On 25 May 2004 the following people participated in a one-day charrette focusing on new models of cultural facilities in the 21st century, at the Tilbury Cruise Terminal in Thurrock.

Marco Casagrande is the director and principal architect at Casagrande Laboratory, Helsinki (2003 - present). Previously, Marco was a principal at Casagrande and Rintala, where he worked in collaboration with architect/artist Sami Rintala. Marco’s work encompasses the realms of architecture, urban and environmental planning, environmental art, circuses and other artistic disciplines. He has lectured in various universities in Finland and abroad. His work has been widely exhibited, including representations at the Venice Biennale 2000, Havana Biennale 2000, New Trends of Architecture in Europe and Japan 2001, Yokohama Triennale 2001, Urban Flashes 2002, Demeter 2002, Montreal Biennale 2002, Alaska Design Forum 2003, Echigo Tsumari Triennale 2003, Taipei European Forum 2003 and Danish Harbour Workshop 2003. Marco has also worked as a journalist, naval architect and construction worker.

Jeremy Deller is a London-based conceptual artist. His eclectic work engages with popular and traditional culture, frequently in collaboration with individuals and groups of people. The Battle of Orgreave (2001) was a partial re-enactment of one of the most violent clashes between striking miners and police during the 1984-85 Miners’ strike. The event was directed by Mike Figgis for Artangel and screened on Channel 4. The Uses of Literacy (1997) was an exhibition of material solicited from fans of the rock group The Manic Street Preachers. The Folk Archive, begun in 1999 with Alan Kane, is an archive of objects, films and photographs documenting popular cultural activity around Britain and Ireland. An Introduction to the Folk Archive (2000) was exhibited as part of Intelligence: New British Art at the Tate Gallery in 2000 and featured material relating to morris dancing, gurning competitions and political demonstrations.

Jeanne van Heeswijk is an artist concerned to create vibrant and dynamic public spaces which encourage people to meet, speak, act and enjoy. She lives and works in Rotterdam, NL. During the Venice Biennale (2003), Jeanne created Conquest in collaboration with Rolf Engelen, a participatory project to encourage and challenge visitors to participate and play. For De Strip, (2002-2004) Jeanne collaborated with a number of cultural partners to turn an empty shopping centre in Vlaardingen, the Netherlands, into a lively centre for art and cultural activity. Other projects such as Valley Vibes (1998-2003), and Casco, Coffee and Communication (2001) raise questions about art as a service for communities. Jeanne’s work has been exhibited widely: in Rotterdam, Tokyo, Slovenia, London, New York and Leeds. She frequently lectures on art and urban renewal, public participation, and cultural production, and has taught at many international art academies and universities.

Keith Khan is a spectacularist. He trained in fine art and worked as a producer of carnivals for many years. Based in London, recent commissions include Escapade, featuring 150 dancers and film projection, staged on the buildings of the South Bank Centre; and Waterscapes, a performance series in and around the fountains of Somerset House. Keith has been involved in many national cultural projects include the Millennium Dome, where he designed the opening ceremony and worked with Mark Fisher and Peter Gabriel on the central show. He was Director of Design for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games 2002, and Artistic Director of Celebration Commonwealth, for the Queen’s Jubilee Parade, where 4000 people presented a fresh and exciting perspective of the Commonwealth. He has also completed design projects for IBM, Coca Cola and Ericsson. Keith is an advisor to the British Government Departments for Culture, Media and Sport, and Education and Skills. He is also founder and artistic director of motiroti, an arts led company working with people and new technology. Recent motiroti projects have been presented at the Barbican, Tate Modern, Royal Albert Hall, Romaeuopa, The Whitney Museum of American Art, and BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) in New York.

Writer and cultural commentator Mike Phillips was born in Georgetown, Guyana and grew up in London. He studied at the University of London, the University of Essex and Goldsmiths College London. Between 1972 and 1983 he worked as a journalist and broadcaster for the BBC before becoming a lecturer in media studies at the University of Westminster. He has written full-time since 1992 and is best known for his crime fiction including four novels featuring black journalist Sam Dean: Blood Rights (1989), adapted for BBC television, The Late Candidate (1990), winner of the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger Award, Point of Darkness (1994) and An Image to Die For (1995). Other novels include The Dancing Face (1998) and his most recent novel, A Shadow of Myself (2000). Mike co-wrote Windrush: The Irresistible Rise of Multi-Racial Britain (1998) to accompany a BBC television series which tells the story of Caribbean migrant workers who settled in post-war Britain. London Crossings: A Biography of Black Britain (2001) is a portrait of the city seen from diverse locations. He is currently Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the London Institute, writes for the Guardian, and is a trustee of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Ralph Rugoff is Director of the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco, an exhibition space that presents contemporary art, design and architecture. In 2001-2002, he also served as Curatorial Adviser to the 2002 Sydney Biennale. As a curator, Ralph has organized over twenty exhibitions over the last 14 years. He has also contributed essays for books and exhibition catalogues on numerous contemporary artists, and is the author of Circus Americanus (Verso), a book of essays on popular visual culture. He has contributed articles to magazines and newspapers, including Artforum, frieze, and The Financial Times. He has been a research fellow at Goldsmiths College in London (1998-99), and a Pew Arts Journalism Fellow at Columbia University in New York (1996-97). As a speaker and consultant, Ralph has participated in conferences at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum (NY), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Tate Gallery in London.

Susan Benn (Facilitator) is founder Director of PAL (Performing Arts Laboratory Ltd). She is a former editor, publisher and photographer. She has overall responsibility for shaping PAL’s research agenda and international programme of residential ‘Labs’ for talented practitioners in the arts, media and technology, and in education and science. Susan appoints Directors for each of the Labs, all of whom are leading practitioners in their respective fields; and she supports the design and further development of new pilot Labs and established Lab programmes. Susan also creates new forms of PAL research Labs for a range of clients and is developing a sustainable structure for the wider dissemination and application of PAL models with commercial and educational partners in the UK and abroad. (www.pallabs.org)