Between Two Curators
Between Two Curators is a new podcast hosted by us that arose out of the UK lockdown that began on 23 March 2020. In truth, the desire to collaborate with each other predated the global pandemic, but the urgency arose from it. We wanted to find an outlet for not only art, but for creative discussions that spark across different artforms and even different sectors. And while many such discussions have continued throughout the lockdown in various video conferences, we had the desire to share our newly generated ones with a wider public.
As two curators in the visual arts, we’re often having enlightening conversations with creative people, whether it’s in the course of working with writers, architects, or designers on art projects or at networking events like private views or fundraisers. But much like artists themselves, who find points of engagement in society, politics, history, science, and not just in art history itself, we decided that we didn’t want to reinforce a navel-gazing attitude by interviewing other art-industry folk. So for each show, we interview a guest who excels at our mutually-shared interests outside of fine art; our first season includes people from well-being, music, food, fashion, and astrophysics.
The thing that brings all of these people together is creativity. We’re interested to find out where and how to find creative inspiration, and also how people bring creative ideas and solutions to bear in different industries. This interdisciplinary was for us, partly the results of our respective Clore Leadership programmes – Jenn did the Advanced Cultural Leadership Programme, Hong Kong in 2017, and Cliff was a Clore Fellow, 2015-16.
These programmes stretched us beyond our field of expertise and gave us insights into much wider cultural and social spheres. We also aim to keep the podcast accessible in terms of approach and content, so that a person who doesn’t work in the arts can enjoy it as much as a person who is. Listeners can gain a little insight into a field and candid conversations that they perhaps might not usually have access to. We end every episode by asking our guests for a piece of creative advice for our listeners.
It’s true that Between Two Curators serves the purpose of allowing us to channel the creative energies of our quarantined selves (as well as learn new skills) at an uneasy time for people in the arts. Through the programme, we can continue to foster the creative exchanges that fuel our curiosity, and maintain the discipline of regularly producing and publishing on a weekly basis. We hope that people find the conversations inspiring, or at least reassuring in that there are always others who can inspire creativity even in, or especially during, challenging times.
Subscribe on any podcast service via betweentwocurators.com and see our guests’ work on our Instagram @betweentwocurators.
