TECHNE Event: Public Engagement with the Arts: Research into Practice
22nd Feb 2018
Venue: Rose Theatre, Kingston
Date and Time: Thursday 22nd February, 10am-4pm
This training day explores how academic practice can be translated into public engagement activities, and how academic skills can be brought to bear on vital questions regarding public audiences for arts practice. Combining contributions from academics and those working in the arts, you’ll hear from academics who have translated their practice into public engagement, and will have the opportunity to examine how your own skills and knowledge can be employed in solving real-world problems in the arts industry.
Schedule (Full Program and Biographies attached)
10.00 - 10.15: Welcome: Dr Sara Upstone
10.15 - 11.45: Keynote; Michael Eades, the Being Human Festival
11.45 - 12.00: Coffee
12.00 - 01.30: Academic Research as Public Practice in the Arts: Panel Discussion and Q&A with Dr Helen Palmer, Dr Daniela Perazzo Domm and Professor John Ó Maoilearca
1.30 - 2.30: Lunch
2.30 - 4.00: How Do We Engage Audiences?: Real-World Problem Solving Workshop with Robert O’Dowd (Chief Executive, Rose Theatre, Kingston) and Rose Theatre Staff
Please book your place through Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/techne-training-event-public-engagement-and-the-arts-tickets-42502561305
About the Panellists
Michael Eades is the Cultural Contexts Research Fellow and Public Engagement Manager at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. Since completing my PhD in 2012 my work has generally been project based and collaborative, and conducted in ‘real world’ contexts. I have worked with arts and health initiatives in Nottingham and London, and between 2013-2014 I completed the AHRC-funded project Bloomsbury Festival in a Box: engaging socially isolated people with dementia. This formed part of the AHRC’s major Cultural Value project. In his role at the SAS he is manager and curator of the Being Human Festival of the Humanities, a national forum for public engagement with humanities research which is funded by the British Academy and the AHRC, In 2017 the Being Human festival featured over 300 events in 51 towns and cities across the UK, alongside a series of international activities.
Robert O’Dowd is Chief Executive of Rose Theatre, Kingston. Robert joined the Rose in November 2011 having previously been Chief Executive of Pontio, a Performance Art and Innovation Centre in Bangor North Wales. Prior to that he was Chief Executive of Designs of the Time, a ten year public engagement with design programme set up by the Design Council. Robert was also a founding director of Classic FM and had a long career in retail, concluding as Buying and Merchandising Director for House of Fraser. His passion in work is to create and develop sustainable performing arts businesses. He was asked to join the Rose to build on the work that had been done since it opened and to develop a long-term financially secure future.
John Ó Maoilearcais Professor of Film at Kingston School of Art, Kingston University, where his areas of research and teaching are Film Theory; Philosophy and Film; Continental Philosophy; Animal Studies and Film; Philosophy and Non-Standard Philosophy; Theory and Practice (Practice as Research). John has been involved in a number of public facing projects, including collaboration with the BFI.
Helen Palmer is Senior Lecturer in English Literature and Creative Writing at Kingston University, where she specialises in queer theory, materialisms, and contemporary writing. As part of her work, Helen translates her academic interests into performance art, including queer clowning and performance poetry.
Daniela Perazzo Domm is Senior Lecturer in Dance at Kingston University, where she specialises in experimental and interdisciplinary practices. In particular, her research focuses on the interplay of aesthetic and political dimensions in choreographic and dramaturgical processes. She is a founding member of the performing arts festival 'Uovo' (Milan, Italy), which supports forward-thinking and socially-engaged arts practice.
Sara Upstone is Associate Professor of English Literature and Head of Department of Humanities at Kingston University. Her research specialism is contemporary British literature. She is also the academic lead for the TECHNE external partners’ forum.