WOVEN in Practice

In June 2021, the WOVEN in Kirklees will host its second festival. The first festival took place in 2019. Initiated and funded by Kirklees Council, it was owned by everyone, from community groups, to industry, cultural organisations, artists, businesses and heritage sites across the Kirklees district. WOVEN brings together generations of innovators, connecting a strong heritage with today’s innovative developments in industry, university research, a strong arts and crafts scene and the creative expression of the districts rich and diverse communities.

What makes WOVEN unique as a place-based making initiative is in bringing together a range of practitioners and their practices to celebrate rich and diverse textile cultures, heritages and innovations.

This conference, hosted by the Centre for Cultural Ecologies in Art, Design and Architecture and the Technical Textiles Research Centre in the School of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Huddersfield, invites a range of practice-orientated contributions in fashion and textiles to explore one or more of the following themes:

• Happiness, health and wellbeing
• Ecological and environmental approaches to fashion and textiles making
• Technological innovations in fashion and textile practices
• Art and Craft practices in the contexts of place-based making
• Doing fashion and textiles in COVID-19
• The social, ethical and aesthetic dimensions to practice in fashion and textile contexts
• Pedagogical and educational practices in fashion and textiles and collective visions for the future
• Co-creative and co-productive fashion and practices with others

We are specifically interested in approaches to these topics but also very much welcome other approaches/questions/topics linked to fashion and textile practices.

There are five possible contexts within which your contribution might sit:

• Are you an academic undertaking practice research in a university?
• Are you a postgraduate student working in the field of fashion and textiles?
• Are you a creative practitioner and/or innovator working in the textiles industry?
• Are you a creative/cultural producer engaging with communities and/or arts and cultural organisations?
• Are you working in schools/colleges delivering fashion and textile-related subjects?

This two-day conference is an opportunity for you to share your work with others and to engage in conversations about the values of textiles and making.

What we need from you:

• 1 x 300 word statement detailing your name, area of interest, proposed response to one or more of the above themes, your affiliation (if appropriate) and contact details (email/phone/Instagram, etc.).
• Please indicate in this statement what you would like to talk about at the conference and why.
• What context you possibly sit within.
• 5 x good quality images showcasing your practice and relevance to your talk.

The conference will take place on Friday 23 April and Saturday 24 April online.

The event will involve a range of speakers, workshop activities lead by the core strands of WOVEN 2021 festival for you to engage in and roundtable discussions. This is a free event. And all inclusive. Everyone is welcome!

Your submission will be peer-reviewed and there will opportunities for the contributions to be featured in the post-production online portfolio showcase for this event.

Deadline for submission of contributions: 18 January 2021, 5pm

Please send to: wovenconference@hud.ac.uk