<h2>Hi</h2>

Watch State of the Arts 2012 online

8 Feb 2012 11:13 AM

If you can't make it to next week's State of the Arts conference in Salford, you need not miss out as you can watch and have your say online.

Live streaming

The conference's morning plenary session will be live streamed from the event between 9.30am and 11am on 14 February at artscouncil.org.uk/sota12.

This will include:

  • Premiere of State of the Arts film commission What Matters? by artist film-makers straybird (Becky Edmunds and Lucy Cash) featuring Jeanette Winterson and Hofesh Shechter, among others
  • Keynote panel discussion: 2012: and then what?
    Panel includes: Ed Vaizey MP; David Edgar, playwright; Jonzi D, Artistic Director of Breakin' Convention and Jonzi D Projects; Ruth Mackenzie Director, Cultural Olympiad, LOCOG; and Sally Lai, Artistic Director, Chinese Arts Centre; and Liz Forgan Chair, Arts Council England 

You can put your put your question to the panel via Twitter using #sota12 or as a comment via the State of the Arts blog.

Have your say

The State of the Arts blog, curated by Hannah Nicklin and Andy Field already contains some thought provoking posts around the event themes.

You can follow the blog during the event next Tuesday, when our team of live bloggers will be posting their thoughts on every discussion taking place, but we also want to hear from you now. Post your thoughts and comments on the blog and we will pass them to the event chairs, who will use your ideas to shape discussion on the day.

Discussions at State of the Arts will focus around the artist's role in society with topics ranging from Artists and the imagination to Artists and fundraising. Visit the State of the Arts page for a full list of themes.

We will be tweeting live from the Lowry on Tuesday 14 February from @ace_national, but you can have your say now using #sota12.

The Guardian's Mark Brown (of the Culture Cuts blog) and the Culture Professionals network will also be live blogging from the event, and we have also invited university students to make short films exploring some of the conference themes.

To top it all off videos and podcasts from all the State of the Arts sessions will be available online after the event.

For more information about State of the Arts and to see a full programme and list of speakers, visit the event page.