International Arts and Homelessness Summit– Manchester 15-18 November 2018

Homelessness is not just about housing, and people who are homeless can suffer from a multitude of challenges from practical ‘house-lessness’ to low well-being, social isolation and stigma. The arts are being used effectively around the world to reduce social isolation by building social networks and increasing both physical and mental health, improve public attitudes/promote understanding towards people who are or have been homeless, and enable homeless people to express themselves so their voice can be heard.

From 15 to 18 November the international movement for the arts and homelessness With One Voice is holding the first ever International Arts and Homelessness Summit. (NB the four-day Summit sits within a week-long Festival from 12-18th where all events are free. Details will be released soon).

Join us to discover, interrogate and celebrate the role the arts can play in tackling homelessness.

This four-day conference will explore the themes of People, Practice, Policy, Performance and Partnerships in relation of arts and homelessness. With People and Performance at its heart, the Summit focuses on one of the themes each day bringing together practitioners, artists, activists, academics and policy makers together. 50% of the tickets available are allocated for people who are or have been homeless to be able to attend for free.

Each day, attend key-note speeches and panel discussions in the morning and join in practical workshop sessions in the afternoon. On Saturday, visit organisations across Greater Manchester for taster sessions and seeing their work first hand. On Sunday, join us for a reflection day and the closing performance of Man On Bench Fairy Tale, a new opera by Unlimited supported Emerging Artist David Tovey of the One Festival and Museum of Homelessness.

All tickets include a free light breakfast, tea/coffee breaks and lunch (excluding Saturday).

Each evening, delegates are also invited to attend free Festival events.

Summit Programme Highlights

Day 1 - Thursday 15th November - Practice

Conference at The Whitworth: Thur 15 Nov / 09.00-18.30

Programme highlights include:
Morning: Panel discussion about measuring the impact of arts and homelessness projects; hearing from local and national projects about their work.
Afternoon: Break-out workshops sharing practices from around the world including film projects from WAYout in Freetown to Lyte Collective in Chicago; poetry from Cocoroom, Osaka and the Urban Poet Ged Austin, Manchester; music from Dallas Street Choir to Uma só Voz, Rio; visual arts from Seattle’s Path With Art and Sketch, Toronto and many more.
Evening: Free Festival events including Open Mic Night and international performance showcase

Day 2 - Friday 16th November - Policy

Conference at The Whitworth: Fri 16 Nov / 09.00-18.30

Programme highlights include:
Morning: Discussions about arts being involved in homelessness policy; cultural spaces and homelessness; legislative theatre from Theatre of the Oppressed NYC
Afternoon: Break-out workshops including artists living in squats, LGBT people who are homeless and arts; Cardboard Citizens and more short presentations about local, national and international projects; an Open Space event
Evening: Free Festival Events programme including They Can't Take That Away From Me, a musical theatre production by the The Edge in association with the Booth Centre

Day 3 - Partnerships

Open Day tours: Sat 17 Nov / from 10am

Open Days at various arts orgs/venues and homeless orgs/centre in GM. Free and open to the public.

Programme highlights include: Streetwise Opera at Manchester Art Gallery an exhibition at Castlefield Gallery; an LGBT awareness project by Men’s Room; a film programme curated by Homeless Film Festival; an ‘art jam’ at Mancunian Way; a project by The Lowry with young people from Salford; a performance of The Political History of Smack and Crack by Ed Edwards at Mustard Tree; a public mural in Manchester created by people who are or have been homeless and artist/activist Joel Bergner; the photography exhibition Inspirational People by Matt Priestly and the Booth Centre at Piccadilly Gardens and much more!

Please note lunch is not provided on Saturday.

Day 4 - Final wrap and Closing Event

Conference at The Whitworth: Sun 18 Nov / 09.00-14.00
Final wrap up and reflections

Programme highlights include: An Open Space event, reflections and pledges from delegates. Summit/Festival closing event: Man On Bench Fairy Tale, a new opera created by Unlimited supported Emerging Artist David Tovey of the One Festival and Museum of Homelessness.

Ticket prices:

50% of the tickets are free and for delegates who are of have been homeless***

Day Tickets are £31.33 including booking fee (for delegates attending as individuals or representing small organisations with annual turnover <£100,000) or £52.53 including booking fee for delegates representing bigger organisations (with an annual turnover >£100,000)

Whole Conference Passes are £81.15 including booking fee for individuals and small organisation and £138.39 including booking fee for bigger organisations.

All tickets include light breakfast, lunch and tea/coffee breaks (every day, except Saturday).

All evening and Open Day Festival events are free of charge – we will be in touch if you need to book places for these events.

With One Voice operates a “no questions asked” policy and won’t ask the delegates to prove their status. Everyone has the option to donate when booking their tickets. All proceeds help us sponsor the free tickets.

For more information visit www.with-one-voice.com or check out our FAQs and TRAVEL INFORMATION for delegates travelling from outside Greater Manchester before booking.

*** 50% of the Summit tickets are free and go to people who are or have been homeless. You can book a free ticket here. We are also working with homelessness organisations across Greater Manchester to fulfil this pledge. If you are an organisation and would like to request free tickets please get in touch with Lora on lora@with-one-voice.com***

*** All delegates will be contacted by the With One Voice team at a later dated with detailed programme, to book their individual afternoon workshops and evening events and express any dietary or access needs ***

Any questions, clarifications, ideas or suggestions?

We want to hear from you. Get in touch calling 020 7730 9551 or contact our Producer Lora on lora@with-one-voice.com – we look forward to seeing you at the Summit.

#WOVSummitFest