Lara Ratnaraja

A beautiful and evocative piece of writing . This has stayed with me all weekend

Fabulous trip to #Hull meeting creative industries business to discuss what inclusion and diversity means to them and time to see a beautiful exhibition .. definitely to come back

Lovely to be back in Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery after its 2 year closure, with @rachelcockett.bsky.social and Jenni- some old favourites and some new favourites @coldwarsteve.bsky.social Hew Locke, Donald Rodney

“Is someone “not a girl’s girl”, ..”Does their behaviour just feel confrontational and uncomfortable to you because it might reflect your own insecurities?”

As a “difficult” woman of colour this has been all too true in 2024

amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.theg...

Oh if I have to 🤣🤣.. I rewatched it obviously because of seeing some awful practice and it re-energised me and then I hosted the talk you saw.. we keep on 🙌🏽

YouTube video by Centre for Cultural Value Evaluation Principles In Practice | Workshop 2: Listening to Many Voices

Reminded of this today.. really enjoyed this session, using these principles because they recognise the need to be inclusive & change the traditional systems of evaluation & therefore how you'd develop programmes, recruit etc @stxwelsh.bsky.social @valuingculture.bsky.social

youtu.be/SLta-JikswY

Arts Council England review to avoid 'debate between excellence and access' - Museums Association Review of funding body may begin before Christmas, says Nandy

Reading about the Arts Council review in @museumsassociation.org and I have to say I hate the term "cultural desert".

Is it? Is it a cultural desert? Or is it that you don't engage with the kind of culture being developed and explored there?

www.museumsassociation.org/museums-jour...

Alma's Not Normal: How anger, red wine and spa breaks fuelled new series - BBC News Sophie Willan, creator of award-winning sitcom Alma's Not Normal, reveals inspiration behind series two.

Finally finished the marvellous #almasnotnormal s2..this is a great line and what motivates me "I suppose what's always helped me is finding the political. As soon as it feels political or [it's] a cultural, social problem, then I get dead angry..”

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Culture Derby Director - Arts Professional The role will take a strategic lead in the start-up and growth of Culture Derby, a new cultural development agency for the city. The role will provide leadership and direction, support the sustainabil...

Few days left to apply for this interesting role: www.artsprofessional.co.uk/job/culture-...

🤣🤣🤣 they know.. they wait..

Writing an evaluation.. Ziggy Stardust has other ideas

Been there..

True collaboration is colour coordinated meetings..I have been doing a lot of work that looks at global cultural consumption and convergence and it's great to work with Dr. Mersha Aftab Puente and Helga Henry to really drive the region's change in digital cultural adoption.

lnkd.in/eqbmW7yf

And so it begins.. a month of eating pigs in blankets and pretending canapés are a major food group

In 2023, 2,348 people were living with HIV in the North East of #England.

Thank you Helix Arts and Aaron Maxwell for representing every one of them with our red ribbons on their installation for #WorldAIDSDay.

Picture @chroniclelive.co.uk

www.chroniclelive.co...

Kirsty Wark on Gregg Wallace : “And in a sense what I thought was it was about power more than anything else, that he felt he could." I started the year experiencing toxic masculinity and have ended it the same. All because men felt they could

.

The ever present hands of colonialism and ableism hang heavy still over most things in 2024..

It is staggering in 2024 that several events I have seen online or been at in person have been truly mediocre and appalling as regards representation and inclusion. It appears a one size fits all is applied in programming, access and it’s evident there is a lack of thought or nuance.

Last night I was idly wondering about the lack of follow up when you express any strong opinion on lack of diversity and inclusivity at events

Why ask if you don’t want to hear?

Walking Oompah Band (or Grumpah as it says on the sousaphone)

Illuminated rocks and plants

Playing a light tube piano

Projection mapping on Chatsworth House

It’s that time of year again …

Great afternoon and evening at Chatsworth exploring the Christmas market and light trail.

Now is the time you can help end a global epidemic that has killed 38 million people. Together we can end new cases of HIV in the UK by 2030. www.tht.org.uk/support-us/f...

Mood.

Two days in Cardiff with my colleague Helga, delivering part of leadership programme to some wonderful diverse future Welsh cultural leaders .. it’s been part of Newid Diwylliant | Culture Change and we are also working with wonderful Welsh cultural organisations committed to change and inclusion

I love Ian Hislop but it’s worth noting that most of us would balk at the prospect of publicly admonishing a wrongdoer whose conduct you condemn in this way. I did it once to the UKIP/Reform/Brexit twerp Richard Tice but that took exactly zero guts.
This is speaking truth to actual power…

In the lovely #Wednesbury library workshopping where we are with the cultural strategy for Sandwell #placebased #culturalstrategy

Oh amazing .. he manages to create an amazing cathartic space and ha ha glad to join the cool kids

National aids trust logo. Red Ribbon. Securing rights, stopping H.I.V.

Hello to our new followers! 👋

We’re National AIDS Trust – the UK’s #HIV rights charity. We work to stop HIV from standing in the way of health, dignity and equality, and to end new HIV transmissions.

Nick Cave in concert last night.. 🖤🖤🖤

With good people in a good place at Factory International for Laurie Anderson ARK: UNITED STATES V