Maker-Centric: Learning through Sharing
Date: Friday 8 December 2017
Time: 10.30 – 4pm
Venue: Soho House Museum, Soho Avenue, Birmingham, B18 5LB

This event is part of the AHRC Connected Communities project, Maker-Centric Building place-based, co-making communities (www.maker-centric.com).

Maker-Centric is one of a series of participatory arts research projects across the UK that are funded by The Arts and Humanities Research Council’s (AHRC) Connected Communities programme. The project takes a material placed-based approach to engaging communities in speculative co-design. It argues that ‘making in place’, with all the historical, geographical, cultural, political and economic specificities which that entails, and critically re-imaging place through creative ‘place-making’, is vital to connecting communities and developing, engagement, assets and agency (Hackney & Figueiredo 2017).

This day is presented as a knowledge exchange event in which project researchers, artists and community groups from Wolverhampton and Birmingham will share their experience of the project and demonstrate the artefacts they have produced.

Outline of Event:

10.15-10.30am – Arrive; coffees and meet & greet

10.30-10.45am – Professor Fiona Hackney from the University of Wolverhampton and Deirdre Figueiredo from Craftspace will introduce the project

10.45-10.55am – a few words from our partners Creative Black Country

10.55-11.05am – a few words from our partners Fab Lab

11.05-11.20am – Artists Laura Onions and Gavin Rogers will talk about their involvement on the project

11.20-11.30am – A short talk from artist John Grayson

11.30-11.45am – coffee break

11.45-12.05pm – Gatis Community group based in Whitmore Reans, Wolverhampton will talk about the work their group do and demonstrate their making process

12.05-12.25pm – Petals of Hope group based in Heathtown, Wolverhampton will talk about the work their group do and demonstrate their making process

12.25-12.50pm – Craftspace and community researchers based in Handsworth, Birmingham will talk about the work their group do and demonstrate their making process

12.50-1pm – Short talk from Slovenian partners Terra Vera, Jana Milovanović and Martina Obid

1.15-2pm – lunch

2-4pm – Maker-Centric Maker-Fair: craft people from Handsworth will demonstrate/share their skills (e.g. cake decorating/sugar craft, polish ribbon craft) - OPEN TO ALL.

4pm - END