What happens to specialist skills when there is no one to pass them on to?

As part of Heritage Hands Festival: Sandgate, What Do We Carry Forward? brings together makers and creative practitioners to explore how traditional skills and specialist knowledge are learned, shared, adapted and passed between generations.

From traditional trades and specialist crafts to practices evolving through new materials, technologies and ways of working, the conversation explores what it takes to keep knowledge alive - and what can be lost when opportunities to learn directly from skilled practitioners disappear.

Facilitator - Robert Allen, Brisbane Heritage Co.

Robert Allen brings a passion for Brisbane's history, built heritage and the stories that connect people to place. Through Brisbane Heritage Co., his work focuses on celebrating and sharing local heritage, making him a fitting facilitator for a conversation about preserving specialist knowledge, connecting generations and keeping traditional skills alive.

Panellists

Dr Renata Buziak - Photo-media Artist, Researcher and Educator

Renata's practice combines alternative and experimental photographic processes with contemporary art, research and education. Her work offers a perspective on how established processes and knowledge can continue to evolve through experimentation, teaching and new applications.

Michael Blazek - Neon Artist and Specialist Neon Maker

Co-founder of Neon Signs Australia, Michael brings more than three decades of specialist knowledge in traditional glass neon fabrication. Following the closure of the business in 2023, its extensive archive was acquired by the John Oxley Library at State Library of Queensland - raising compelling questions about what can be preserved through documentation and what must be retained through practice.

Meade and Mason Murphy - Murphy's Antiques and Restorations

Representing two generations of a family restoration practice, Meade and Mason bring a firsthand perspective on how specialist knowledge is passed from one generation to the next through working alongside one another. Their experience highlights the value of learning by doing, adapting traditional techniques and carrying knowledge forward.

Together, the panel will explore apprenticeships, mentoring, changing pathways into specialist practice, the role of archives and documentation, and how makers, educators, communities and cultural organisations can create opportunities for knowledge to continue.

At its heart is a question about the future of living heritage: what do we carry forward, and how do we ensure that knowledge continues?

Saturday 7 November 2026, 4:00–5:00pm
Sandgate Town Hall, Sandgate

Free event. Booking reccomended

Presented as part of Heritage Hands Festival: Sandgate.

Made by hand. Made to last.