Friday, 8 May 2009

OPPORTUNITY FOR EMERGING/STUDENT PHOTOGRAPHERS

We want to support young and talented photographers by offering them the opportunity to showcase their work on our marketing material and book/journal covers. We invite those interested in submitting photography work to send an email with a low-resolution picture to holly@intellectbooks.com. If your photo is selected for publication, it will be viewed by a wide audience of academic, readers, bookshops and libraries, and you will be credited accordingly. The selection procedure is based on personal taste only. Your name will be printed and if you have a web address we can include that too; a copy of the material will be sent to you to include within your portfolio.

We look forward to hearing from you!

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Friday, 1 May 2009

Videogames and Art breaks into the top 10


Intellect's Videogames and Art (edited by Andy Clarke & Grethe Mitchell) is now one of Amazon's top 10 bestselling electronic art books. Follow the link for more details:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/bestsellers/books/512570/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_1_4_last

Or find the book on our website:

http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/books/view-Book,id=4565/

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Wednesday, 22 April 2009

Times Higher

The Times Higher Education Supplement recently ran a review of Intellect's. 'Bringing Down the House: The Crisis in Britain's Regional Theatres' by Olivia Turnbull.

Here is an excerpt from the review:
'Olivia Turnbull's book demonstrates admirable scholarly detachment and rigour on every page, where the temptation to grind a polemical axe might have been impossible for many writers to resist.

Turnbull has written a painstakingly meticulous survey of the political and cultural war zone that is theatre funding. She points an accusatory finger at the Thatcher Government, which presided over the closure of more than a quarter of British regional theatres in just under 20 years. She justifies this by logical argument validated by convincing evidence and statistics.

This level-headed approach is the wisest for an author to take to dismantle and expose all that lies between the makers of theatre and the controllers of the purse strings. It has the advantage of acknowledging the complexity of the situation while avoiding any accusation of political bias.

The author draws on archival reports and reviews, budgets, documented panel discussions and minutes of meetings. This is hardly riveting material on which to base a book, and in itself is not likely to produce a rollercoaster ride of a read.

However, Turnbull's genius lies in her ability to track the underlying shifts in culture and taste that structure the apparent objectivity of these facts and figures.

The resulting book is a cultural barometer that shows most vividly how attitudes to the arts change in accordance with cycles of financial boom and bust.'


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Monday, 6 April 2009

CALL FOR PAPERS

International Conference

** CINEMA AND LANDSCAPE **

University of Sheffield
United Kingdom
April 16-18, 2010

Following the publication of a major new edited book in Winter 2009, Cinema and Landscape (Intellect, 2009), featuring essays by notable film scholars from around the world, an international conference is to be held on the subject of cinema and landscape.

The conference will be hosted at the University of Sheffield, April 16-18 2010, with the aim of exploring the intersection between Film, Film Culture, Landscape, Place and Geography.

Proposals** (a 150 word abstract) are very welcome for:

- Single Papers (1 person x 20 minutes + 10 minutes questions) or
- Panels (3 persons x 20 minutes + 30 minutes questions)

Topics could include: landscapes of national cinemas; aesthetics, landscape and film; place, identity and the role of film; geo-political film-scapes; film directors and landscapes; new readings in film geography; landscape and film form; travel, journeys and filmic landscapes . . . And more!

The intention is to build on current discussions with the aim of producing further research and publications in this field.

Proposals can be sent to: conference@cinemalandscape.co.uk

First Call Closing Date: July 1st 2009

**Proposers are encouraged to submit as early as possible**

The conference organisers, Professor Graeme Harper FRGS & Dr Jonathan Rayner, also very much welcome queries and suggestions to the address above.

For further information visit: www.cinemalandscape.co.uk

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Book Publishing Assistant vacancy

Intellect is an independent academic publisher of books and journals, focusing on areas of creative practice & popular culture. We have a vacancy for a Book Publishing Assistant to work within our books team.

