Past Event
Access requirements
The Whitechapel Gallery is committed to making all of our events as accessible as possible for every audience member. Please contact access@whitechapelgallery.org if you would like to discuss a particular request and we will gladly discuss with you the best way to accommodate it.
Information about access on site at the gallery is available here https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/visit/access/
This includes information about Lift access; Borrowing wheelchairs & seating; Assistance Animals; Parking; Toilets and baby care facilities; Blind & Partially Sighted Visitors; Subtitles and transcripts; British Sign Language (BSL) and hearing induction loops; Deaf Messaging Service (DMS).
About This Event
This event takes place in Gallery 2 at Whitechapel Gallery, located on the ground floor.
This event lasts approximately 1.5 hours. There are no rest breaks currently scheduled during this event.
You must purchase a ticket to attend the event. If you require a Personal Assistant to support your attendance, we can offer them a place free of charge, but it must be arranged in advance.
If the ticket price affects your attendance, please email tickets@whitechapelgallery.org to be added to the guest list (no questions asked, but dependent on availability).
This event is suitable for those over the age of 16
We are unable to provide British Sign Language interpretation for this event
We are unable to provide live closed captioning or CART for this event.
Transport
To the best of our knowledge, there are no planned disruptions to local transport on the date of the event.
Our nearest train station – Aldgate East Underground (1 min) is not wheelchair accessible. The closest wheelchair accessible stations are Whitechapel (15 min), Shoreditch High Street (15 min) or Liverpool Street (15 min).
Free parking for Blue Badge holders is available at the top of Osborn Street in the pay and display booths for an unlimited period. Spaces are available on a first come, first served basis.
Live Recording
Please note: we audio record all events for the Whitechapel Gallery Archive and possible future online publication via Soundcloud.
Join a global policy expert to think about culture’s future role.
In this keynote talk, Professor Justin O’Connor explores how we might rediscover the radical energies of culture to create a bold and powerful vision for change.
Drawing on his acclaimed book, Culture is Not an Industry, O’Connor challenges the established economic arguments underpinning cultural policy. Instead, he advocates for ‘culture’ as a public good and an essential part of our democratic citizenship.
Baroness Lola Young will give a response to O’Connor’s talk before joining him and Whitechapel Gallery Director Gilane Tawadros in conversation. There will also be an opportunity for audience questions and contributions.
This is the first event in a major new Whitechapel Gallery series – Art Futures – which looks at the role of public art institutions at a time of multiple crises, bringing together audiences with artists, writers, academics and policy-makers to collectively imagine alternative visions.
Justin O’Connor is Professor of Cultural Economy at Adelaide University and a Visiting Professor at the School of Cultural Management, Shanghai Jiaotong University. Between 2012-18 he was a member of the UNESCO ‘Expert Facility’, supporting the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of Cultural Diversity. Previously he helped set up Manchester’s Creative Industries Development Service (CIDS) and has advised cities in Australia, Europe, Russia, Korea, Vietnam and China.
Justin is co-editor of the 2015 Routledge Companion to the Cultural Industries; Cultural Industries in Shanghai: Policy and Planning inside a Global City, (2018); Re-Imagining Creative Cities in Asia (2020) and recently co-authored Red Creative: Culture and Modernity in China (Intellect, 2020) and Culture is Not an Industry (Manchester University Press).
More information at https://justin-oconnor.com
Baroness Lola Young of Hornsey was raised in foster care in north London. She studied Drama, later becoming an actor.
In 2004, Lola was appointed as an independent Crossbench member of the House of Lords. She chaired the Man Booker Prize judging panel in 2017.
Lola is currently Chancellor of the University of Nottingham, and her memoir,‘8 Weeks: Looking Back, Moving Forwards, Defying the Odds’ was published in November 2024.
lola.young@culturalbrokers.co.uk
Instagram @baronesslolayoung
BlueSky @baronesslolayoung.bsky.social
Threads: baronesslolayoung@threads
