Having found a new co-chair, Carole Edrich invites local residents involved in arts and culture to participate in the recently relaunched What Next? East London
Are you involved in arts and culture in East London? Do you want to help influence policy-making by making the case for arts and culture? Do you want to help shape the cultural sector in the current sociopolitical landscape, ensuring we’re fostering artists in the most accessible environment possible? Are you concerned about AI: your rights, your council’s approach and their plans, your local freedoms as an artist or something entirely different?
As part of relaunching What Next? East London, we need to hear from you. What would you like us to cover? What should we keep from what we used to do? How can we best make a difference?
What Next? East London is our local chapter of What Next?, a free-to-join movement bringing together arts and cultural organisations in the UK to champion and strengthen the role of art and culture in our society. We believe bringing people together in conversation has the power to inform, inspire and challenge people to do things differently, whether they are independent artists, working in their own organisations, in our sector or in our communities. Our convening leads to:
Advocacy: shaping policy proposals and strategies at both UK-wide and local levels.
Learning and modelling: as a movement of peers in many different contexts with different specialist skills and experiences, we share good practice and build systems leadership.
Amplification: We champion actions that build equitable conditions for arts and culture, working in close partnership with What Next? Central, other chapter chairs, sector organisations and other networks to champion and amplify campaigns across the movement.
We also initiate conversations with people in arts and culture, policy-makers, politicians, funders, academics, unions and sector bodies. We work collaboratively to demonstrate and amplify the value of arts and culture in our society and economy, drawing on the consensus and arguments forged at meetings.
We’ve been dormant since the pandemic ended. As we prepare to relaunch, we need you to help shape the future plan. We held a drop-in event in November and will be holding another this month. We then plan to run a couple of Zoom calls in the new year, once the other co-chair has officially started. Please come and share your concerns, add your voice and join the movement. Let’s build a What Next? East London that serves us all.
What Next? East London will hold a drop-in event on 11 December from 6pm to 8.30pm at Compassionate Funerals on Hermon Hill, Wanstead. For more information, visit wnstd.com/whatnext
