HUNDREDS of artists, art students and art lovers from all over Britain are descending on Scarborough this weekend for the first Art Party Conference.

The event is the brainchild of artist Bob and Roberta Smith – yes, that’s one artist – and has been co-organised with Scarborough’s Crescent Arts.

Hosted by the Scarborough Spa conference and entertainment venue, Saturday’s conference will run from 2pm to 2am and will act as a forum for debating the future of the arts.

Not aligned to any political party, The Art Party hopes to influence arts decision makers to listen and to think again.

The day begins with the Art Party Beach Parade, meeting at 12.15pm at South Bay, by the lifeboat station, and leaving at 12.45pm for a brisk march along the beach to the Spa. Yorkshire Coast College leads the parade; please bring your banner or placard.

Bob and Roberta Smith will perform his Letter to Michael Gove, the artwork in which he lambasts the Education Secretary for his stance on art in schools – a response that provided the inspiration for the conference. You can view Smith’s work online at bobandrobertasmith.co.uk Further highlights will be a speech by the “Rt Hon Michael G[r]ove MP” and contributions from Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller, Turner Prize nominee Cornelia Parker, poet Maureen Duffy, Richard Wentworth, Leo Fitzmaurice, curator and writer Lynda Morris, John Smith and Oriana Fox.

Taking part too are up-and-coming artists, such as Hull’s Patrick Coyle and Leeds College of Art alumnus Alex Dodgson, whose colourful work, using his own body as a canvas, landed him on the cover of the New York Times earlier this year.

Tim Newton’s short film about Picasso’s visit to Sheffield in 1950, Trimming Pablo, will be screened, and Tim will film The Art Party Road Movie at the conference for future distribution.

The National Society for Education in Art and Design’s “alternative curriculum” will be announced in the wake of the Art Party Conference launch in London in September, when NSEAD general secretary Lesley Butterworth described government policy on art, craft and design education as “one of the most toxic things to have happened to art, craft and design in my professional lifetime”.

Music will be provided by the Ken Ardley Playboys, Flameproof Moth and Grubby Mitts, complemented by DJ sets from artist Haroon Mirza and Scarborough’s DJ Tooley.

Scarborough artist Jade Montserrat will be presenting performances and artworks, such as a tribute to Josephine Baker, and ceramicist Karen Thompson will display her own take on a fairground coconut shy: the Goveshy, a platoon of Michael Gove ceramic busts that visitors will be invited to knock for six with wooden balls.

The event’s master of ceremonies will be artist Jessica Voorsanger, in the guise of Henry Moore, David Hockney, Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali.

Looking forward to the weekend, Bob and Roberta Smith says: “It’s going to be an extraordinary national event. We want to ask three vital questions: What first turned you on to art? How do you think art should be taught in schools? Why do you think art is important?”

To see the latest Art Party Conference trailer, visit artpartyconference.co.uk

You can follow the conference on Twitter: @ArtParty2013