Polly Brannan, Anna Cutler, Sepake Angiama, Marley Starskey Butler

January – March 2026
Open School East

The Social Practice Module is a series of talks & workshops, devised by Polly Brannan (OSE Artistic Director), that explores and unpacks what it means to be working collaboratively with communities, and helps to form a deeper understanding of social practice and engagement.

The module invites guests that include commissioners, researchers, practitioners/artists, curators who are leading in their field.

This year’s module invited:

Anna Cutler is a consultant, researcher and executive coach working in the field of culture and creative learning. She was the inaugural Director of Learning and Research at Tate, where she worked from 2006-21. She is known for innovations in practice, including Tate Exchange (2016).  Before this, key roles included Director of Creative Partnerships Kent (2002-6), Director of Young at Art International Children’s Festival, Belfast (1997-2002), and as a lecturer in Performance Practice at the University of North London (1992-1997). She has published on performance, creative learning, and organisational change.  

Sepake Angiama praxis stems from radical pedagogies, black feminist thought, rethinking human/non–human relations rooted in how we might reimagine and inhabit the world otherwise. She is the artistic director of the Institute of International Visual Arts (iniva), dedicated to developing artistic research, radial education practices, collective study, publishing and community led commissioning that reflects on the social and political impact of globalisation.

Marley Starskey Butler is an interdisciplinary artist and qualified social worker. Their practice interweaves storytelling, memory, and emotional landscapes to explore how people make meaning of personal and collective narratives within systems of care. Grounded in lived, professional and familial experience in child protection, fostering, adoption, and mental health, their work centres on themes of well-being, social justice, and human rights. These experiences inform both the content and methodology of their practice, positioning it at an intersection of art and social care.

Polly Brannan is an artist, commissioner and educator based in the UK. Since early 2021 Polly has been the Artistic Director at Open School East, a free and alternative art school based in Margate, Kent, UK. Polly was previously Education Curator at Liverpool Biennial 2012-18 and Education Curator at Serpentine Galleries 2011–13. She is Founder, Co-Director and artist with the network Avant Gardening and was a member of arts/architecture collective public works from 2005-2011. She has curated, delivered and produced large-scale commissions with artists Mohamed Bourouissa, Koo Jeong A, Ryan Gander and Monster Chetwynd, amongst many others.

These sessions are part of OSE’s two-year thematic cycle Home is where the garden is – find more events: openschooleast.org/home-is-associates