ASSUNTA RUOCCO

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Making Room for Children and Art

Making Room for Children and Art
Millennium Gallery, Sheffield, Wednesday 27 May 2026, 12–4pm

Making Room for Children and Art is a free symposium on artist-parent/child collaborations and other strategies for continuing a creative practice alongside caring for children. The symposium forms part of Assunta Ruocco’s ongoing research project of the same name, which has developed from her experience of being a parent, long-term collaboration with her daughter Lou, and her research into the people, spaces and organisations building supportive conditions for artist-parents across the UK and beyond.

The day brought together more than 100 people including many children, among them artists, curators, researchers and art workers, to share, discuss and develop thinking around intergenerational collaboration and the conditions that support artist-parents in cultural institutions, studios and public spaces. It took place during the half-term school holidays in the Arundel and Cadman Rooms at Millennium Gallery Sheffield, and went ahead despite the main gallery having to close unexpectedly due to a major maintenance issue.

The day was designed from the outset to welcome children and families. The Assunta and Lou Art Club quilt and making space and Ellie Barrett's Sculpture Kit were active throughout, with play workers present to support families. Lunch was provided for all attendees. The event was open to artist-parents and carers with and without children.

Invited speakers

Shirley Cameron, artist, Sheffield, on her pioneering collaborative practice with her daughters Lois and Colette from the 1970s onwards.

Jo Harrison, co-founder of the Art Working Parents Alliance, on the Alliance's work building networks, visibility and advocacy for artist-parents across the UK.

Magda Bielesz, artist, on her drawings and performances made in collaboration with her son Maurycy.

Karolina Korupczynska and Chloe Whitehouse, Stryx Gallery, Birmingham, on the Mothership Studio and Residency and what sustained, structurally integrated support for artist-parents looks like in practice within an artist-run space.

Hettie Judah, writer and co-founder of the Art Working Parents Alliance, presented No Room Without Children, exploring the work of artists who practise alongside caring for children with additional needs, including Anna Grevenitis, Trish Morrissey, and Cherry Truluck, who makes work in collaboration with her son Ernest Halpin.

Slide-share session

A slide-share session in which attendees shared one image of their work and responded to the questions: what is your practice, and how do you manage the time between care and art work? Participants were: Ellen Angus, Ellie Andrews, Abi Shapiro, Alexandra Mueller, Christopher Jarratt, Clo Pimlott, Ev Hardaker, Evelyn Albrow, Harriet Plewis, Jenna Pink, Jessica Heywood, Laure Carnet, Linny Venables, Miffy Ryan, Natalie Choi, Sophie Michael, Rachel Ellis, Rebecca Renshaw, Ruth Levene, Sarah Attwood, Sarogini Reddiar, Sian Ellis, Georgina Barney.

Photography by Ai Narapol.

Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, with additional support from the University of Lincoln. Delivered in partnership with Bloc Projects, Millennium Gallery Sheffield and the Art Working Parents Alliance. With particular thanks to Sunshine Wong at Bloc Projects, Jo Harrison at the Art Working Parents Alliance, and Jessica Shipton at Millennium Gallery Sheffield for their invaluable support in developing this event and on the day.

Making Room for Children and Art at New Art Exchange, Nottingham, 2025
Hosted by CVAN East Midlands, with Jo Harrison and the Art Working Parents Alliance. Photographs by Janhavi Sharma and Nicola Guy

With support from Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) fund, Assunta and Lou delivered a public workshop and conversation at New Art Exchange, Nottingham. The event formed part of Assunta and Lou’s After School Art Club and marked the conclusion of the DYCP project, bringing together artist parents, carers and children through shared making and discussion.

Delivered in partnership with CVAN East Midlands, the session combined a relaxed art club led by Assunta and Lou, supported by artist Chiara Dellerba, with a public conversation featuring Jo Harrison from the Art Working Parents Alliance. Drawing on New Art Exchange’s welcoming, family-oriented context, the event enabled sustained participation and informal exchange, supporting dialogue around care, collaboration and working conditions for artist parents within institutional settings.

The event built on the Better Together session delivered by the Art Working Parents Alliance in 2024 and contributed to Ruocco’s wider research into intergenerational collaboration, artist-parent support structures and feminist approaches to co-creation, developed through Assunta and Lou’s mobile studio practice.