OpenARC holds the first Festival of the Arts and Humanities

OpenARC held its first ever Festival of the Arts and Humanities on Tuesday 13 May in the Hub Theatre, Juniper and Medlar Rooms (10.30am to 3.30pm). The Festival celebrated the research, broadcast work, public engagement and impact in the School of the Arts and Humanities. The Festival featured 17 stalls representing all of the research groups based in Arts & Humanities, as well as stalls from the School of Creative Industries and Broadcast Partnerships (highlighting our BBC work). The fun packed day offered a range of interactivities, including a musical bed which reconstructed the experience of patients listening to music in hospitals in the past, a ‘design your own Roman coin’ task, and the option to ‘draw your own research’.

The day opened with a presentation from School Director of Research & OpenARC Director Shafquat Towheed, demonstrating some of the excellent research and engagement supported by the Centre. This was followed by a talk from the PVC Research & Enterprise, Kevin Shakesheff, who noted how Arts & Humanities researchers were engaging the public with innovative, impactful and original research. Matthew Holley (School of Creative Industries) offered a presentation on the benefits of podcasts. Over lunch, James Dooley (Music) offered a partly improvised performance of ambient music, showing the ways in which technology and creativity can be harnessed together.

In the afternoon, we were joined by FASS Executive Dean Adrienne Scullion, who reminded us of the importance of taking our research to the public as part of the OU’s central mission, and by FASS Associate Dean for Research, Rose Capdevila, who introduced five Impact Case studies currently in development for submission for REF2029. Impact work from Art History (Carla Benzan), Classical Studies (Christine Plastow), English (Philip Seargeant, presented by Nicola Watson), History (Rosalind Crone) and Music (Laura Hamer). OpenARC Director Shafquat Towheed brought proceedings to a close with a reminder that openness in research – sharing our research and taking it out to the wider world – was core to our mission.

About OpenARC

OpenARC, The Open University Arts & Humanities Research Centre, is the hub for research in the School of Arts and Humanities at The Open University. It hosts a broad range of research groups, and facilitates disciplinary and interdisciplinary research.

Building on The Open University’s mission, OpenARC promotes the value of arts and humanities research for the 21st century. Only by researching the world through the arts and humanities can be we fully understand what it means to be human and use that knowledge of our past and present to inform a better future.

Through our world-leading research and impact, OpenARC is committed to creating, defending and sustaining an informed and culturally literate society, in a world where there are increasing inequalities of access to the positive influence of the arts and humanities.