Duties will include:
∝ Primarily book project management, including editorial, production and marketing
∝ Liaising with authors, editors, printers and distributors
∝ Copywriting and assisting with production of promotional material for books
∝ Supervising production and distribution of e-books
∝ Coordinating royalties
∝ Attendance at conferences and trade shows
As part of a small team, there will be some other areas of work to which you may be asked to contribute.

The successful candidate will either have a postgraduate degree in publishing, or have at least two years experience in the publishing industry. Excellent organisational and communication skills, initiative and ability to manage and prioritize multiple responsibilities are important in this role. Good computer skills required; experience with Macs and Adobe & Office packages a bonus. Starting salary of £14K plus optional employer contribution of up to 8% for pension scheme.
Please apply with a full CV and covering letter at the earliest convenience to Sam King sam@intellectbooks.com.
Deadline 28th May. Interviews will be held at Intellect offices in Bristol on 4th and 5th June.

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Journals Publishing Assistant vacancy

Journals Publishing Assistant
Intellect is an independent academic publisher of books and journals, specialising in the arts and humanities. We have a vacancy for a Journals Publishing Assistant.

Main Duties:
• Project management of a portfolio of journals including editorial, production and marketing
• Liaising with editors, copy-editors, printers and distributors
• Contributing to the growth of the journals portfolio, and to the development of business and marketing strategies

Qualifications
• The ideal candidate will either have a postgraduate degree in publishing, or at least two years experience in the publishing industry

Key Skills
• Excellent time management and multi-tasking skills
• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills
• Ability to work on one’s own as efficiently as within a team

Starting salary of £14K, plus optional employer contribution of up to 8% for pension scheme.
Please apply with a full CV and covering letter to Intellect’s Journals Manager, Ravi Butalia: ravi@intellectbooks.com. The deadline for applications is 30th April 2009. Interviews will be held on 7th and 8th May. Candidates for interview will be notified by 1st May. If you do not hear from us after 1st May, your application did not make the short list. Due to the high number of applications we generally receive, we regret not being in a position to inform everyone in writing.

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Tuesday, 31 March 2009

Book reviews

Here are some recently received reviews for our publications:

Writing on Drawing:
Essays on Drawing Practice and Research edited by Steve Garner
Link
‘The past decade has seen a change of attitude towards drawing. Its importance as an element in human intelligence is now widely appreciated. However, there has not been a clear picture of research in the field or an Agenda for future investigation. Writing on Drawing fills this gap. It gives an insight into current work and it is clear that a paradyme shift is underway. Drawing is of course strongly identified with art and design but it is now being seen in a much broader context. The contributions to this book give a new insight into this fascinating activity.’ – Ken Baynes, Loughborough University.

'Writing on Drawing is an excellent resource, in which a balance is
achieved between academic, educational and entertaining pieces. While the book is intellectually stimulating, it is never dry and successfully brings together critical thinking, debate and research to form a thought provoking insight into the ‘intelligence of seeing'.' – Alice Hunter, www.artjournal.co.uk

Queer Cinema in Europe edited by Robin Griffiths

'The book is filled with great articles and analysis of interesting European film scenarios [...]This anthology will come in useful for film scholars who are interested in comparing GLBT representations in European films to queer portrayals in American or non-Western cinema' – Farhana Uddin, The Adirondack Review.

'A solid, thorough, and valuable examination of this emerging field of cultural study.' - The Gay & Lesbian Review

Reading Bande Dessinée:
Critical Approaches to French-language Comic Strip by Ann Miller

'
Ann Miller’s contribution to bande dessinée studies is most welcome: anglophone academics are increasingly realising that the ninth art is both a valuable teaching tool and a gold mine for researchers of every hue. Reading bande dessinée breaks new ground, as it is multi-disciplinary. [...] The sensible decision to translate all quotations from French into English will enable Reading Bande Dessinée to reach the wide public it deserves. This book is a must for all serious students of the ninth art.' – Matthew Screech, Modern and Contemporary France.

