REMIX Summit London 2026
Last week Tangram Partners Laura and Andrew attended Remix Summit London 2026, themed around the power of possibility. Now in its 14th year REMIX Summit London took place at Here East in the Olympic Park and The National Gallery.
Read on to find out what Laura and Andrew thought.
Day 1: Laura’s reflections
As usual, REMIX felt like stepping into a room where the volume had been turned up on ideas and possibility all at once, along with a healthy portion of urgency to the many challenges the cultural sector is facing. It was energising in the way only REMIX manages to be and lovely to bump into so many familiar faces picking up half-finished conversations started on LinkedIn or over email. It reminded me, as good get togethers always do, that the arts and culture space is full of people who care deeply.
The sector is thriving in many ways. We heard numerous success stories and case studies about the incredible work happening everywhere but as most of us are aware, and what we at Tangram have seen with our clients, is that the sector is under increasingly intense pressure in a more and more fractured world. From funding structures and widening inequality to rapid technological shifts organisations and practitioners are having to stretch themselves and their resources further than ever before.
It was brilliant to hear from one of the sector’s major funders Arts Council England (ACE). ACE announced that digital arts are now being recognised as their tenth art form, and prioritised across their portfolios which is a huge step change for them and will hopefully support many organisations, both big and small, to access previously out of reach funding.
Other sessions that struck me were too many to name but a couple of highlights came from, firstly, Katherine Templar Lewis’ session on The Uncertainty Toolkit. She spoke directly to the current reality of how Western culture and society thinks about and deals with uncertainty, as something that had to be managed away. She then completely flipped this around and asked the audience to think of uncertainty as something that we can and should embrace and work with and, when done right, that this can build confidence, connection and importantly resilience and growth.
Next on the high-impact list, and the only session of the day that literally got cheers and whoops from the audience, came from Nazir Afzal’s talk on The Class Ceiling - Measures Needed to Close the Arts Class Gap. His passionate and jolting framing of class disparity in the arts as a deeply systemic societal issue rather than an individual failing cut through loudly and uncomfortably, as it should. I’m looking forward to reading Manchester University’s publication just released on the subject which can be found here.
The last session I will be thinking about for a while was from Saad Eddine Said, CEO of New Art Exchange. His session detailed what impressive things can happen when leadership and decision-making are genuinely handed over to citizens and communities. Hearing about a permanent citizens’ assembly shaping everything from budgets to programming was an inspiring look at what arts-led change can look like when organisations are brave enough to let go.
Day 2: Andrew’s reflections
Continuing the theme of citizen’s assemblies, for me one of the most insightful talks was from The National Gallery’s Director of Public Engagement, Jane Knowles, about NG Citizens. NG Citizens is The National Gallery’s own citizens assembly project which asks around 50 randomly selected members of the UK public for their thoughts on how the gallery can bring people and paintings together. We heard how now half way through the current phase of this ambitious five-year project, the citizens are gearing up to present their vision to The National Gallery’s senior team before it is made public. Then over the next four years, smaller working groups from the assembly will develop some of the work in more detail. Hearing from Jane Knowles about NG Citizens was visionary and practical in equal measure. Citizens assemblies have intrigued me for a long time, particularly since my work with Creative Barking & Dagenham and their citizens panel to develop the future of Galleon Arts Centre in Barking. So hearing about the nuts and bolts first-hand from The National Gallery was an especially useful session.
Returning to the start of day two, it could not have opened better than artist Stuart Semple. Stuart’s story is nothing but compelling which makes his message that art can change the world powerful and authentic. The project of Stuart’s that resonated with me most was how he turned a former Debenhams in Bournemouth into an art gallery. Through our work we visit High Streets up and down the country, many are still suffering the loss of major retailers like Debenhams. I’ve seen derelict department stores all over the UK. Pulling off projects like this are not without their logistical challenges, so kudos to Stuart who put a gallery in an empty shop unit filled it with great artists and apparently had people queueing around the block to visit.
Finally, I want to mention Sameer Padania from Macroscope’stalk about information, technology, truth and what he calls Epistemic Security, or in plain English: “how do we know things are true?” In recent years the discussion has centred around the role of the media, journalists, government and politicians in this domain, very rarely is there much discussion about the role of cultural institutions like museums, galleries, libraries and archives. My take away from Sameer Padania was the timely reminder that in a world where it’s not always clear what’s true and what isn’t and hard to distinguish fact from fiction, museums, libraries and suchlike are an invaluable resource to help understand whether things are true. This has really got me thinking about how these and other cultural institutions can play a more active role in democracy.
Tell us about your REMIX experience
If you were at REMIX London 2026 too and didn’t get a chance to say hello to Laura and Andrew drop us a line on hello@tangramstrategies.co.uk, we’d love to hear what you took away from the days.
