In the beginning of December we had the first Take Part network seminar. The aim of the seminar was to link theory and practice of cultural participation – and to get to know each other. An impressive number of 46 people signed up for the seminar, and it was great meeting you all and sharing knowledge, experiences and ideas. Thank you to Bjarki and Christiane, my co-organizers, and to all of you who showed up and contributed to the inspiring and good atmosphere of the seminar. I’m looking very much forward to the continuation.

Our next seminar will take place in Copenhagen 27-28 April 2017. Please save the dates. At the seminar we will focus on methodologies: how to facilitate and how to evaluate participation. The seminar will probably take place at SMK and Det Kgl. Teater. The organizers are Mette Houlberg Rung, Nina Gram and me. 

In between the seminars I hope you will all use and contribute to the network as you find best. Some activities – like the seminars – will involve most or many of the network members. Others will maybe only involve a few members who want to exchange knowledge and ideas or to collaborate on a specific project.  In case you generate something together – or in case you want to share your own participatory research, projects, events or ideas – please use this blog. You are also very welcome to use it to tell about relevant conferences and publications. I hope we can make the blog a place for knowledge exchange in between our seminars, and in that way create an active and dynamic network.

The website of Take Part has a (mainly) Danish and an (only) English version. Feel free to write in English or Danish as you prefer. The network began as Danish, but I – and many of us, I am sure – are also very interested in collaborating internationally. An important step in doing this is the establishment of a link between Take Part and Participation and Engagement in the Arts, a British network for academics, policy makers and practitioners www.participationandengagement-arts.co.uk. Leila Jancovich is coordinating this network, and we plan to collaborate over the next few years. I really look forward to this and to all the other future collaborations. Happy new year!