'... the great strengths of Miller, apart from her limpid, lucid and passionate writing style, reside in her knowledge of the subject and the critical distance that she adopts towards the discourses that surround the medium, and in the abundance
of bande dessinée references, from all parts of the spectrum, that are to be found on every page. To that must be added the depth with which images are analysed, the relevance of the points raised, the conceptual richness and the coherence of the arguments. It then becomes clear that the title's emphasis on different levels of reading in relation to the medium is justified because this is the key to an analysis which is accurate, scholarly, and effective. The author thereby fulfils her contract by offering a reading which is as illuminating as it is enjoyable.' – French Studies



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Wednesday, 25 March 2009

Journals in the US

Our North American customers can now order our journals at US dollar prices, from Turpin’s US office.

Turpin Distribution, The Bleachery, 143 West Street, New Milford,
Connecticut, CT 06776

Tel: 1 860 350 0041
Fax: 1 860 350 0039
Email: TurpinNA@turpin-distribution.com
Website: http://www.turpin-distribution.com

To see the 2009 Subscription rates (US version) go to:
www.intellectbooks.co.uk/MediaManager/File/IntellectSubsCatUS2009.pdf

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Thursday, 19 March 2009

New Australasian Distributor for Intellect’s Books!


Intellect is delighted to announce that from 1st May 2009 Inbooks will be distributing our books in Australia and New Zealand.

Inbooks is a Sydney-based distributor for international publishers of scholarly and academic books. They provide a comprehensive marketing and distribution service to the trade, academic and library markets in Australia and New Zealand. Inbooks represents an extensive number of academic publishers, ranging from prestigious university presses to library science, scholarly and reference publishers.

We look forward to working with them to distribute our authors’ and editors’ books to the Australian and New Zealand markets.

Contact details:
Inbooks
3 Narabang Way, Belrose NSW 2085 Australia
Tel: +61 2 9986 7082
Fax: +61 2 9986 7090
Email: orders@inbooks.com.au
www.inbooks.com.au


Find below a selection of Intellect's new and forthcoming Australian-focused and Australian-authored titles:


Diasporas of Australian Cinema, edited by Anthony Lambert, Renata Murawska and Catherine Simpson

Australian Post-War Documentary Film: An Arc of Mirrors, by Deane Williams


Developing Dialogues: Indigenous and Ethnic Community Broadcasting in Australia, by Susan Forde, Kerrie Foxwell and Michael Meadows

A selection of books with Australian-based authors/editors


New Flows in Global TV
, by Albert Moran

Futures of Chinese Cinema: Technologies and Temporalities in Chinese Screen Cultures, edited by Olivia Khoo and Sean Metzger



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Friday, 6 March 2009

Photography

Intellect is actively seeking new photography book proposals. As a leading academic publisher in the fields of creative practice and popular culture, Intellect already has a strong list of visual culture and contemporary art focussed publications. We are keen to develop this area of our portfolio, and welcome proposals from both new and experienced authors producing original, adventurous scholarly work.

To send us your book proposals, please download a questionnaire from our website (http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/PublishWithUs/publishwithus.php), or contact books@intellectbooks.com for further information.

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Contemporary Music Studies

Intellect seeks to expand its portfolio of publications in the area of contemporary music studies. We champion innovative scholarly work at the cross section of arts, media & creative practice. Intellect welcomes book proposals from both new and experienced authors producing original, adventurous academic work in the areas of contemporary music research.

To send us your book proposals, please download a questionnaire from our website (http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/PublishWithUs/publishwithus.php), or contact books@intellectbooks.com for further information.

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Wednesday, 4 March 2009

Intellect at CAA conference

The College Art Association meets annually for ‘4 days of nonstop art and lively discussion’, and this year’s meeting took place in Los Angeles, California. In previous years, Intellect titles have been displayed and sold at CAA within the University of Chicago Press booth (our North American distributors). This year, we decided to have our own very own booth, and with great results! The Intellect booth allowed us to have more space to display our ever-growing list of art & design books and journals, and also to get the word out about Intellect (our arresting covers and range of titles stopped many a browser in their tracks!). It was a great opportunity for us to meet new, existing and potential authors and editors, share the Intellect ethos, get feedback, and generally be a part of the North American academic art world.
There was a lot of excitement about our books – in particular:
Drawing –The Purpose;
Issues in Curating Contemporary Art and Performance;
Videogames and Art;
International Dialogues about Visual CultureEducation and Art.
Our series:
Readings in Art and Design Education series
Our forthcoming titles:
Inspiring Writing in Art & Design and
The Place of Artists’ Cinema
And a lot of interest in our journals, especially:
International Journal of Education through Art and
Journal of Visual Art Practice.


