Centre for Ancient Greek Culture and Society
History as inspiration for the future
As Greece begins its bicentennial year of Independence, the University of Warwick wants to ensure that lessons from the past are shared and enjoyed by younger generations, in an ever more global and challenging world. As part of our ambitions to make this possible, Warwick is actively seeking to do the following:
- Embed our successful Warwick Classics Network as a permanent part of the Department of Classics and Ancient History
- Continue to support and expand the Warwick Ancient Drama Festival
- Expand our research and teaching through a Centre for Ancient Greek Culture and Society
- Develop a Scholars’ network to provide opportunities for exchange visits between Warwick and Greece.
The Centre will enhance our international reputation for cutting-edge research, teaching, and public engagement activities. Click on the video below to find out more.
Warwick Ancient Drama Festival
As part of our vision for the Centre of Ancient Greek Culture and Society, we hope to continue bringing the passionate stories of Ancient Greece to life through the Ancient Drama Festival. This has now grown to be the largest outreach event in the Warwick Faculty of Arts calendar, hosting over 1,000 audience members each year, including over 560 school children over two days.
Each play includes original music compositions and choreography, c.70 students (cast and crew) from the Classics Department and beyond, and a dedicated performance programme containing essays by academics and students.
The full performances are available to watch on the Warwick Ancient Drama Festival website.
Why Warwick?
Since our inception in 1965, the University of Warwick has grown to be one of the UK’s leading research universities and we have an acknowledged reputation for excellence in research, teaching and innovation. This reputation is particularly evident in our Faculty of Arts, which is currently one of the world’s top Arts and Humanities faculties.
The Department of Classics and Ancient History, which will house the Centre for Ancient Greek Culture and Society, will be based within the new Faculty of Arts Building, which will be completed in 2021. This unique engagement space will encourage students, the public and staff to be inspired by the ancient world.
We actively seek collaborations, both within the University and externally with others working in the field of Classics and public engagement. We are proud of the successful partnerships we have forged with organisations such as Classics for All and look forward to building on these internationally.
The Impact of philanthropy
Philanthropic support has enabled the Warwick Classics Network (WCN) to expand their incredibly important work in supporting and encouraging the teaching of Classical Civilisation and Ancient History in schools across the UK, and especially in Warwickshire and Coventry. The WCN continues to grow each year, engaging with communities, schools and other organisations, now also acting as a regional hub in conjunction with Classics for All.
How can I help?
With your support, we can create a centre of excellence for Ancient Greek Culture and Society offering world-class teaching and research opportunities, collaboration with Greek Institutions and public engagement. To find out more, please contact us at benefactors@warwick.ac.uk.
Support during Covid-19
Since school closures in March the WCN resources website, which provides resources for teachers, students and parents home-schooling has had nearly 60,000 visits and we are seeing ongoing demands from teachers for resources to support their work.
