Civic Conversations at Void - City of Culture Derry

What does it mean to be a citizen of Derry in this City of Culture year?

Does City of Culture reinforce or remove barriers?

Can culture and the arts be instrumental in creating jobs and growth?

Has City of Culture fostered a sense of civic pride?

What can City of Culture achieve? And what will the legacy be?

BE PART OF YOUR CIVIC CONVERSATION AT VOID

Void Contemporary Art Gallery is delighted to announce that it will curate and host Civic Conversations, a series of open forum discussions designed to involve and engage the local Derry /Londonderry community during the City Of Culture year of 2013. The format involves a panel of three invited guests coming together to discuss all aspects of the City of Culture - cultural, political, economic and social.

The first event takes place on Thursday 7th February at 7.30pm in Void, Patrick Street. This session is intended to act as a catalyst for the forthcoming conversations and and will be made up of a panel of Void members from different backgrounds, chaired by journalist and blogger Jim Carroll. 

Joining Jim will be Declan Sheehan, Project Curator at BT Portrait of a City for City of Culture 2013 as well as holding a Visual Arts Curator Residency by Arts Council of Ireland, Declan is also an independent curator for various projects including Void, Artlink Fort Dunree Residencies, Tulca and others. Anne Crilly, filmmaker, arts lobbyist and Media Lecturer at the University of Ulster and Mhairi Sutherland, a visual artist living and working in Derry who has recently completed a practice based PhD in Dublin on conflict, landscape and photography. Currently Mhairi is involved with a cultural project in the Verbal Arts Centre, Derry, which addresses the issues around the transition of the RUC to the PSNI as a result of the Good Friday Agreement.

Has City of Culture energized civic life in Derry?In ten years, when the citizens of Derry and its surrounds reflect back on 2013, what will they remember? Is there an element of propaganda surrounding the City of Culture and is this a good or bad thing?

Civic Conversations aims to harness the response to the first UK City of Culture felt by the people who inhabit this city by creating a vibrant platform for inclusion, debate and active citizenship. It recognizes the need to reach out to the very community surrounding the event and hear their voices, which will ultimately shape the legacy of the project.

This is the first in a series of informal, discursive events, seeking to channel the energies of this pivotal moment in Derry’s life. By creating the Civic Conversation programme, Void hopes to generate a sense of open ownership and fluid conversation around the City of Culture with Derry and its people, and thereby create a living legacy.
Admission is free, and all are welcome. This is a unique opportunity to air your opinion.
Come join the conversation, and have your say.
For further info. E: sally@derryvoid.com / T: +44 (0) 28 7130 8080
NOTE: Jim Carroll is in Derry to host the Banter Salon, taking place on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th,as part of the Other Voices trip to the city. You can find out more information about the Banter Salon athttp://thisisbanter.com and Other Voices at http://othervoices.ie.