University hosts Being Human 2015 events

The University of Exeter is hosting a series of events for Being Human 2015, the UK’s only national festival of the humanities. This involves a broad range of events including digital storytelling in Dartmoor, a theme park installation game aimed at teenagers, macro filming workshops exploring the body to creating modern folk ballads that reflects the heritage of the South West.

The programme has been made possible by a grant from the festival organisers, the School of Advanced Study, University of London with additional funds for specific projects from the University of Exeter. Now in its second year, Being Human is supported by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC), and the British Academy (BA) with support from the Wellcome Trust.

Following a successful application, the University of Exeter has been awarded funding to hold the event during the festival week, 12 – 22 November.

The series of events will champion the excellence of humanities research being undertaken in the South West and help to demonstrate the vitality and relevance of this today. Forty-one grants have been awarded to universities and cultural organisations across the UK to participate in the 11 days of Being Human.

The grant will help the university bring together researchers and local communities to engage with the humanities. The Devon and Cornwall based events will be part of an 11 day national programme of big ideas, big debates and engaging activities for all ages. The festival will inform, extend and ignite contemporary thinking and imagination around the humanities.

James Clark, professor of history and Associate Dean for Research and Knowledge Transfer in the College of Humanities at the University of Exeter said: “These events provide exciting opportunities for our Humanities researchers to share, test out and challenge their latest ideas in a rich variety of formats across the region and for all of us who are passionate about the Humanities to join a national conversation’.

During the inaugural festival in 2014 over 60 universities and cultural organisations organised over 160 free events sharing the best and most challenging thinking in the humanities with audiences across the country.

Extending beyond face-to-face interactions in the UK, the festival crossed borders on the web, reaching more than 2.2 million across Twitter and website visitors from around the globe.

The 2015 festival programme promises to be exciting, entertaining and thought-provoking, with something for everyone in our diverse communities.