We hope to see you at CAA next year, in Chicago!

For more information about CAA, visit:
http://www.collegeart.org/
Read the official conference blog at:
http://conference.collegeart.org/blog/
Other blogs that mention Intellect:
http://www.holartbooks.com/notebook/


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Tuesday, 3 March 2009

Reduction on all e-book titles!

From 1st March 2009 all Intellect backlist e-books now cost just £5 each! In addition, all current front-list (and forthcoming 2009) e-book titles will be reduced to £10 each!

All Intellect books are also available in e-book format for both libraries and individuals to purchase. Our list includes e-books of our exciting Media & Culture, Theatre & Music, Film Studies and Art & Design titles, all at these incredible new prices. To see all available titles, visit: www.intellectbooks.co.uk

E-books are available from the following providers:
Dawson Books
EbookLibrary (EBL)
Ebrary
Netlibrary
Myilibrary
Ellibs
Lightning Source

For more information on how to order e-books, visit: www.intellectbooks.co.uk/books/page/index,name=ebooks/

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Monday, 16 February 2009

US edition of IQ

The very first US edition of IQ magazine is out now! IQ lets you in on all the latest releases and what the authors, editors and publishers at Intellect have to say! Why not take a look at what US IQ has to offer.

Hear what Intellect is all about in an exclusive interview with our Associate Publisher, May Yao: 'We have found that there is a real demand from authors and editors to get their original material published and to get their ideas out there, even if there isn’t already an established readership for them.'

Read relevant and up-to-date articles with a North American focus, including 'Defining and Exploring Community Music' in which Andy Lagrimas of New York University delves into the International Journal of Community Music. We interview Liza Palmer, Review Section Editor of Film International, and theatre fans won't want to miss the book focus article on forthcoming title The Trustus Plays.

There's a book review section, information about conferences and a timeline tracing Intellect's history. To download your copy, go to: www.intellectbooks.co.uk/MediaManager/File/IQ7.pdf

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Monday, 9 February 2009

New Full Backlist Catalogue

We now have an completely updated new list of all our available book titles all in one place – our full backlist catalogue!

Our ongoing commitment is to publish in new and emerging academic subject areas related to popular culture.Topics range from film studies, theatre and music, media and culture, art and design, education and some of our original titles in computing and artificial intelligence. This catalogue details all of our available titles published from 1987 to 2009 and features a selection of our books from each subject area.

Follow the link below to download the backlist catalogue as a PDF document:

www.intellectbooks.co.uk/MediaManager/File/Backlist_catalogue.pdf

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Monday, 2 February 2009

Author article

Olivia Turnbull, author of theatre title: Bringing Down the House: The Crisis in Britain’s Regional Theatres has written an article about the regional theatre crisis for Whatsonstage.com. She looks at the recent problems faced by the Bristol Old Vic and how they reflect wider issues facing Britain's theatres in the 21st century, issues also comprehensively explored in her book.

To read Olivia's article in full visit: www.whatsonstage.com/index.php?pg=207&story=E8831231242172

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Thursday, 29 January 2009

Bookshops

Our books and journals can be found in bookshops across the world! Here are some of our stockist's displays:











In the picture above you'll see Film International on the shelves of Pages Books, an independent Bookstore in Toronto. The shop specializes in contemporary literature, art, film and photography and is noted for its comprehensive selection of books in cultural theory, Eastern philosophy, the social sciences and counter culture.

Here is Film International again, this time in Chapters bookshop in Montreal.










