Creative Interruptions is a project funded by the UK Government’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. We conduct research and support diverse communities to explore the role of the arts, media and creativity in challenging forms of exclusion, including racism. 

The current uncertainties around immigration, cultural difference, rights and responsibilities have resurfaced global debates on colonialism, borders, race, and resistance and brought to light the creativity that these circumstances produce. With this in mind, we have collaborated with different people from diverse backgrounds to find out why, and how, particular kinds of creative forms, textures and (alternative) aesthetics are used in arts and activism.

Some of the questions we have been asking include:

What is it about theatre, film, or the digital medium that makes each of them the most appropriate or enabling forms and spaces to communicate, share and enable activist messages, for example around race and class politics? In what circumstances does everyday creativity constitute a creative intervention?

Our team has teamed-up with Runnymede Trust ,and we have been writing posts on the Race Matters blog. You might have seen a few blog posts floating around Twitter news-feeds, if not here are the direct links to these articles, we aim to publish more soon:

Arts and Resistance in a Hostile World

Research subjects or co-creators? Making public outreach count

Together with Runnymede Trust we are currently co-organising a roundtable discussion about inequalities in the cultural and creative industries to enable conversations between artists from different communities, and, cultural policy-makers, towards thinking about what need to be changed and how we can do this through a collective effort. This will take place on the 17th June at the BFI in London, as part of our festival.  

To register for the festival and see our exciting programme click here: http://creativeinterruptions.net/festival/

In joining our forces, Runnymede Trust and Creative Interruptions have also collaborated on commissioning two films that resonate with the ethos and project themes. 

  • inequalities and racism in the arts
  • making differences between policies and practice in the art world
  • engaging with the ideas of race, access, and representation
  • ideas and opinions related to how art is used to tackle issues around race and/or class, and other inequalities

These films are still cooking, but keep your eyes peeled as we intend on announcing our commissions shortly.