Author Archives: Heather

Mental Health via Drama, 13th October, Brighton Dome Founders Room

Social Enterprise Theatre Company Production

*** Local Theatre Production About Mental Health, free entry ***

On 13th October at the Brighton Dome, Social Enterprise Theatre, in collaboration with Brighton Housing Trust, will be presenting One in Four – a rehearsed reading devised by people with a lived history of mental health. Three groups of women will be presenting short ten-minute plays about their experiences of mental health, before Des McClean presents a funny and enlightening take on some difficult experiences as a black man in the mental health system in England.

ZLS Theatre founder Guy Wah has been directing Des in his monologue, and is excited by the upcoming performance.

“Des has written a very funny and engaging script detailing some of his very difficult experiences within the mental health system in England. I’m honoured to be able to direct this part of what promises to be an entertaining and enlightening evening of entertainment.”

The performance takes place on Tuesday 13th October in the Founders Room at the Brighton Dome and entry is free, with donations accepted later in the evening.

http://www.socialenterprisetheatre.com/

http://www.zlstheatre.org.uk/

Call for Papers: Autism and Comedy Symposium, Saturday 30th January 2016, University of Kent 

*** Thought this might be of interested to some Magnetic Ideals followers and members!

Since its description by Hans Asperger in 1944, it has often been suggested that individuals on the autistic spectrum lack, or have an impaired, sense of humour.  This alleged humourlessness has been challenged in recent decades within the academic literature (e.g. Lyons & Fitzgerald 2004, Samson 2013) but it is still a pervasive myth.  Moreover, the work of people such as the U.S. comedy troupe Aspergers Are Us and the UK based performer Cian Binchy suggests a strong and distinctive comic voice within the autistic/aspie community. Importantly, these performers use comedy as a mode of self-representation, and thus contrast strikingly with other representations of autism in popular comedy. Both The Big Bang Theory and Derek have been criticised by some for their representation of autistic characters (Sheldon and Derek, respectively) despite the writers’ firm assertions that those characters do not have the condition. In this way, such representations are implicated in questions of authorial intention and the ethics of, to use Kaite O’Reilly’s term, ‘cripping up’.  Further questions arise when looking at the use of humour in applied theatre contexts – many drama interventions for autistic children use humour, but there is little research on how much this component contributes to the positive effect of the work.

The organisers of this conference welcome papers on any of the symposium themes with possible topics including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Autism and humour comprehension/appreciation/production
  • The ethics of the representation of autistic people in comedy (e.g. The Big Bang Theory, Derek, Community)
  • Relaxed performances as a method of opening up comic theatre
  • Disabling humour vs. disability humour and autism
  • The use of humour in interventions for autistic children
  • Political humour and the claims of the neurodiversity movement

Please send an abstract of around 300 words, along with a short biography, to Shaun May ats.r.may@kent.ac.uk by Tuesday 1st November 2015

Confirmed invited speakers include Prof. Michael Fitzgerald (TCD), Kelly Hunter (Author of Shakespeare’s Heartbeat: Drama Games for Children with Autism) and Cian Binchy (performer and writer of The Misfit Analysis) with more to be announced.

This symposium is part of BA/Leverhulme funded project, Comedy on the Spectrum: Exploring Humour Production with Adolescents with Autism. For more information about the project visit www.autismandcomedy.com.

Extended Deadline: Call for Papers: (in)Visibility Issue of ‘Critical Studies’

We are extending our deadline to the 13th October for submissions to the (in)Visibility Issue of ‘Critical Studies’.

Critical Studies is an interdisciplinary journal of the humanities, dedicated to critical studies broadly construed. It is an annual, open access, peer-reviewed print and digital publication, and functions both as a traditional academic journal and as an annual report of the activity of the Critical Studies Research Group, a postgraduate community based in University of Brighton’s School of Humanities.

Critical Studies

Access all articles and the full journal online here: http://www.criticalstudies.org.uk/journal.html

Call for Papers Issue 2: (in)Visibility

Politics has been diversely theorised as the making visible what is invisible, as the uncovering what is covered up, as the giving voice to the mute, as the inclusion of those excluded into the regime of the perceptible. Secrecy is typically connected to the state and its agencies operating in the shadows, or to the police order and its suppression of the voices of the marginalised and abjected. Valuable, powerful, and potent though such theorisation may be, it leaves unanswered the question of the value that may lie in remaining, precisely, invisible, of keeping off the radar, of staying underground, for radical activism, artistic performance, and alternative politics.

Critical Studies welcomes papers on these and related topics from a broad range of disciplines, both research papers and non-conventional forms of presentation related to the issue topic. We encourage transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary contributions.

Deadline for submission 13th October 2015

Full Call for Papers, style and submission guides available here: http://www.criticalstudies.org.uk/call-for-papers.html

All enquiries to: CriticalStudiesResearch@brighton.ac.uk

Kind regards,

Heather McKnight

Critical Studies Research Group

University of Brighton

https://uk.linedin.com/in/hmcknight

 

September Events @Onca

ONCA

Grub ‘n’ Mushroom Tandem Talk @ Onca, September 9, 6pm. Free admission, donations welcome.

As part of Lost & Found, two artists and freecyclists are cycling around the Sussex Downs to discuss neonicitinoids with farmers and local food producers. Hear about their journey!

Pollination, Pesticides and Politics: a public debate with Professor Dave Goulson and PAN-UK @ The Brighthelm Centre, September 11, 7-9pm. Book your place here.

Join Onca and Pale Blue Dot for a controversial and lively discussion on the agro-chemical industry, farming and the changing landscape.

Lost & Found Printmaking Workshop with Primitive Print artist Stephen Fowler @ Onca, September 12. Book your place here.

Fancy making cool bee-themed fast art? Onca is hosting 2 printmaking workshops with Stephen Fowler and scientists from The Buzz Club, Sussex University. Morning session (10am) for families and children; afternoon session (2pm) for adults. Don’t miss out!

Digi-Fears Part II: Help! Evil Digital Forces Are Trying To Control My Messy Body! @ Onca, September 26, 2-4.30pm. Free admission, limited places. Book here.

Join artists Lorenza Ippolito and CiCi Blumstein plus guest speakers and artists to explore gaming, SeriousPlay, binary thinking, performative embodiment, 3-D printing, the digitisation of nature and the body, and whatever else might spill out of the OH-ONE box…

For more information visit www.onca.org.uk or call 01273607101

Utopias Conference – Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics (CAPPE), 10th Annual, International, Interdisciplinary Conference

UTOPIAS-cropped-for-web

Wednesday 2nd – Friday 4th September 2015

University of Brighton, UK

Keynote Speaker: Owen Hatherley

Online registration now open   

The idea of utopia was always been two faced. On the one hand it was the place that is no place (u-topos) – the ideal that could only be imagined. On the other it was the eu-topos of the ancients, the place where the good life could finally be realised. This conference calls on contributors to play both faces: first, to engage in fantastical reimagining of how we live now, to think outside of all the forms of convention which delimit our vision of the future; second, to think of utopia as a form of critique of what is the case in the name of what could be the case. This means taking risks in thinking about transforming our world for the better, and doing so from the radically disparate disciplines within which this idea has been posited – philosophy, politics, architecture, design, literature, film, engineering and education to name only a few. It means also taking seriously the idea of dystopias, both real and imagined.

This conference aims both to think and practice a form of politics that is creative, egalitarian, radical and interdisciplinary against all existing conventions. We hope to attract colleagues from a wide range of disciplines who wish to pose questions of Utopia, whether in transdisciplinary or interdisciplinary ways or from within a single discipline.

Schedule and abstracts available here

Inspiring Creativity Course: Embedding Creativity in Your Working Practices

KeysCreativity

This course looks at how creativity used daily can improve your working practices. It will engage with different ideas of what creativity is, how the working environment can be made more creative and will leave you with a plan of how you can personally become more creative in how work. It will run over four weeks in the evening, giving you a chance not only to engage with the subject over a length of time but also to reflect on how this can impact in your working practice.

All of our courses are interactive, creative and focused on reflecting on your working practice, and developed in consultation with the community sector.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Identify ways to create more creative working environment
  • Develop an understanding of the connection between wellbeing and creativity
  • Be able to inspire creativity in others
  • To have a grasp of different creativity techniques
  • Be able to have a clear plan of how you can apply different techniques to increase your personal creativity

Course Schedule:

  • Week 1 – Defining creativity, art, inspiration and connectivity, what does it mean in different working situations, why is this useful in the work place? What does and doesn’t work and why.
  • Week 2 – A creative environment – overcoming fear and workplace wellbeing, creating a balance: the role of confidentiality and the importance of space of sharing, team working, networking and diversity
  • Week 3 – Techniques for becoming more creative: exercise’s in lateral thinking, divergent thinking, metacognition
  • Week 4 – Going further – looking at the actions you will take improve creativity in your workplace and making a personal creativity plan

The course will run over four weeks on Wednesdays from 2nd February – 1st March from 5pm – 8.30pm in central Brighton.

The course cost is £30 per person and includes supporting electronic resources from the session. Book Your Place Online Here

The course is run in partnership with our funders UpStream Ideas

Demonstrating Impact Course: Effective and Innovative Research and Evidence Gathering for Annual Reporting, Funder/Sponsor Reports and Funding Applications

This course tackles the tricky area of demonstrating the impact of your work. It expands on the different ways you can collect and use data, and looks at ways that this can be done innovatively, engaging with service users. It will run over four weeks in the evening, giving you a chance not only to engage with the subject over a length of time but also to reflect on how this can impact in your working practice.

All of our courses are interactive, creative and focused on reflecting on your working practice, and developed in consultation with the community sector.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Be able to describe, evaluate, and communicate the impact of your work
  • Be able to assess the requirements for different types of reporting
  • Evaluate the challenges of different types of research techniques and where to access support on using them
  • Be able to identify different types of data and understand how you might choose to analyse it
  • Understand how you can engage service users, customers or your audience creatively in measuring your impact

Course Schedule:

  • Week 1 – Different types of reporting processes and where you will encounter them, a chance to share current experiences and issues you have faced
  • Week 2 – Research techniques – how to evidence different types of working, desk-based research, surveys, interviews and data protection
  • Week 3 – Dealing with data, an introduction to working with different types of data and the limitations and challenges different types of data bring
  • Week 4 – Beyond KPI’s: A Creative Enhancement Based Approach to Planning and Evaluation – looking at use of case studies, user-led representations, storytelling, video work and visual arts as integral and robust reporting mechanisms

This event is ideal for those working in the community, voluntary or social enterprise sectors looking to develop their skills in researching and reporting.

The course will run over four weeks on Wednesdays from 11th November – 2nd December from 5pm – 8.30pm at the Bridge Community Centre.

The course cost is £30 per person and includes and supporting electronic resources from the session. Book Your Place Online Here

The course is run in partnership with our funders UpStream Ideas

Fit for Funders Course: Sourcing Funding, Making Applications and Developing your Presentation Skills

  This course will run on Monday evenings from the 21st September – 12th October at the Friends Centre, Brighton Junction Isetta Square 35 New England Street Brighton, East Sussex BN1 4GQ, Training Room 3, from 5pm, – 8.30pm

Course Description:

An introduction to making funding applications and developing the skills to pitch your project ideas, these are often skills that must go hand in hand to make your funding application successful. It will run over four weeks in the evening, giving you a chance not only to engage with the subject over a length of time but also to reflect on how this can impact in your working practice.

