Brexit at Ten: Hopes for the Arts and Humanities?
28 – 29 Oct 2026

2026 marks the tenth anniversary of the United Kingdom’s referendum to leave the European Union. A decade defined by political rupture, cultural disruption, and the slow unravelling of ties that had sustained creative and intellectual life across the continent. The consequences have been neither abstract nor confined: they have fallen most heavily on artists, educators, students, and cultural practitioners on both sides of the Channel. Musicians, visual artists, writers and filmmakers face severe restrictions on movement and collaboration; students no longer enjoy freedom of access to education across borders; and arts institutions on both sides have seen the networks and partnerships they depend upon contract sharply.

This conference brings together practitioners, legal experts, advocates and cultural leaders from across Europe and the UK – voices drawn from visual art, literature, music, publishing, museum practice, performing arts and human rights law – to take stock of what has been lost, to name what continues to be damaged, and above all to imagine and enact what can be rebuilt. It is a gathering not of mourning alone, but of practical purpose and shared resolve. The event is conceived as a space for honest reckoning, creative exchange, and the forging of new solidarities.

Parts of the programme are included in the Re:Create Europe Webinar Series and will be livestreamed.

The event will take place at All Souls College and Mansfield College in Oxford, UK.