The team at Void Art Centre are excited to share the future strategy for the organisation.
2023 was a year of change at Void, as we welcomed our new Director, Viviana Checchia, alongside new roles – Head of Sustainable Growth, Mitch Conlon, Curator of Civic Engagement, Mhairi Sutherland, Coordinator of Production and Dynamics, Sinéad Feeney. As we look to 2024, the organisation is commencing a living practice of Social Permaculture, a concept by which communities look to natural environments to model co-existence and co-creation. Void’s organisational structure will be founded on these principles.
Void’s future ambition is to ensure our programmes and the organisation as a whole are sustainable and civic-engaged. This will entail more attention and care towards the team, our resources and local environment. Responding to this ambition, Void will focus on alternative ways of producing, distributing and presenting art projects. This includes responding to our locality, working within Derry and Northern Ireland to reflect the global changes we are all part of.
What will our programming look like?
Like our internal working, our programming will investigate ways of working together and collaborative and cooperative practices within the arts and with other sectors. We will seek to form organic connections with the site of Derry and its audience, as well as sustainable use of local resources both monetary and non-monetary.
We will adopt a different use of time within our programming. Our activities will include both one-off, recurrent and long term projects, with some projects spanning only the length of the exhibition, and others resulting in further research and public reflections. Some components of the programme will run throughout the year, developing into long term projects across a multi-year period. Process is a key aspect of our programming going forward, with onsite and offsite activities focusing on genuine connection with the public rather than outcome-oriented working. Central to this work will be civic engagement, with public input essential in all stages of our projects.
We’re excited to share and learn more about this way of working in an upcoming project, announced in the next few days, which also reflects on the history of Void, celebrating the organisation across its many iterations.
We look forward to sharing more and working with you in 2024! Make sure to follow us @VoidArtCentre on social media to keep up to date with projects, including the announcement of our upcoming project, Composting for the future.
