Being Human festival 2020

200+

FREE EVENTS ACROSS THE UK

NEW WORLDS Led by

In partnership with

12–22 NOVEMBER

2020

Director’s welcome On behalf of the festival team, and all of our many event organisers across the UK and beyond, welcome to the Being Human festival 2020. Our theme this year is New Worlds.

Today we are all living in, and planning for, a world that seems quite different from the one we inhabited at the start of the year. Now more than ever we need ideas about how innovative humanities research can lead us forward during unprecedented global challenges, and innovative ways to share them!

Research in the humanities helps us to understand what it means to be human, and the Being Human festival exists to help make that research accessible, engaging and fun for communities across the UK. This means that here at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, we work every year with researchers in classics, languages, literature, history, philosophy, and many others to take their ideas and shape them into the creative events that you’ll see in the festival.

There are hundreds of events in the festival programme this year.

Across the UK, from Inverness to Canterbury, Cardiff to Belfast, you’ll find performances, tours, museum takeovers and family-friendly fun.

Many of them are online, but we are delighted to also have socially distanced events happening in person, too, at selected venues. We have four festival hubs this year in Derby, Glasgow, Sheffield and Swansea. None of this activity would be possible without our festival partners at the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy. Once again, I would like to thank them for their support.

Welcome to the festival!

Professor Sarah Churchwell Director, Being Human festival Chair in Public Understanding of the Humanities School of Advanced Study, University of London

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Photo courtesy of TORCH, The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities

About the festival Being Human is the UK’s only national festival of the humanities, established in 2014 to share cutting-edge research in the humanities with people and communities across the UK. Our mission is to make the humanities accessible, engaging and fun for all.

The festival is led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London – the UK’s national centre for the support of researchers and the promotion of research in the humanities.

Being Human runs in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy, who provide the funding that make many of our events and activities possible.

The core festival partnership brings together three of the UK's major coordinating bodies for humanities research.

Every year we allocate small grants to fund festival activities across the UK. We also offer support and guidance to organisers not directly funded by the festival. From our office in Senate House, University of London, the Being Human team provides help and support to organisers, drawing together a national programme of events and activities celebrating humanities research, its contribution to our national culture and its essential role in our everyday lives.

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Partners The School of Advanced Study, University of London is the UK’s national centre for the support of researchers and the promotion of research in the humanities. SAS and its member institutes offer unparalleled resources, facilities and academic opportunities across a wide range of subject areas for the benefit of the national and international scholarly community.

Last year SAS welcomed 892 research fellows and associates, held 1,903 events highlighting the latest research in the humanities, received 25.9 million online visits to its research resources and platforms, and hosted 173,493 visits to its specialist libraries and collections. The School also leads Being Human, the UK’s only nationwide festival of the humanities.

The Arts and Humanities Research Council is part of UK Research and Innovation. They are the UK’s largest funder of arts and humanities research and training, investing over £100 million every year. They fund independent researchers in a wide range of subjects, including history, archaeology, digital content, philosophy, languages, design, heritage, area studies, the creative and performing arts, and many more. The research they fund provides social and cultural and benefits that contribute to the economic success of the UK, as well as to the culture and welfare of societies around the world.

The British Academy is the voice of the humanities and social sciences. The Academy is an independent fellowship of world-leading scholars and researchers; a funding body for research, nationally and internationally; and a forum for debate and engagement.

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Festival Hubs Being Human festival hubs feature series of events and activities that respond to the festival theme in imaginative and exciting ways and help to spread the festival spirit across the UK. You can read more about the full festival hub programmes and all other events on our website beinghumanfestival.org. This year we have four festival hubs in Derby, Glasgow, Sheffield and Swansea.

Derby A series of online events led by the University of Derby will cast light on Derbyshire’s rich heritage as a global industrial powerhouse and celebrate the history of one of the UK’s most overlooked areas. The events are rooted in partnerships with museums, archives and schools, and include digital illustrated talks, ‘draw-along’s, public performances and ‘citizen curating’ of some of Derby Museum’s most sensitive collections.

Glasgow The University of Glasgow will lead a programme of events channeling the Glaswegian spirit for invention and reinvention, reflecting on the past and future of the city. Activities include an invitation to write a ‘poetic national constitution’ and an opportunity to delve into research on cultures of empire at the Hunterian Museum.

Sheffield Researchers at The University of Sheffield will be asking the question ‘What kind of world is possible?’ at the ‘People’s Palace of Possibility’ - the headline event of their series looking at the everyday world in fresh eyes and through the lens of a diverse range of innovative humanities research.

