The 2024 Meeting Point on Art & Social Action aims to capture a snapshot of the issues that grassroots practitioners are grappling with today, and to make spaces for dialogues with policymakers and researchers. We want to give a platform to the short-term and long-term perspectives practitioners see for themselves and the arts in Asia and discuss how more space can be created for thinking ahead and progressing to get there. Most importantly, the Meeting Point is a precious space for practitioners to reflect, connect, and make friendships.
The in-person 2024 Meeting Point on Art & Social Action in Asia will be 2.5 days, from March 21st – 23rd, 2024. The Grand Opening on March 21st will include a roundtable discussion, ‘Caught in the Middle, ’ between three Southeast Asian organizations initiated from the ground up to work on gaps in funding and policy in their local arts ecosystems. This will be followed by a reception and a live performance.
The program on days two and three will be a mix of plenary and parallel sessions, including:
Curated Conference group sharing
Lifecycles of Grassroots Org: Action research findings on managing small arts organizations.
Hitting Pause: Insights from artists exploring career evolution.
Local Gatherings – reports from the field
9 artists present highlights of workshops and conferences organized in different countries, moderated by Jeffrey Tan.
Participatory creative action
Get out of your head and into your senses as you surrender to a safe space created by seven artists working together in residency before the Meeting Point. The space will develop ways to engage with each other and the Meeting Point themes through sensing, feeling, and connecting using creativity.
Asia-Asia Connections
Informational and dialogue sessions hosted by regional organizations, including UNESCO’s Regional Office in Bangkok, On the Move, and Asia-Europe Foundation.
Interactive Sessions
Eight hosts (4 from Vietnam and four from Asia countries) were selected by an open call to facilitate diverse and interactive sessions on grassroots perspectives during Meeting Point.
During breaks, lunches, and evenings, there will also be plenty of space to connect outside the arranged sessions and explore potential connections to take forward after the time in Hanoi.