The Bergen Salons were three virtual events hosted in response to a series of questions we didn’t see coming. The answers changed everything.
The Salons involved forty participants from nine different countries: artists, strategists, artistic directors, thought leaders, researchers, CEOs as well as representatives of the City of Bergen and even a biomimicist. All were convened to exploring three fundamental themes:
The Fluid Human Dynamics of Place
The Unrecognised Role of an Artist in a Social Setting
Public Money, Decision Making and Power
The ideas and concepts that emerged have become the bedrock of how we plan to take this experiment forwards:
By reframing context from ‘place’ to ‘human ecosystems’.
A commitment to decentralisation and operating at a hyper-local level.
Shifting the bureaucratic mindset from ‘funders’ and ‘providers’ to ‘investors’ and ‘catalysts’.
Reimagining how the money flows as a means of rebalancing the power dynamic.
Adopting a risk-taking mindset, creating space for emergence, and learning-on-the-go.
None of this can be achieved without the artists, and in this too, we decided to learn from the Salons and experiment with a bold new approach:
To develop a cohort of ‘artists-in-service’.
Who will work with and be answerable to the community.
Supported by alternative models of finance
Support and care that acknowledges the unique demands of socially engaged practice.
Read for yourself
All the goodness of the Salons have been distilled into a Digest. If you like what you see so far, why not download it and take a look.