DISRUPT: Are we building community power or just co-opting it?
- 11am - 5.30pm
Tickets
About this event:
- Category:
- Platform / Discussion
- Event type:
- Booking required | In-person
- Admission:
- Free but registration required
- Location:
- 1 East Poultry Avenue, Floor 1, London EC1A 9PT
Event information
Burning the Parachute: Are we building community power or just co-opting it?
An Open Space event for anyone who works in the arts that cares about community, power, and the politics of sustainable change.
An invitation from Julie Hawksworth, Relationship Manager Museums & Cultural Property (London), Arts Council England; Lauren Parker, Head of Engagement and Community Partnerships, London Museum; and Jo Chard, Senior Producer for DISRUPT, Guildhall School of Music & Drama
We’re living in a time when “community empowerment” is on everyone’s lips - from funders to policymakers to arts organisations. But behind the buzzwords, something more complex is unfolding. Are communities really being empowered? Or are institutions parachuting in, performing “sustainable practices,” and calling it progress?
When projects end, relationships fade. Communities are left uncertain, trust erodes, and the legacy of the work is lost. Community building depends on long-term commitment - continuity, accountability, and collaboration across disciplines, sectors, and communities to build more inclusive and resilient cultural ecosystems.
Yet too often, cultural organisations position themselves at the centre of cultural life, rather than as part of a broader ecosystem. Without community-led or grassroots-informed practices, efforts toward sustainability and equity risk becoming top-down processes, shaped by funding cycles and policy agendas, driven more by institutional survival than collective care.
This needs to change.
This open space event will bring together people from across sectors and experiences. Whether you're a funder, artist, cultural worker, activist, policymaker, or simply someone who’s tired of seeing power misused or misunderstood, this is your space to speak, listen, challenge, connect, and imagine.
This is not a conference. It’s a conversation. It’s not about answers. It’s about asking better questions.
Admission free, but registration required
Illustration above by Matt Munday
More info
Why this question?
“Burning the parachute” is a provocation. It asks the cultural sector to confront the ways in which well-meaning interventions can sometimes replicate the very power structures they aim to dismantle. It’s about radical honesty, radical accountability and radical imagination.
What is an Open Space?
Open Space is a format where there are no panels, no keynotes, no gatekeepers. Just a big room, a big question, and the people who care enough to show up. You bring the topics, you choose where to go, and you decide what conversations need to happen. The space will be open and friendly - if you want to listen and not speak, that’s okay too. Join us for lunch, refreshments and good conversation.
What's Next?
On the 2nd September we will be hosting another Open Space event, based around some of the conversations that come up during this event. For updates on how to book this event, email Iona at iona.mctaggart@gsmd.ac.uk.
Travel Bursaries
We have a limited number of travel bursaries available, for further information on eligibility and how to apply, click here
Dietary Requirements
During the Open Space event we will be providing a light lunch. If you have any dietary requirements, please let us know by clicking here
For further information please visit the Eventbrite booking page
DISRUPT is co-produced between Guildhall School of Music & Drama and a range of arts, cultural, and community organisations across the UK. Running in three-year cycles, each phase tackles a complex challenge facing the cultural sector, offering provocations and practical tools in response.
The first cycle (2021-2023) explored community-led governance through a festival, a toolkit, and a series of open space events.
The next cycle will focus on community power and sustainable practices, including the systemic and organisational blockers that get in the way of community building and what needs to happen to enable long-term change.
DISRUPT is intentionally iterative. Rather than prescribing solutions, it gathers insights through Open Space events - bringing together funders, artists, organisations, activists, policymakers, and communities - to share challenges, insights and ideas. These conversations will shape the upcoming programme and toolkit, ensuring it reflects real needs and lived experiences.