Collective Working in the Arts: workshop with Clare Gannaway & Alice Blackwell

What does it mean to make decisions collectively? 

Creative processes such as co-curation, a shared project or network can be brilliant ways of bringing people together to design ways of being, creating and working collectively. They can be joyful, non-hierarchical processes in which everyone feels valued and collectively empowered.

The aim of this workshop is to demonstrate the use of a facilitated process to agree a set of shared principles to inspire and guide collective working. You’ll explore a consensus-based method of facilitation with the aim of developing shared ideas and values in relation to collective creative processes.

About us…

Clare Gannaway is a freelance curator/facilitator based in Manchester specialising in collective curatorial practice. She is guided by the potential for curating to be a collective act to resist traditional structures and demonstrate non-hierarchical approaches with the potential for wider social impact. Clare has worked in the arts for over 20 years, including roles at the Whitworth, Touchstones Rochdale and Folly digital arts, Lancaster. Most recently she was Curator: Contemporary Art at Manchester Art Gallery, where, with others, she developed evolving collaborative processes as alternatives to traditional temporary exhibitions, such as Rethinking the Grand Tour, Climate Justice, Get Together and Get Things Done and Sonia Boyce: Six Acts. These processes enabled groups to explore creative decisions, co-authorship and co-creation, who/what is represented and which stories are told, as well as the curating process itself, using radical care and deliberative decision-making to work in more equitable ways. Clare left Manchester Art Gallery in 2023 to develop her curatorial practice independently. In 2025, she completed a Group Facilitation Methods course with Institute of Cultural Affairs and is now combining her experience of collective curatorial practice with skills in facilitation.

claregannaway.com

Alice Blackwell is a group facilitator, online producer and workshop designer. She supports individuals and groups to reach their full potential through the design, production and facilitation of tailored participatory workshops, both online and in person. Since graduating from an MA in Translation and Interpreting, she has worked in various capacities in the group facilitation and training industry. She currently works as an independent event producer, facilitator and administrator for a wide range of facilitation professionals. She is a designer and producer of in-person and online events, supporting professional group facilitators with design, technical production, and documentation. Her experience includes delivering participatory events for a wide range of university and government departments, making a meaningful impact in the environmental sector and delivering facilitation training courses for ICA:UK, a world-leading facilitation charity. Throughout her early life as a member of the LGBT community and as a language & cultures enthusiast, she began to see that each individual holds valuable perspectives made up from their unique experiences. Since moving into the facilitation business she understands that these perspectives, when harnessed well, hold the potential to solve problems, create innovation and alter the direction of peoples’ lives and organisations for the better. 

aliceblackwell.com