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Do the arts have to rebrand themselves as ‘useful’ in order to justify public money? Is there any role for arts research that simply adds to the pool of human knowledge but with no immediate purpose for contemporary society? A period like ours, when government is obsessed with evidence-based policy, could be seen as a golden age for academic researchers. Research is regularly cited by ministers to back up policy; and research with practical outcomes can find funding and fame. But with research under increasing pressure to develop ideas that are ‘useful’ in terms of current government and corporate priorities such as economic competitiveness, social responsibility and sustainability, what is the fate of blue-skies research, let alone the ‘useless knowledge’ often associated with the arts and humanities?
If research and innovation have to be tailored to fulfil perceived social needs, the arts in particular can become squeezed, either defensively trying mould themselves around fashionable concerns, or sidelined as arcane, self-indulgent and irrelevant. How should we value arts and humanities research today, and who should define the criteria for such judgements?
Speakers:
Dr Richard Howells, director, Centre for Cultural, Media and Creative Industries Research, King’s College, London; author Using Visual Evidence
Paul Glinkowski, Rootstein Hopkins Research Fellow, University of the Arts London; author Good Foundations: Trusts and Foundations and the Arts in the United Kingdom.
Professor Jonathan Bate, professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature, University of Warwick; Council member of the AHRC,Fellow, British Academy and Royal Society of Literature; author Soul of the Age: The Life, Mind and World of William Shakespeare (forthcoming).
Professor Kim Knott, professor of Religious Studies, University of Leeds; director, AHRC Diasporas, Migration and Identities Programme; author, The Location of Religion: A Spatial Analysis.
Chair: Tiffany Jenkins director, arts & society programme, Institute of Ideas.
Further information about this debate, organised by the Institute of Ideas, Kings College London and the AHRC, is available here:
http://www.battleofideas.org.uk/index.php/2008/session_detail/1538/
Tickets cost £7.50 (or £5), and are available from the following website:
http://www.instituteofideas.com/tickets/battlesatellites2008.html
Keynote Speakers: Professor Peter Davidson, University of Aberdeen; Professor Mette Hjort, Lignan University, Hong Kong; Professor Dave Russell, Leeds Metropolitan University.
We invite proposals for papers from scholars and practitioners in the fields of film, photography and fine art that explore:
- what northernness is;
- how historical experiences and preconceptions impact upon contemporary visual representations of the north;
- how different conceptions of the north play through representations in recent and contemporary fine art and photography, film and documentary practice.
While we envisage much of the debate focusing on the north of Britain, we welcome papers which explore northernness in other regions such as Scandinavia, the Baltic states, Germany, North America, and Russia. Proposals for panels and round table discussions are also welcome.
Abstracts (200 words approx) by 1st November 2008 to:
Dr Ysanne Holt Reader in Art History School of Arts and Social Sciences Northumbria University Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST
First call for abstracts
Following the success of their conference in Glasgow in June 2007, the SUE-MoT consortium is pleased to announce the Second International Conference on Whole Life Urban Sustainability and its Assessment on 22-24 April 2009 in Loughborough, UK. For further information about SUE-MoT, please visit the project website http://sue-mot.org/
Conference themes:
Submission of abstracts covering any of the following
conference themes is invited:
* Urban planning and design for sustainability
* Sustainable buildings: design, performance and assessment
* Quality of life in the urban environment
* Stakeholder participation
* Urban sustainability and the move to low carbon development
* Measures, assessment theory, complexity and uncertainty
Key dates:
15 October2008 Abstract submission deadline
22 October 2008 Notification of acceptance
01 December 2008 Submission of full papers for review
01 February 2009 Notification of feedback from the Scientific Advisory Committee
01 March 2009 Submission of final papers
22-24 April 2009 Conference
Abstract submission:
Abstract submission is now open and can be reached on the conference web site http://sue-mot.org/conference/ – if you have any queries regarding the conference please contact us on conference@sue-mot.org
Paper session at Annual Association of American Geographers Conference (Las Vegas, 22-27 March 2009)
Organisers: Mark Jayne (Geography, School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester, UK) and Bas van Heur (Maastricht Virtual Knowledge Studio, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University, NL).
The last decade in particular has seen the emergence of a discourse that understands creative production as central to the economic development of urban spaces. The `urban’ in this context, however, has almost invariably referred to large global or capital cities such as London, New York, San Francisco, Amsterdam or Berlin. With a few exceptions (e.g. Christopherson 2004; Bell and Jayne 2006), small cities have been ignored and remain under-investigated. This session tries to counter this bias in urban geography by focusing on the following questions:
In what ways are policy strategies developed for large cities applicable to small cities?
Are creative entrepreneurs such as artists, designers and musicians – i.e. those actors analytically privileged in most studies on the creative economy and the cultural industries – the most relevant actors in the case of small cities? Or should we be looking for other creative and innovative actors (and actor constellations) in other fields?
Large cities tend to dominate the surrounding landscape through their concentration of media, jobs and governmental institutions. How does this urban hierarchy shape the very attempts of small cities to develop and promote local creative economies?
To what extent do the dynamics of small cities necessitate a rethinking of dominant theories and concepts used to explain the creative economy?
Authors that address these – and other relevant – questions are invited to submit a brief abstract (not more than 250 words) to the session organizers Mark Jayne (mark.jayne@manchester.ac.uk) and Bas van Heur (b.vanheur@vks.unimaas.nl) by October 1st at the latest.
As part of this year’s BA Festival of Science, Beatriz Garcia and experts in researching cities, urban policies and city lifestyles explore the impacts and effects of Liverpool as European Capital of Culture on the city. Dr Garcia’s presentation, ‘Looking in on the City. The impact of Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture‘, will be followed by ‘Who is “In” and Who is “Out” of the City?‘, a round table discussion with Phil Redmond and staff from the University of Liverpool’s School of Sociology and Social Policy.
Date: Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Time: 1.30pm-2.30pm (Looking in on the City); 2.30pm-3.30pm (Who is “In” and Who is “Out” of the City?)
Venue: Hearnshaw Lecture Theatre, Eleanor Rathbone Building, University of Liverpool
Event fee: £3 (for each event)
Links for booking and further information:
