Its always interesting to see how media outlets – and blogs are no exception – stave off the blandery and gappage entailed by a sleepy news cycle. I’d like to seize this relatively still moment to draw your attention to the Holyrood Parliament’s Festival of Politics running from Tuesday the 18th to Saturday the 22nd of August, in fair Edina.Although familiar with the ‘brand’, over the past few years various complications and the nagging gremlins of other commitments have prevented me from actually attending anything in Holyrood. Picking up a loitering copy of their programme of events last week, I confess myself honestly surprised by the very real breadth of intellectually elevated issues which the learned visitors will be discussing at the Festival. Here a a few, flavoursome morsels from the broader bill of fare:
Burns’s Radical Voice – Politics and Religion in the Age of EnlightenmentProminent academics, substantive subjects, real potential for engaging with interesting ideas. There are any number of the various talks and discussions that I’d be curious in going to. Whether or not I’m going to be sufficiently coordinated to get around to taking in one or two of the sessions, however, remains to be seen. Hope springs eternal in the human breast!
European Court of Human Rights: Friend or Foe?
Architecture and Politics – Clash or Love-in?
Devolution and the Arts: To be yersel’s – and to mak’ that worth bein’
The Politics of Festival
Scotland, Diaspora and Empire: Exploring the Impact
Facebook - the new Democratic Forum?
If you are curious, please do check out the programme here and see if there is anything which catches your eye.
Thanks Mr Peat, this one looks like a good un.
ReplyDeleteDevolution and the Arts: To be yersel’s – and to mak’ that worth bein’
17.30 (18.30) Committee Room 1 FREE*
For some, devolution is the fulfilment of 30 years of creative effort to reshape Scottish identity, for others, a final release from an unhealthy obsession with national identity. Cairns Craig, the University of Aberdeen’s Glucksman Professor of Irish and Scottish Studies, talks to some of Scotland’s leading artists including: acclaimed artist/photographer Calum Colvin; BBC Scotland’s Arts Correspondent Pauline McLean; and Vicky Featherstone, Artistic Director, National Theatre of Scotland, about devolution’s impact upon the arts, and the influence of the arts on contemporary Scottish politics.
In association with the University of Aberdeen Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies, and Word – University of Aberdeen Writers, Festival.
Book Devolution and the Arts: To be yersel’s – and to mak’ that worth bein’ online