Spring School 2024

In 2023 and 2024 Dr. Guislain Museum will organise with several partners a series of international training events in three European cities with a rich textile heritage: Ghent, Leeds and Tilburg. Although each edition will have a specific focus (communities, co-creation and making/makers) the red thread will be arts-based engagements using textile heritage. The participants of the three editions will be connected through the development of an art engagement using a textile source under the guidance of artist and researcher Claire Wellesley-Smith.

 For third and final edition of this series, Dr. Guislain Museum will team up with City Museum Tilburg, TextileMuseum and Arts & Sciences University College London. Together they’ll deliver the International Spring School Cultural Heritage & Wellbeing: Textile Cities from Monday 3 until Friday 7 Juni 2024 in Tilburg (NED).

For five days the participants receive a theoretical underpinning and are going to be guided in developing a wellbeing offering. The participants will encounter a wide range of inspiring cases where making is used for the improvement of the wellbeing.

The Spring School is to be delivered by a highly experienced team of experts who are leading in different fields connected to heritage, community engagement and wellbeing:

-      Bart De Nil, expert wellbeing, culture and community engagement, Belgium
Developed training programs and published several books about cultural heritage, health and wellbeing based on this own experience as a practitioner and researcher. Organised and delivered many international training programmes.

-      Bart Marius, artistic director Dr. Guislain Museum, Belgium
Is leading an internationally renowned museum about mental health that uses its museum grounds as a place of care. Their focus is on creative community engagement in co-operation with neighbourhood health centres.

-      Claire Wellesley-Smith, researcher and artist, United Kingdom
She specialises in long-term engagements in post-industrial textile communities across the north of England. Her research explores connections through textile-based activities that link health, wellbeing and heritage.

-      Petra Robben, City curator and director City Museum Tilburg, The Netherlands

-      Tamira Waszink, Program maker TijdLab City Museum Tilburg, The Netherlands

-      Thomas Kador, lecturer in Creative Health, University College London (UCL) Department of Arts & Sciences, United Kingdom

Is a material culture specialist with research interests in the health and wellbeing potential of (cultural) spaces, collections and their objects. He convenes UCL’s MASc Creative Health programme, which focuses on non-clinical, asset based health interventions.

Organised in Tilburg
From Tilburg, Stadsmuseum Tilburg and TextielMuseum have joined the Spring School as the objective is closely aligned with the policy plans of their own organizations and the municipality of Tilburg. “Art and culture with social impact must be perpetuated,” the Cultural Plan states. After all, projects based on art, heritage and identity can contribute to solving various social challenges.

Who is this training course for?

·        Professionals working in cultural heritage organisations (museums, archives, galleries,

libraries with special collections)

·        Practitioners working with heritage in community engagement and creative health

·        Students and researchers in the field of creative health, museum studies, etc.

At the end of this training course, you'll be able to develop a resource for a specific targetgroup or context, design wellbeing activities, make a detailed plan of a resource and present the rational of a resource to the group.

Practical information

Location: Different locations in Tilburg
Fee: 500,- EUROS (VAT excluded). Reduced fee for students: 350,- EUROS (VAT excluded). For this you will get lunches, refreshments and snacks during the sessions and breaks, course materials.

 All other expenses are borne by the participants. Attending the social program is not mandatory. There’s a very large variation of accommodation in Tilburg.

 Participants are expected to bring their laptop.

Maximum 20 participants. Places in the spring school are limited to ensure the quality and depth of the interactions and discussions. The organisers also aim to ensure a diverse group of participants.

How to register

Send an email stating your name, position and /or institution to: textilecities@gmail.com
You’ll receive confirmation. If your registration is accepted, you’ll receive an email with more details.

The invoice for the registration fee will be send to the participant after the confirmation. Your registration is only final after payment of registration fee.

The participants will receive in advance a briefing document with a detailed schedule of the spring school.