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On 25 May 2017 we hosted the second of our Site Sessions events – The New Economies – at The Roco Creative Co-op in Sheffield. The title of the event – The New Economies – was inspired by a desire to stoke some fresh thinking around alternative values offered by the arts, and how digital might affect the picture. Once again, we heard short talks from a range of speakers, then went into a discussion.

Our speakers were (in order of appearance):

Leigh Caldwell, Economist at The Irrational Agency
Tamar Millen, Digital & Cultural Partnerships at the Sheffield City Council
James Wallbank, founder of Makers on The Edge
Katie Day, Artistic Director of The Other Way Works
Aden Davies, digital banking expert at 11:FS
Aimee Harrison, founder of Line Cut Supply

I’ve been interested in economics and business for a while, so this was a real indulgence. The speakers all did a terrific job – most of them wanted a good chat beforehand about what to say and how it would fit with the evening, which was great, and paid off: they were very honest and entertaining. James Wallbank brought a laser cut street and Aimee Harrison brought a rail of the clothing she makes.

We had some feedback from the first event that some people aren’t comfortable with shouting out questions and want another way to engage with the discussion. So, this time, we appealed to the audience to put their thoughts down on post-its over the course of the evening (to compliment the usual vocal discussion) – and some obliged.

Read about the first Site Sessions event here.

Here are some tweets from the night, using #sitesessions – please feel free to continue the discussion about The New Economies, anywhere you see it happening!

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