My article"The art of lingering, loitering,meandering and mingling" features in - Ageing in Public.

In 2015 I  was invited to present at the Public Wisdom Conference , London . You can watch the slightly rushed presentation here ( check out the time signaller!!) we start at about 3mins and 45 secs in.

Public Wisdom 2015: Ageing in Public: Care, Choreography and Voice Chair: Kate Organ Presentations: 1. Paula Turner (independent dance artist), Dr Trish Winter (University of Sunderland) & members of the Grand Gestures Dance Company 2. Sarah Cole (independent artist) & Jill Keegan (Islington Mind) 3. Arti Prashar (Spare Tyre) SESSION TWO: Ageing in Public: Care, Choreography and Voice A session exploring three practical, creative projects: an older people’s dance company staging interventions and happenings in public spaces; an artist bringing the psychological impacts of care into public spaces; and a theatre com- pany that uses performance and storytelling to foreground the older person’s experience, voice and imagination in the collective public realm. Kate Organ (Chair). Kate’s career in the arts has spanned experience as a theatre practitioner, teacher, arts manager, festival director and policy developer in arts funding, across a range of artforms and contexts. Since 2008 she has been Arts Adviser to the Baring Foundation, working on their programme of arts grants and strategic initiatives which support arts for and by older people. Alongside this work she has worked with numerous arts companies on organisational development projects and the evaluation of several national arts programmes. Paula Turner is an independent dance artist, virtuosic improviser and a skilled facilitator of creative engagement. A founder member of Dry Water Arts, she is dedicated to working within community and participatory settings. Paula is the dance artist for Grand Gestures Dance Company (An Equal Arts /National Lottery five year project). She is a Winston Churchill Fellow. Dr Trish Winter is an ethnographer and Senior Lecturer at the University of Sun- derland. She has published widely, including the books ‘Performing Englishness: identity and politics in a contemporary folk resurgence’ (2014) and ‘Sexing the Soldier: the politics of gender and the contemporary British Army’, (2007). Together Paula and Trish are finding ways to combine academic rigour with expe- riential knowledge and a joint love of dance. Sarah Cole is an artist whose practice generates collaborative research into lived experience. Her work explores notions of care, pedagogy, performance and play, leading to outcomes such as ‘In-Kind’ (2014), ‘Smother’ (2010) and ‘Nest’ (2008). Sarah is a Senior Lecturer at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. Jill Keegan has worked in mental health settings for many years. She is currently Dual Diagnosis Carers Worker at Islington Mind, supporting families where there are both mental health problems and di culties with the use of drugs or alcohol. Arti Prashar is Artistic Director/CEO of Spare Tyre, a contemporary theatre company which makes theatre that enables voiceless communities and individuals to share and celebrate their untold stories. Under Arti’s leadership and vision, Spare Tyre has developed its inclusive creative practice championing diverse voices. She has a strong commitment to collaborative participatory art, nurturing the creative impulse that leads to personal and political fulfilment. Arti is a Winston Churchill Fellow and a Fellow of the RSA.

I think we managed to start a little improvised happening before we even got to the podium, I do like a bit of furniture re arrangement.

Public Wisdom is an action research programme that explores productive connections and relationships between older people and the public realm . An article based on the presentation has now been  published in "Ageing in Public".  Co authored with Dr Trish Winter it is entitled Passing: A Public Happening. The art of lingering, loitering, meandering and mingling with intent. My work continues to prod at assumptions made about age and ageing using a range of techniques which I refer to as being "politely subversive"

Many thanks to Daniel Baker and Cubitt Arts for their interest in my work, peer support and encouragement.