Humanities festival gets £20,000 funding boost for Glasgow ‘hub’

Being Human, the annual UK-wide humanities festival led by the University of London’s School of Advanced Study (SAS), has announced a £20,000 cash injection by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The special grant will support a Glasgow-based festival hub focusing on public engagement with climate change and the environmental humanities. It will be part of Being Human 2021 which runs from 11 to 20 November with the theme ‘renewal’.

It will overlap and follow the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) taking place in the city from 1 to 12 November. This innovative hub aims to engage individuals and communities with new research in the humanities exploring climate emergency and its impacts on what it means to be human. 

Via cultural partnerships, festival activities and projects, it will explore Glasgow’s industrial past, its responses to the climate emergency in the present, and its possible futures.

Taking place alongside other planned AHRC activities around COP26, the Glasgow hub will also spearhead an environmental humanities strand of programming running through Being Human 2021. And following the festival’s well-established model, the project will be focused on principles of best practice public engagement, community participation and c-production.

This unique opportunity provides a renewed focus and approach to understanding the climate emergency and how the humanities continue to enrich our understanding of the issues and challenges, along with possible solutions.

Find out more about the festival and follow the latest news on Twitter at @BeingHumanFest. 

For further information, please contact Maureen McTaggart, Media Communications Manager, School of Advanced Study, University of London, maureen.mctaggart@sas.ac.uk.