A conference will take place in Cumbria on Friday 13th March to look at the role of street and outdoor arts in the UK.

The event Street Arts: People and Places at Play is being organised at Kendal College by the ESRC Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC) at Manchester University.

Cumbria will be the focus of a major four-year Olympic Legacy Trust programme, with the aim of making the county the national centre of excellence for the street arts. Lakes Alive will open in May with six large scale outdoor events in each part of Cumbria and will inlcude the Mintfest international street arts festival in Kendal in August.

Dr Andrew Miles from CRESC says: “This conference will explore the phenomenon of streets and outdoor arts and consider why they have the ability to capture the public imagination.  We will also be looking at what contribution these events make to the image and identity of an area, as well as the role they can play in improving economic prosperity and the quality of life.”

The event is part of the Economic and Social Research Council’s Festival of Social Science which runs from the 6th to the 15th of March.

The conference will bring together artists, producers, policy makers, researchers, local authority representatives and members of the public to debate the role of street arts. 

A small number of places at the conference are still available for members of the public.  For information contact Josine Opmeer on 0161 275 8990 or email josine.opmeer@manchester.ac.uk.  You can reigster using this LINK. To find out more about CRESC visit www.cresc.ac.uk.

Further details about Lakes Alive can be found at www.lakesalive.org.