esea contemporary and Manchester Art Fair are pleased to present 'Making Worlds: Producing as Creative Practice,' a panel exploring the people, relationships and infrastructures that shape contemporary art and cultural production.

Artists may be at the centre of cultural conversations, but the worlds in which art is made are collective. Producers, writers, commissioners, editors, curators and cultural organisers all play a role in how ideas are developed, realised, circulated and remembered.

Manchester has long been a city of makers, shaped by its histories of industry, independent publishing, music, broadcasting and contemporary art. Against this backdrop, the panel asks: What does it take to build a sustainable contemporary art ecosystem, not only through remarkable artworks and exhibitions, but through the conditions that allow artists, organisations and ideas to flourish?

Bringing together perspectives from contemporary art, journalism, broadcasting and international cultural practice, the conversation considers producing as a creative, critical and relational practice. It explores how relationships, collaboration, mentorship and care shape artistic possibilities, create platforms and audiences, and enable ideas to travel across places and communities.

Rather than treating producing as something that happens behind the scenes, 'Making Worlds' considers it as a form of collective cultural authorship, and asks how those who make, support and connect cultural work can contribute to the longer-term development of creative communities and institutions.

Image Credit: Umi Ishihara: Nocturnal Melody exhibition preview, photograph by Jules Lister. Courtesy of esea contemporary.