Community Development through Creative Action

François Matarasso (b. 1958 UK) is a freelance community artist, writer and researcher. His 1997 report, ‘Use or Ornament?’, established influential concepts in cultural policy. His writing has been widely translated and he has held honorary professorships in the UK and Australia. He has worked in about 40 countries including most of Europe. Between 2011 and 2015 he produced a series on undervalued areas of cultural life under the collective title “Regular Marvels”. His latest book “A Restless Art – How participation won and why it matters”, was published in 2019. He was the lead writer of the 2020 Rome Charter, and is a partner in Traction (2020-22) which is researching how opera co-creation can support social inclusion.