CALL FOR PAPERS: It Takes a Village to Raise an Artist

Call for Contributions for NAFAE Annual Conference 2026

IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE AN ARTIST: LOCAL, TRANS-LOCAL, GLOBAL. 
Co-operation, conflicts and collective agency in defence of creative and cultural education and placemaking.

Deadline: 13 February 2026.    Confirmation by 27 February 2026

Venue: Champness Hall, Rochdale
24 April 2026

We are neither a luxury or a privilege; creative and cultural learning and participation is a recognised human right and needs to be respected as such. Our privilege is the quality of our community and the devotion of educators and students to nurture and grow practices, insights and professional commitments to preserve and protect the civic and human right to a creative and cultural life.

Our 2026 conference goals are to:  

• better understand and promote the dimensions for success in growing locally relevant post-statutory educational resources for creative and cultural lifelong learning. 

• enhance awareness of the evolving partnerships and co-operative practices that bridge formal, non-formal and informal learning in visual arts and culture practices. 

• consider models and opportunities for fine art learning and the promotion of creative and cultural skills that mitigates border and geo-political territories.  

For our 2026 conference we will be continuing and developing the theme of co-operation and mutuality in support of fine and visual arts education. To this end we seek to focus on the relevance of place and, in response to the UK government white paper on post-16 education, those initiatives that offer opportunity and mitigate barriers to advanced and higher learning in areas of creative and cultural practice and skills acquisition. What are the realistic prospects for: regional federations of higher or advanced learning; specialist centres for fine and visual arts learning that can support good growth for regional geographies; affordable and flexible access to lifelong creative and cultural learning; value and equity for international visitors or migrant communities; agility and resilience in the face of uncertainty and rapid industrial change. 

We welcome contributions that will promote debate and demonstrate viable actions to address these themes and others:

Space and Place

• How do we define 'region' in an era where administrative boundaries, cultural identities and economic geographies no longer align?

• In what ways do place-based practices, geographies and cultural infrastructures contribute to, or challenge, broader ideas of regional or national identity within the arts?

• What is the shape and place of the future campus?

Emerging needs and priorities

• What priority and emerging creative and cultural skills most effectively promote lifelong learning and learner agency?

• What will shape the form of the educational offer and curriculum for Fine and Visual Art practices in terms of pedagogies, andragogy and co-operative learning?

• How important is accreditation (i.e. what are the freedoms/restrictions it imposes for students and curriculum planners).

Partnership and co-operation

• What are the weighted contributions of investors and stakeholders supporting educational initiatives marked as alternative to establishment institutions?

• Who are the private providers of education and lifelong learning that can be trusted to deliver with integrity or in any way enhance the current landscape?

• How can resourcing and facilities be modelled to best enable sustained practices and relevant growth from the activity?

Local, Translocal and Global

• What are the international exemplars for co-operation and where are the potential allies that will help to secure a fairer and more resilient accessible Fine Art ecology?

• Art and art practices are a public and civic good and underpin global citizenship and belonging.

• Why, if we consider the concept of paideia, we have failed to convince decision-makers of the contribution that creative arts make?

Contributions may seek to address or celebrate:

• Situated Practices

• Participatory practices and local engagement 

• Andragogy / Paideia

• Cultural Wellbeing and social contract

• Accessible Technologies and methods of making

Submitting Proposals:

Proposals should be no more than 500 words and should include your name, email address and organisation or situation, along with the title of the proposed presentation, paper or provocation. All proposals will be peer reviewed. 

Proposals for contributions should be submitted to: admin@nafae.org.uk no later than Friday 13 February 2026. Decisions on contributions for our next NAFAE conference will be communicated to the participants by 27 February 2026.

To submit a proposal for contributions, you must be a NAFAE member, or a member of the National Society for Education in Art and Design (NSEAD), the Association of Photography in Higher Education (APHE), or From the Foundations. To sign up as a NAFAE Member please visit our membership page.

For full details about the conference download the call for papers below.