Beyond the Bubble: on reshaping the arts

Please check ticket info for this event below, incl. information about access.

It’s been a year in which the arts world has been faced with urgent, vital questions. Through the boycott of sponsors to the increased withdrawal of government funds, it is clear that arts have never been separate from politics.

We have asked ourselves and each other what sustainability in the arts really means - for those who practice it and for the world the art is part of - what the responsibility of artists is, in the face of human rights abuses, and what compromises we are willing to make. In short, what and who is art really for?

To explore these questions, we welcome Alycia Pirmohamed, member of Fossil Free Books and co-founder of the Scottish BPOC Writers Network, Orian Brook, co-author of Culture is Bad For You, and Gabrielle de la Puente, one half of The White Pube and co-author of Poor Artists.

They will be chaired by Christina Neuwirth.

Our speakers

Alycia Pirmohamed is the author of the poetry collection Another Way to Split Water (Polygon Books and YesYes Books). Her nonfiction debut A Beautiful and Vital Place won the 2023 Nan Shepherd Prize for nature writing and is forthcoming with Canongate. Alycia is the co-founder of the Scottish BPOC Writers Network and a co-organiser of the Ledbury Poetry Critics.

Orian Brook is Chancellor’s Fellow in Social Policy at University of Edinburgh. She is co-author of Culture is bad for you and Panic! Social Class, Taste and Inequalities in the Creative Industries. She is a member of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s College of Experts and on the board of The Audience Agency. Prior to her PhD she was Research Director for Audiences London and worked in marketing and audience research for a number of cultural organisations.

Gabrielle de la Puente is a writer from and based in Liverpool. She runs the art criticism website The White Pube with Zarina Muhammad. The pair began publishing reviews online from their art school studios in 2015, and have since earned themselves an international cult following due to their innovative writing style, their honesty and irreverence, and their willingness to challenge the establishment. In 2024, they released their debut book Poor Artists.

*Please note that masks will be required at this event (as with all Lighthouse events).

*Accessibility: All events will be professionally filmed & livestreamed. The Roxy is wheelchair accessible (including toilets) and we'll have provisions for neurodivergent guests including stims, quiet space and colour-coded lanyards.

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