Life on the Outskirts is an AHRC-funded project established by the University of Leeds, Manchester Metropolitan University and the Helen Storey Foundation. It seeks to foster fresh creativity by revisiting past practice. Using the Helen Storey Foundation archive as case study and inspiration, the project examines the creative opportunities archives offer.

This symposium brings together academics who are interested in, inspired by, or work with small creative archives to explore the multiple challenges and opportunities faced by small creative archive collections and those working with them.

Our keynote speaker will be Sue Breakell, Archivist and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Brighton Design Archives, whose research engages the nature, meaning and practice of archives and their creative uses in art and design contexts.

Additional papers will explore how archives of small creative organisations (and small creative collections within archive settings) offer a range of opportunities and challenges such as:

• artistic interventions in creative archives
• using creatives archives for teaching purposes
• developing digital access in creative archives
• engaging members of the public with creative archives
• the potential for commercial mobilisation of creative archives.

To register please email lotohsf@gmail.com