Above is our book Film, Drama and the Break-Up of Britain by Steve Blandford in the window of the BFI Filmstore in London. We also have several other prominent stockholding bookshops in the UK; these include the Institute of Contemporary Arts and the London Review Bookshop.

Visit www.intellectbooks.co.uk (UK) or www.intellectbooks.com (North America) for information about all our books and journals and our distribution arrangements.

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Thursday, 22 January 2009

Interview with author Terry Bolas about his new book Screen education: from film appreciation to media studies


How did you come to write Screen education: from film appreciation to media studies?
I had been very involved in the Society for Education in Film and Television (SEFT) in the 1960s when serious consideration of film and television took place only at the margins of educational establishments. Yet by the start of the 21st Century the study of the media in all their variety was everywhere. It was such a startling denouement that I was intrigued and determined to investigate. What surprised me was that no-one had yet taken up the challenge. For the many film and media studies graduates seeking doctorates, it was research that offered tremendous scope. I did subsequently come across other researchers looking into related areas like aspects of the film society movement or local film and cinema history. Perhaps it was simply that media teaching was now such an integral part of institutions that its graduates had no more curiosity about its provenance than an English or History graduate would have had about the institutional establishment of their respective studies.

Why does your account of the history start so early in the 20th Century?
The momentum of the movement picked up greatly in the 1970s and most of the brief introductory historical accounts that do exist tend to make only the scantest reference to preceding decades. But the huge investment of energy that took place in the 1970s was only possible because of the structures created by what had gone before. I was aware of this because I had known - and in some cases worked with - those who had been pioneers in the 1930s and 1940s. Subsequently much of the momentum in the 1950s had come from the ‘emergency trained’ teachers who had attended the one-year courses for ex-service personnel in the immediate post war period. They continued to play important roles as volunteers in the movement when I first became involved. They established the Society of Film Teachers (SFT), which subsequently became SEFT. Fortunately there is surviving and accessible evidence of their involvement to be found in the publications of the period: Film Teacher, The Film Teacher’s Handbook, Screen Education, Screen Education Yearbook.

What were your sources?
When I first proposed my project I had worked on the assumption that the two key organisations, the Education Department of the British Film Institute (BFI) and SEFT would have left substantial archives. Unfortunately this was not so. There were partial archives which were now being stored and maintained with proper recognition of their importance. But the current host archiving bodies had only been in a position to receive the material passed to them; they had had no control over what constituted the incoming documentation. I was particularly disappointed that the SFT/SEFT records from the 1950s and 1960s had disappeared, since I had acted as custodian of these documents when I was the Honorary Secretary of SEFT up till 1967. For me the process of research was rather different from that encountered by most researchers. Since so much of my enquiry depended on personal recollection I found myself interviewing people whom I had known or worked with some thirty five years ago. The response of my interviewees was a very positive one, since many were aware of the key period in which they had been involved and understandably thought having an account of it was a good idea. Many were prepared to share with me not only their recollections but their personal media teaching archives.

Apart from your involvement with SEFT you worked in the Education Department of the British Film Institute in the late 1960s and early 1970s. What are your recollections of that period?
The key figure at that time was Paddy Whannel who headed the Department. Like several of the SEFT activists, he had been trained as a teacher in the immediate post war period. While encouraging the members of his staff to develop their specialist areas of film criticism, he was committed to finding ways of introducing film and television study into schools. When he and Stuart Hall produced their ground-breaking book The Popular Arts, in order to give credibility to their enterprise, the dust jacket emphasised that each author had been a teacher in secondary modern schools. Unfortunately BFI Governors demonstrated more concern at Whannel’s drive for intellectual rigour among his colleagues than to his commitment to curriculum development in schools.

Why did you leave the BFI and return to teaching?
It is important that those whose careers have been consequent on their earning degrees in film or media to be aware there was no such career structure for teachers or lecturers until film and media studies began to be established in higher education in the late 1970s. For most of us ‘screen education’ was a phase we went through before returning to a more conventional career path in order to achieve promotion in teaching in school teaching or further education. Subsequently, once in post in a school, I always endeavoured to find ways to introduce aspects of film and media study into the curriculum.

