Made in the Middle: Panel Conversation

Thursday 12 March, 6pm – 7:30pm | The Hexagon, Midlands Arts Centre, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, B12 9QH | Free, but booking essential.

Join Craftspace Director Deirdre Figueiredo; artists Roo Dhissou, Christopher Day and Abigail Villarroel; curator Marta Marsicka; and Creative Black Country Creative Director Parminder Dosanjh for a conversation on how life, culture and creativity in the Midlands is influenced, strengthened and enriched by migration and individual and community connections to a global diaspora.

This could be through heritage, lived experiences, ideas, thinking and social, human or cultural practices. They will consider the following questions:

• How does the way panellists engage and live their lives offer expansive world views and alternative ways of being?
• Are there particular community, faith, beliefs or value systems, such as care, reciprocity, hospitality and service that come into play and are shared?
• Are there indigenous traditions in craft, customs or language that encourages a sense of plurality and help us to reimagine a more just future?
• Are there concepts such as ‘jugaad’*  that are shared with the wider community that contribute low-cost opportunities for problem solving?

We invite attendees to share their thoughts and stories in the Q&A.

Photo: Under the Influence V by Chris Day. Photo by Agata Pec, Courtesy of Vessel Gallery.

*Jugaad is a Hindi/Urdu term for a colloquial, innovative, and frugal, “makeshift” solution or a clever workaround to a complex problem, often using limited resources.