Arts Faculty News

Dr David Wright (Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies) examines the social divisions in the consumption of culture at home, and looks at the extent to which the digital cultural offerings of lockdown are available to all. David also asks what the risks are of privately owned platforms controlling our access to culture.

Today, explore with Dr Chris Bilton (Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies) a view of the ‘undigital’ creative economy and the impact that COVID-19 has had on it. Chris asks us to consider what performances, publications, and works of art and culture we value, and encourages us to try to support artists and creators directly.

Associate Professor Michael Meeuwis (English and Comparative Literary Studies) explores the history of Victorian theatre and, particularly, the Victorians’ love for amateur theatricals at home. Michael makes the link between these performances and how we’re keeping ourselves entertained during lockdown.

In this episode, Professor Roberta Bivins (History/Centre for the History of Medicine) explores how the NHS has always encouraged us to take action to protect our own health, and asks important questions about what kind of NHS we want in the future. Visit the website of the People's History of the NHS to learn more about the project.

In this second of our weekly Faculty of Arts at Home films, Professor Rachel Moseley (Film and Television Studies/Centre for Television History) explores the role that television has played in informing, educating and entertaining us about the domestic arts (cooking, sewing, home decoration, etc.). Rachel looks at the way the lines between public and private space have become blurred during the Covid-19 crisis and how we might make sense of this through television studies.

Dr. Naomi Pullin from the History Department discusses what we might learn from the history of domestic solitude in the early modern home in relation to our current lockdown situation. The story that Naomi tells here, based on the correspondence of Lady Anne Dormer (1648–1695), is one of the importance of keeping in touch with those we love.

Then&Now is a student led-research project run by students in the Faculty of Arts in collaboration with the Modern Records Centre. Find out more about the project here.

Check out the new learning resource released by Professor Hilary Marland Past Time: A Learning Resource About Victorian Prisons. It is available as a free download, behind a simple registration page here.

New Faculty of Arts building artwork commission. Can you spare 10 minutes to talk to artist Matthew Raw and to express your feelings and plans about the move of the Arts and Humanities departments into the new building? He is interested in talking to anyone who will live with the building (and mural!) every day. If you would like to be involved, please contact Sarah Shalgosky asap at S.H.Shalgosky@warwick.ac.uk.

The University of Warwick is celebrating the progress of its new Faculty of Arts development with a ceremony to mark the progress in construction.