How do you view the current situation around the delivery of media education?
It is curious, to say the least, that there was such a long gap of almost twenty years after SEFT disappeared before any comparable subject association was created for film and media teachers in schools, with the setting up of the Media Education Association in 2006. Of course there had long been an organisation for those teaching in higher education: Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA). This body had responded to the rapid and widespread expansion of media and associated subjects in the universities. The situation in schools was different. Essentially the years of collaboration between the BFI and SEFT had been the pioneer years with only limited developments in the curriculum and much teacher energy directed to establishing the credibility of media education. However, once there was scope within the secondary schools for students to sit public examinations in film and media, the focus for teachers became their own institutions. Their priorities were now set by Examining Boards. Government has subsequently thrown in a further complication by stressing the importance of ‘media literacy’ and giving responsibility for its implementation to a national regulatory body: Ofcom. In 1964 there was established the first course on which students might train and qualify as a teacher of Film and Television Studies; in 2009 there is now no sLinkimilar provision for would-be media teachers. Consequently the teaching in schools of examination subjects in film and media is delivered by those who are usually drafted in from other disciplines.

Screen education: from film appreciation to media studies by Terry Bolas,
ISBN 9781841502373 is available now, visit:

www.intellectbooks.co.uk/books/view-Book,id=4630/

for further information and to buy your copy.

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Monday, 5 January 2009

The Big Picture


The first issue of The Big Picture magazine is now available to download here:
http://www.thebigpicturemagazine.com/images/stories/downloads/issue1.pdf

Published from January 2009 as a bi-monthly, full colour magazine, The Big Picture celebrates all that is special about film. Using minimal text, the magazine pushes imagery to the fore to create a visual narrative in which to revisit and rediscover film. The new magazine goes beyond the borders of the screen, revealing cinema's unique power to entertain, inspire and connect to each and every one of us. It features both film specific and film related content such as where and how we watch films, artists and photographers inspired by the medium and the ways that film spills over into our everyday lives.

For details about how to get involved in the project email: info@thebigpicturemagazine.com

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Art and Design Education for the 21st Century

Art and Design Education for the 21st Century International Conference


Sallis Benney Theatre,
University of Brighton, UK
Friday 6 and Saturday 7 February 2009

This international conference is being held as part of the 150th anniversary of the founding of Brighton School of Art, the ancestor of the current Faculty of Arts & Architecture at the University of Brighton.

Conference delegates will be invited to a Reception and Private Viewing of the From Art School to University: Art & Design at Brighton 1859-2009 exhibition in the adjacent University of Brighton Art Gallery.

The ways in which approaches to art and design education have changed over the past 150 years are a matter of historical record. Although this conference acknowledges the radical changes that have been enacted in the past, its focus is unambiguously forward looking. The role and significance of art and design education in the future, economically, socially and culturally, as well as the challenges that it will confront, will be the focus of this important event.

The selected international speakers are leaders in their fields and will speak from a variety of perspectives. The speakers are Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, Anne Burdick, Dr Darlie O Koshy, Professor Darren Newbury, Professor Elaine Aston and Professor Bruce Brown.

Intellect publishes a number of journals that explore the fields of Art and Design Education. Journal of Writing in Creative Practice is the official organ of the Writing Purposefully in Art and Design (Writing PAD) network. It offers art and design institutions an arena in which to explore and develop the notion of thinking through writing as a parallel to visual discourse in art and design practice. Art, Design and Communication in Higher Education develops research in arts and media based subjects in educational institutions. The journal’s range encompasses all areas of higher education, focusing upon practice-based education in fine art, theoretical studies of media, cultural studies, art and design history. Both journals will be available for delegates to view at the event.

Please log on to www.brighton.ac.uk/arts150 find out more about the conference and other aspects of the 150 anniversary project.
Contact: arts150@brighton.ac.uk

(Image: Royal Mail Special Stamps – Science Fiction, Design – Siobhan Keaney Client – Royal Mail, Sallis Benney Theatre)


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