No Boundaries 2015, the annual conference exploring the role of arts and culture in contemporary society, happening at Watershed and partner venue HOME in Manchester, is delighted to announce their second wave of contributors for the industry’s annual conference.

New speakers include Munve Mutisya from the Akamba Peace Museum in Kenya, Seb Chan from Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York, Jacqui O'Hanlan from the Royal Shakespeare Company and Arcadia's Pip Rush Jansen, offering an international and diverse perspective on the questions and challenges that face the arts and culture industry in a rapidly changing world.

Also announced are Moira Sinclair, new director of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Dr Maria Balshaw, director of Manchester’s Whitworth Gallery (which has recently undergone an award-winning multi-million redevelopment and just been announced as, ‘Art Fund Museum of the Year’) and Dr Sugatra Mitra from Newcastle University, who will be putting forward provocations for delegates to consider. They will be joined by Prof. Wang Xingquan from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences in China, a country whose policy decisions on culture and creativity are now considered by many to be some of the most forward thinking in the world.

Margaret Heffernan, entrepreneur and author, said at No Boundaries 2014:

“Many in the business world treat the arts as a marginal form of distraction. They think of the arts as ‘soft’ and tiptoe around artists they consider to be fragile, weak, or prima donnas. But they’ve got it all wrong.”

The conference will take place 29-30 Sept, and is part of Arts Council England’s State Of The Arts thought leadership programme. It seeks to find positive approaches to influence change and support the sector’s growth in a world where there is a new normal every week.

This year’s conference will follow last year’s innovative format, which live-linked two venues as one. In September, HOME and Watershed will provide delegates with a rich and diverse schedule of events and speakers, alongside connected breakout areas for conversation and networking designed to bring ideas, spaces and delegates together.

Watershed Managing Director Dick Penny says,

“We are excited to be working on No Boundaries again, this time alongside new partner HOME, as well as Pilot Theatre and Bristol Festival of Ideas. We promise provocations and surprises as we debate the role of culture at the beginning of a new parliament.”

For more playful moments between discussions, No Boundaries has invited artist and singer Jen Bell to R&D a new project live from the conference, recording phrases and snippets of delegate and contributor thoughts, which will then be transformed into an original piece of music with no boundaries.

In addition to the main contributions, No Boundaries will also present cutting edge entertainment with The Money, an “urgent, playful” (The Guardian) piece of game theatre from Exeter-based Kaleider, for the first time running simultaneously in Bristol and Manchester. Delegate passes are available now from nb2015.org

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