Swansea Swansea University’s hub programme will reflect on old worlds versus new worlds and new beginnings through politics, VR, wellbeing, human connectivity and creativity. Fun for all ages will include banner-making inspired by the collections at the South Wales Miners’ Library and the creation of a Welsh ‘post-pandemic manifesto’ by local school pupils. beinghumanfestival.org

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Festival broadcasts For Being Human 2020, BBC Radio 3’s flagship programme ‘Free Thinking’ will broadcast a series of special episodes picking up on research being showcased in the festival.

Head to our website to find out more.

Live streaming Many of this year’s events will be live streamed online and available to view afterwards. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up to date with all the latest content: bitly.com/beinghumanfest.

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Photo Š Andy Brown and The University of Sheffield

What to expect Being Human festival is all about making academic research in the humanities fun, relevant and engaging. You can expect events like talks and discussions, hands-on workshops, walks and tours, music and theatre performances and pop-up activities.

The 2020 festival includes a whole range of exciting events including a drop-in repair shop exploring recycling, waste and sustainability, a feminist ‘rap battle’ based on ancient Mesopotamian texts, a 'carnival of counter-tourism' exploring gentrification and a sensorial artwork recreating weather conditions of the past and future.

This year most events are online, with a few socially distanced in person events at selected venues. Please check the website for full details.

Booking All festival events are free. Booking may be required for some events. Visit our website beinghumanfestival.org to browse the full listings of events happening online and near you!

Tell us what you think Audience feedback on our events is vital as it helps us to assess our impact, identify potential improvements and secure funding to keep our events free. Pick up a feedback form at an event or visit beinghumanfestival.org during the festival to complete the survey online and enter a prize draw.

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Support Us Our ambition is to ensure that the benefits of humanities research are felt at grassroots levels across the UK and beyond – especially in places where public engagement with higher education is low. To do this, we need your help.

Organising and promoting an event is expensive.

Unlike other festivals we don’t recoup costs from ticket sales. We love the fact that all our events are free, but to keep them that way we need more support.

If you believe in what we do and want to support our mission to ensure that the humanities are for everyone, please donate via beinghumanfestival.org/support-us.

Alternatively, you can get in touch with the team directly to discuss your donation by emailing beinghuman@sas.ac.uk.

Donations are processed by the University of London where the festival is based, but 100% of your donation will go directly to the Being Human festival. beinghumanfestival.org #BeingHuman2020 @BeingHumanFest @BeingHumanFest @beinghumanfest

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12-22 November 2020 Visit beinghumanfestival.org to see the full programme of events and to book.

Glasgow

Sheffield

Channel the Glaswegian spirit for invention and reinvention in a series of events led by the University of Glasgow reflecting on the past and future of the city, including an invitation to write a ‘poetic national constitution’ and an opportunity to delve into research on cultures of empire at the Hunterian Museum.

Ask the question ‘What kind of world is possible?’ at The University of Sheffield’s ‘People’s Palace of Possibility’ - the headline event of their series looking at the everyday world in fresh eyes and through the lens of a diverse range of innovative humanities research.

Participating towns and cities Festival Hub

Festival Event

Aberdeen

Edinburgh

London

Roehampton

Bangor

Exeter

Loughborough

Salford

Swansea

Belfast

Falmouth

Manchester

Sidcup

Birmingham

Greenock

Matlock

Southall

Reflect on old worlds versus new worlds and new beginnings through politics, VR, wellbeing, human connectivity and creativity in a programme led by Swansea University, including banner-making inspired by the collections at the South Wales Miners’ Library and the creation of a Welsh ‘post-pandemic manifesto’ by local school pupils.

Blackburn

Inverness

Newcastle

Southampton

Bolton

Kirkintilloch

Nottingham

St Andrews

Bristol

Lancaster

Oxford

Stoke-on-Trent

Canterbury

Leeds

Peterborough

Warwick

Colchester

Leeds

Plymouth

Wolverhampton

Dudley

Lincoln

Portsmouth

York

Dundee

Liverpool

Reading

Derby Look again at Derbyshire’s rich heritage as a global industrial powerhouse via a series of online events celebrating the history of one of the UK’s most overlooked areas. Events rooted in museums, archives and schools, include digital illustrated talks, ‘draw-alongs', public performances and ‘citizen curating’ of some of Derby Museum’s most sensitive collections.