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education programme : AMBIGUOUS SPACES 2 Half-day Seminar for curators, practitioners and funding organisations to be held at University College for the Creative Arts at Farnham December 9th 2005 the issue Three textile exhibitions (Revelation, Textural Space, Through the Surface)* • over 250,000 visitors • 179 press articles (international, national and regional magazines and newspapers) • 14,000 participants in education programmes for schools, students and adults • the purchase of 10 exhibits for major public collections • 7 commissions for participating artists • significant investment in the arts and creative industry sectors By any standard the above represent successful exhibitions, meeting targets for the public, for the artists and funding bodies. Yet, despite this demonstrable success, it is still a struggle to find mainstream museums and galleries that will programme textiles. If such exhibitions and associated events have a role to play in the dialogue surrounding contemporary practice, then it would seem the largest possible dissemination should be sought and encouraged. In the context of the exhibition ’21:21 – the textile vision of Reiko Sudo and NUNO’ this seminar will discuss how practitioners and exhibition programmers could work together to increase the profile of the crafts in general, and textiles in particular. We will look at examples of different initiatives and ask: What are the constraints? What are the strengths? What role could educational establishments, for example University College for the Creative Arts and Manchester Metropolitan University, play in developing collaborations? These are some of the issues that will form the starting points for this seminar. A panel, drawn from curators, representatives of funding bodies, educators and practitioners will discuss ideas with the audience, providing the opportunity to identify and develop constructive ways forward. * The three textile exhibitions listed below have generated over a quarter of a million visitors: Revelation: 55,000 Textural Space: 83,415 Through the Surface: 94,761 All three attracted excellent media attention, in particular the Textural Space and Through the Surface: Textural Space: 42 magazines, 13 national and 43 regional newspapers Through the Surface: 41 magazines, 14 national and 26 regional newspapers All three had full education programmes that were extremely well attended: Revelation: 100 school visits, international symposium Textural Space: 8,000 people took part in 152 events, including international symposium. Through the Surface: 2,808 people took part in 32 events, including international symposium Artists taking part in Textural Space and Through the Surface have received public commissions and the Contemporary Arts Society purchased half of the works in the exhibition Through the Surface for their permanent collection. Through the Surface website has generated over 2 million hits. panel June Hill (Chair), Freelance exhibitions Co-ordinator, formerly Museums Officer, Bankfield Museum Moira Stevenson: Deputy Director, Manchester City Art Galleries Paul Harper: Writer on Crafts Sue Prichard Curator, Contemporary Textiles, Victoria and Albert Museum Melanie Miller Manchester Metropolitan University, Co-ordinator of the Schiffli Project Helen Parrott, Textile artist Outcomes The outcomes of Ambiguous Spaces 2 are now published on the Context + Collaboration site and can be discussed in the forum there