherine Howe is Chief Executive of Adur and Worthing Councils. She is an expert in digital innovation, focusing on the area of digital democracy and systems practice and has a background which connects together technology, community

and social change.

Catherine has worked across a number of different sectors including education, not for profit and the technology industry. Catherine was CEO of a successful SME, Public-i Group Ltd, before moving to Capita to redevelop Capita’s digital transformation approach and then to Cancer Research UK to lead work on technology strategy and transformation. Before becoming CEX she was Director for Communities which she described as ‘helping communities direct themselves’.

She has worked with new collaborative technologies and social networking tools for over 15 years. Her research interests cover digital civic space, citizenship and systems thinking and she is the Chair of the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny.

YARA EL-SHERBINI

Yara El-Sherbini is one half of British pioneering social practice artist duo YARA + DAVINA. They create ambitious public artwork that responds to site, context and audience. Unfailingly inventive, they use formats from within popular culture to make issue based artworks which are playful and accessible. Using formats such as Oracle Cards, Manhole covers, Football scarves, to Lollipop ladies, they root their work in the everyday, using participation and a lightness of touch to make works that are both poetic and universal.

They regularly show work nationally, and internationally and in the last couple of years have exhibited at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Somerset House, Dulwich Picture Gallery, South London Gallery, Museum of the Home, the National Football Museum, National Trust, BAM in New York, amongst many other venues.

KIERAN SHEEHAN

Kieran is the co-director of Everyone Here , a project being developed in West Cumbria funded by the Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places strand. Kieran’s background is in intuitive movement and he holds a Doctorate in Education exploring the use of intuitive movement to develop understandings of professional identities in the helping professions, he continues to publish alternative academic offerings. Kieran has worked as a movement director in Opera, theatre, circus and dance over the last 20 years. His work using intuitive movement within community settings has continued throughout his career and forms the basis of his practice across leadership, research and movement direction and training. He has significant experience in leadership across the arts and culture and higher education sectors. Kieran has been instrumental in co-developing the Jury for Joy which is at the heart of his work and forms a citizens Jury that uses creative methods to action creative programmes.

MIRIAM LEVIN

Miriam is Director of Participatory Programmes at Demos.

Miriam was previously Chief Executive of Engage Britain until their merger with Demos. Prior to that she was Engage Britain’s Programme Director and led their people-powered policymaking work on health and care, which knitted deliberative and participatory methods together to build policy from the grassroots up. She has also worked for the UK government as Head of Community Action, where she led the government’s first deliberative democracy programme, and was Head of Outreach at English Heritage.

Her postgraduate studies have taken in several disciplines from archaeology to museology, regeneration to urban design, some of which she still uses.

About Policy Lab:

Policy Lab’s mission is to radically improve policymaking through design, innovation and people-centred approaches. Over a 10-year period we have developed a portfolio of more than 250 innovation projects in some of the UK’s most challenging areas of policy. We have engaged many thousands of people outside government to understand how policies affect their daily lives, and trained thousands of policy professionals in innovative approaches. Our methods are grounded in evidence, participation and experimentation and draw on diverse perspectives to tackle complexity and build consensus. Read more here.

About the Collaborative Democracy Network:

The Collaborative Democracy Network is a new event series created by Demos. It is for politicians, policymakers and civil society to come together to discuss innovations that put people at the heart of policy making.

If we’re going to build a more collaborative democracy that supports politicians to work with the public on the difficult choices that lie ahead, we’re going to have to do policy making differently. This means bold thinking about what’s possible, looking honestly at what the challenges will be, and drawing inspiration from democratic innovation from across the world.

Demos will be hosting a series of regular events bringing together leading voices in participatory ways of working with politicians, policy-makers and civil society from across the UK. Together we will explore how collaborative democracy can become a reality, creating better policy making processes, strengthening citizenry, and renewing trust in our democracy.

By registering you're subscribing to the Collaborative Democracy Network. Minimal emails are sent, only when announcing a new event. Thank you for your interest in our event!

About Demos:

Demos is a leading cross-party Think Tank producing research and policies that have been adopted by successive governments for nearly 30 years. Our work is focused on finding the solutions to the big challenges of our age: our divided society, an economy that is leaving some people behind and a democratic system that isn’t trusted to fix it. In CASM at Demos, we have a world-leading team focused on improving digital policy-making. We do policy work differently: we start by listening to people who are ultimately affected by the policy and believe that by involving end users in our research we will produce better policies that have more legitimacy.

ART, DESIGN, AND PARTICIPATION IN PUBLIC POLICY