Burning the parachute: Can community power survive the funding cycle?

What happens when the money runs out - but the work still matters?

Our second Open Space is an invitation to step into the unknown - to ask what it takes to build power that lasts beyond the programme. It’s a call to listen to the quiet disruptors, to centre the voices that are usually invited in last, and to sit with the discomfort of not having the answers.

We’re gathering to ask the hard questions about sustainability, survival, and sovereignty. This is a space for those who’ve built power from the ground up - only to watch it get reshaped, redirected, or slowly dissolved by the rhythms of funding.

Community power isn’t a deliverable, and sustainability isn’t just about keeping the lights on. Real change is messy, slow, and collective. What becomes possible when we invest in community-led change instead of funding cycles?

What’s Open Space?

It’s a format where you set the agenda. No panels. No keynotes. Just a shared space, a shared question, and the people who care enough to show up. You bring the topics. You choose the conversations. You decide what matters.

Why this question?

“Burning the parachute” is a provocation. It asks the cultural sector to confront the ways in which well-meaning interventions can sometimes replicate the very power structures they aim to dismantle. It’s about radical honesty, radical accountability and radical imagination.

What's next?

As we look ahead, we’re focusing on turning conversations into practical resources, building a free, open-source toolkit grounded in the realities people have generously shared with us. We want to distill what’s useful, what resonates, and what might support others navigating similar tensions around power, sustainability, and community.

This next phase is about continuing to listen, to learn, and to connect with those who are already doing the work. The toolkit will evolve from that: part provocation, part practical guide, designed to support those working across the cultural and community space who want to do things differently, together.

What is DISRUPT?

DISRUPT is co-produced between Guildhall School of Music & Drama and a range of arts, cultural, and community organisations across the UK. Running in three-year cycles, each phase tackles a complex challenge facing the cultural sector, offering provocations and practical tools in response.

The first cycle (2021-2023) explored community-led governance through a festival, a toolkit, and a series of open space events.

The next cycle will focus on community power and sustainable practices, including the systemic and organisational blockers that get in the way of community building and what needs to happen to enable long-term change.

DISRUPT is intentionally iterative. Rather than prescribing solutions, it gathers insights through Open Space events - bringing together funders, artists, organisations, activists, policymakers, and communities - to share challenges, insights and ideas. These conversations will shape the upcoming programme and toolkit, ensuring it reflects real needs and lived experiences.

Travel Bursaries

We have a limited number of travel bursaries available, for further information on eligibility and how to apply, click here

Dietary Requirements

During the Open Space event we will be providing a light lunch. If you have any dietary requirements, please let us know by clicking here

Getting to the event

Guildhall School is based in the heart of the City of London, and is part of the Barbican complex, next door to the Barbican Centre.

By underground/train

Barbican, Moorgate, Liverpool Street, St Paul’s and Bank stations are all nearby.

By bus

Bus numbers 4, 43, 55, 76, 100 and 153 stop nearby.

By road

The School falls within the Congestion Charge zone. Visit cclondon.com or telephone 0845 900 1234 for further information.

Address

Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Milton Court,1 Milton Street, London, EC2Y 9BH

Access:

Milton Court is a fully wheelchair accessible venue. There are two lifts available and accessible toilets.

Members of staff will be available for any additional assistance you may need.

If you have any access needs that you'd like us to be aware of, please let us know ahead of your visit by emailing Iona at [email protected]

Partners

Arts Council England

Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. We help people in every corner of the country to experience and benefit from creativity. We provide funding, advice and sector advocacy, and our team have expertise in a variety of art forms such as music, theatre, visual arts, literature, museums and libraries.

Guildhall School of Music & Drama

The Guildhall School of Music & Drama is a world-leading conservatoire with a growing reputation for innovative, socially engaged research and practice. Committed to exploring the role of the arts in civic life, the School supports projects that connect creativity with community impact. DISRUPT is one of these initiatives - bringing together artists, cultural organisations, and communities to co-develop tools and ideas that address complex challenges in the arts sector through collaboration, dialogue, and experimentation.

London Museum

London Museum tells the ever-changing story of this great world city and its people, from 450,000 BC to the present day. Our galleries, exhibitions, displays and activities seek to inspire a passion for London and provide a sense of the vibrancy that makes the city such a unique place.

A fixture on London’s cultural scene since first opening in 1976, London Museum is moving house. It has now closed doors at its London Wall site in preparation for its relocation to a new home at Smithfield, where it will occupy historic market buildings and open up to millions more visitors from 2026.

London Museum Docklands remains open Monday - Sunday 10am – 5pm and is FREE to all. You can explore London Museum with collections online – home to 138,000 objects with more being added regularly.https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Guildhall School of Music and Drama - Milton Court, 1 Milton Street, London, United Kingdom