All of our courses are interactive, creative and focused on reflecting on your working practice, and developed in consultation with the community sector.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Understanding of the different funding streams available and different routes to how to access and identify them
  • Have had experience in looking at example grant forms from small and large funders and understand what they are asking for
  • Have evaluated the use of partnership working for future projects
  • Have understood and applied the principles of making an effective presentation/pitch

Course Schedule:

  • Week 1 – Introduction to funding, limitations and opportunities – how to source finding, different types of funding (including grant funding and crowd funding) and how to access this
  • Week 2 – Unpicking the process, looking at different application forms and what they ask for, what different funders expect and how you might evidence the need for your project
  • Week 3 – Partnership Working and Presentations, how you can work with others to increase your chance of funding success alongside looking at what makes an effective presentation and introduction of week four task
  • Week 4 – Making your pitch, in the final week everyone will get a chance to apply skills learning and do a short presentation on a funding idea and get feedback from the rest of the group

This event is ideal for those working in the community, voluntary or social enterprise sectors looking to develop their skills to achieve funding for projects.

The course will run on Monday evenings from the 21st September – 12th October at the Friends Centre, Brighton Junction Isetta Square 35 New England Street Brighton, East Sussex BN1 4GQ, Training Room 3, from 5p, – 8.30pm

The course cost is £30 per person and includes supporting electronic resources from the session.

The course is run in partnership with our funders UpStream Ideas

Book Your Place Online Here

Call for Papers – Critical Studies (in)Visibility Issue

Critical Studies is an interdisciplinary journal of the humanities, dedicated to critical studies broadly construed. It is an annual, open access, peer-reviewed print and digital publication, and functions both as a traditional academic journal and as an annual report of the activity of the Critical Studies Research Group, a postgraduate community based in University of Brighton’s School of Humanities.

Access all articles and the full journal online here: http://www.criticalstudies.org.uk/journal.html

Critical Studies

Call for Papers Issue 2: (in)Visibility

Politics has been diversely theorised as the making visible what is invisible, as the uncovering what is covered up, as the giving voice to the mute, as the inclusion of those excluded into the regime of the perceptible. Secrecy is typically connected to the state and its agencies operating in the shadows, or to the police order and its suppression of the voices of the marginalised and abjected. Valuable, powerful, and potent though such theorisation may be, it leaves unanswered the question of the value that may lie in remaining, precisely, invisible, of keeping off the radar, of staying underground, for radical activism, artistic performance, and alternative politics.

Critical Studies welcomes papers on these and related topics from a broad range of disciplines, both research papers and non-conventional forms of presentation related to the issue topic. We encourage transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary contributions.

Deadline for submission 1st September 2015

Full Call for Papers, style and submission guides available here: http://www.criticalstudies.org.uk/call-for-papers.html

All enquiries to: CriticalStudiesResearch@brighton.ac.uk

The Rights Room Installation and Workshop – Brighton

Human Rights 1Human Rights 2outside

Human Rights – What would you change: a participatory installation with sound and chalk.

11:00 – 17:00 tues – fri
10:00 – 18:00 sat – sun

Come to the ‘it is what it is’ Pop up shop and explore our current bill of Human Rights through chatting, writing and sound making. What would you change? What new rights might you add or what rights would take away? This is your chance to have your say!

We will be running 2 workshops for young people in the Rights Room at 4.30-6.30 Tues 21st and Weds 22nd of July. Work with professional sound and inclusive artists to collaborate on a new bill of rights and soundscape, which will form the exhibition that will run for the rest of the week.
 
Pop in any time to see the installation as it evolves.

Book your place for the workshops now, as they are limited:
BYC 01273 681368 – Office open 10:30 – 18:00 office@brightonyouthcentre.org.uk info@distantanimals.com

Facebook Events Page

It Is What It Is Venue Page for Updated Photos and Info

chris legoskittlewhat it isThe Rights Room