Live from ICAF: cultural policy & community arts

On Episode 62 of A Culture of Possibility, Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso begin a conversation about co-creation. 
They both believe that co-creation is integral to community-based arts work. But what does it mean? What are its pitfalls? Why does it matter?
 
A CULTURE OF POSSIBILITY 
 
EPISODE 62 | FEBRUARY 20 | 2026 
PARTICIPANTS
Arlene Goldbard | François Matarasso
COMMENTARY
On Episode 62 of A Culture of Possibility, Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso talk about co-creation. 
Co-creation is integral to community-based arts work. What does it mean? What are its pitfalls? 
Why does it matter? 
REFERENCES
ICAF Rotterdam https://icafrotterdam.com/
A Restless Art https://arestlessart.com/
A Selfless Art https://aselflessart.com/
Traction Opera Project https://arestlessart.com/co-creation/traction/
 
 

This month in A Culture of Possibility Eugene van Erven discusses his adventures in international popular theatre: adventures that carried him on a journey that led to the founding of ICAF in Rotterdam.
 
A CULTURE OF POSSIBILITY
EPISODE 61 | FEBRUARY 20 | 2026 
PARTICIPANTS
Eugene van Erven | Arlene Goldbard | François Matarasso
 
COMMENTARY
On episode 61 of A Culture of Possibility cohosts Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso talk with Eugene van Erven, a founder of The International Community Arts Festival (ICAF) in Rotterdam, the 10th edition of which is coming right up in March.
There’s still time to register!
Eugene talks about his long and varied adventures in international popular theater leading to the creation of ICAF, offering a fascinating and inspiring account of a life dedicated to cultural democracy.
 
BOOKS by Eugene van Erven
1988 Radical People’s Theatre. Indiana University Press
1992 The Playful Revolution. Theatre and Liberation in Asia. Indiana University Press
2001 Community Theatre, Global Perspectives. Routledge
2012 Community Arts Dialogues. Treaty of Utrecht Foundation
 
REFERENCES
ICAF Rotterdam: https://icafrotterdam.com/
Eugene’s blog: https://eugenevanerven.wordpress.com/
 

Today A Culture of Possibility celebrates its fifth anniversary with an in-depth discussion with Griselda Goldsbrough about arts in hospitals. JANUARY 16 | SERIES 2026
A CULTURE OF POSSIBILITY | EPISODE 60 
PARTICIPANTS
Arlene Goldbard | Griselda Goldsbrough | François Matarasso
COMMENTARY
Griselda Goldsbrough is a visual artist and writer, and community educator. She has over 15 years’ experience in devising and curating creative art, science and literature programmes and events.  
On episode 60 of A Culture of Possibility co-hosts Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso talk with Griselda Goldsbrough, Art and Design Development Manager of the National Arts in Hospitals Network, “a resource for arts managers in hospitals to champion hospital arts across the UK, supporting recovery and wellbeing.”
The stories she tells about working with patients, staff, and others will inspire you!  
REFERENCES
National Arts in Hospitals Network 
Griselda on LinkedIn 

Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso talk about redemption: : the understanding that we can learn from experience and choose to realign some aspect of our lives to our deepest values.
How much do people believe positive change is possible? How much are people’s ideas of possibility constrained by a certainty that our pasts over-determine our future?
 
DECEMBER 9 | SERIES 2025
STREAM A CULTURE OF POSSIBILITY | EPISODE 59
 
PARTICIPANTS
Arlene Goldbard | François Matarasso
COMMENTARY
On episode 59 of A Culture of Possibility, co-hosts Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso talk about redemption: the understanding that we can learn from experience and choose to realign some aspect of our lives to our deepest values. We were moved to explore this by the prevalence of “cancel culture” in the US and to an extent, the UK. 
Once a phenomenon of the left, now strongly influential on the right, people are singled out and vilified for things they said or did decades earlier, or they become targets of persistent, angry campaigns aimed at shaming or ostracizing them for using objectionable language or disagreeing with those in power. 
Core to community-based arts is the idea that when people speak for themselves, representing their truths, they may influence others to listen deeply and reach a more loving or just understanding. 
These days, how much do people believe positive change is possible? How much are people’s ideas of possibility constrained by certainty that our pasts over-determine our futures? 
We support freedom of expression and believe in redemption. Can people like us influence cultures that don’t? 
REFERENCES
Shadow World: anatomy of a cancellation