Welfare State International Symposium

You are invited to join the University of Bristol’s Brigstow Institute and Theatre Collection, in The Old Library, Theatre Collection, 21 Park Row, Bristol. BS1 5LT for a Symposium celebrating and showcasing the work and archives of Welfare State International (WSI) and Fox and Gill, and associated project and research activities. We will start at 10am and lunch will be provided.

John Fox and Sue Gill were founders, along with others, of Welfare State International (WSI), a loose association of freelance artists bought together by shared values and philosophy that began in 1968 and ran until 2006. The group’s intention was to bring art out of galleries and performance out of theatres, providing communities with free access to art that resulted in hundreds of site-specific, community-led productions made and performed in the UK and abroad between the late 1960s and early 2000s.

This symposium is an opportunity to celebrate and showcase their extraordinary vision, material and influence. There will be talks, a chance to see some of the collection, hear and see contemporary responses to the material, and of course meet others with perhaps a chance that unexpected ideas and further plans for activities might emerge!

This Symposium will be of interest to those involved in research, learning and arts practice - site-specific art, rites of passage, celebratory arts, participatory practice, and environmental/elemental art.

This Symposium has only been made possible through the funding of two cataloguing projects: ‘Firestarters’, funded by Wellcome and ‘Archives Revealed’, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Pilgrim Trust, the Wolfson Foundation and The National Archives.

Numbers are limited so please register as soon as possible.

For information about accessibility, please see this AccessAble report.

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Host or Publisher Brigstow Institute, University of Bristol