Rising takes on New York!

Rising’s Engagement Producer, Euella Jackson has been awarded a grant from the British Council, supported by Bristol Cultural Development Partnership’s Festival of Future City and Bristol City Council to travel to New York to conduct research on behalf of Rising through the Social Innovation Internationalism Grants scheme.


This scheme has been developed by the British Council in partnership with Bristol City Council and BCDP’s Festival of the Future City in response to demand at a round-table held in October 2018 to discuss the British Council’s Global Cities Strategy 2019-25. Euella will spend five days in New York to make new connections, develop new thinking and methodologies in relation to art, activism and technology – how we can further embed these into the work we do and more importantly, how we share that with the rest of the city.

As an ever-changing and rapidly growing agency, we are always trying to explore new ways of expanding and strengthening our impact – through reflecting and connecting with those that inspire us. We realise that we’re all on a journey, so we place a lot of value on transparency, sharing best practice and taking ‘go-see’ trips to learn from others. We are a youth-led social enterprise, established by and for young people, with the aim of creating positive cultural change for the world we live in. We position ourselves as the creative voice of radical change – we aim to be proactive, agile and visible – interrogating not just the work of those around us, but also the work we do at Rising.

Why New York? 

New York has a long standing relationship with art and activism. The city’s reputation for being one that never sleeps, brings an element of urgency to their work. There are many arts organisations in the NY who are doing really exciting work including Eyebeam, More Art, Culture Push, Creative Time and Centre for Artistic Activism and the opportunity to explore our questions in a different geographical, cultural and social context. This research opportunity will enable us to begin to answer the following research question that Rising’s team are internally grappling with ardour art, technology, co-creation and community.

Here are our questions:

  • What is the relationship between art and technology in activism? And how can art and technology be used to empower marginalised groups and communities?

  • We believe that art should be taken out of traditional arts spaces to meaningfully engage with audiences. How can we start to use alternative spaces – be it virtual or physical to showcase artwork, provoke change and interrogate the world we live in?

Euella will be in New York from the 9th – 13th September 2019 to form international connections, share best-practice and bring the lessons and questions from New York artivists back into our work. This is a really exciting time for Rising and we are at the edge of growing and establishing what values/ questions we want to embed in the organisation for the future. Thank you to the British Council and BCDP’s Festival of Future City.

Stay tuned.

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Social Innovation Grant New York 2019: Art, Activism and Tech

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