Participatory art practice and community engagement has featured centrally in art practice and theory since the 1990s. While many have argued that participatory practices contribute to fostering democratic citizenship, critics have questioned whether participants experience themselves as instrumentalised by participatory practices. This conference forms part of the ARTIS Horizon 2020 consortium grant investigating into the transformative potential of the arts. In order to do so, we invite scholars from a broad range of disciplines, such as the arts, political science, sociology and cultural studies.