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Published 4 February 2009

Sallis Benney Theatre, University of Brighton, UK
Friday 6 and Saturday 7 February 2009
 
The University of Brighton's international conference, Art and Design Education for the 21st Century, will focus on 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.

In 2009 the university's Faculty of Arts and Architecture celebrates the founding of the original School of Art 150 years ago. Although acknowledging that the radical changes to art and design education over the past 150 years are a matter of historical record, the focus of the conference is unambiguously forward looking.

Student on Fine Art Sculpture BA(Hons) course

Professor Jonathan M Woodham, Director of the Centre for Research and Development, Faculty of Arts and Architecture, said "We are delighted to present delegates with the opportunity to hear from high calibre speakers from a range of art and design disciplines from around the world."

Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, Rector and Professor of Cultural History at the Royal College of Art, London, will consider what a New Bauhaus, new school of art, would be like if it was founded in 2009. By making reference to the original Bauhaus of 1919-32, he will explore the New Bauhaus as a place for learning through art, as part of a knowledge exchange rather than a supply chain and as a radical academy.

The UK Research Councils have exerted a powerful influence on the shape and nature of current art and design education, as well as influencing its future. Professor Bruce Brown, the University of Brighton's Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, will track how academies of art and design have evolved through the phases of art school, polytechnic and modern university, considering what they can aspire to be and achieve in the first half of the 21st century.

Professor Darren Newbury, Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, Birmingham City University brings a further dimension to discourse relating to design education for the 21st century. He will focus on the present and future of doctoral education in art and design; surveying the research and training landscape, the challenges and opportunities that exist, before suggesting possible directions.

Professor Elaine Aston, Professor of Contemporary Performance at Lancaster University, will lend further disciplinary insights. She will offer a series of reflections on future directions for practice-based, creative subjects, including the consideration of the new generation of practitioners-scholars and relationships between the academic's field of interdisciplinary theory-led enquiry and the professional artist's practice.

Dr Darlie O Koshy, the Director General of Education and Training Initiatives of the Apparel Export Promotion Council, sponsored by the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India will address the contexts, concerns and challenges of design education for 21st century India.

In addition the conference will hear from Anne Burdick, Chair of the graduate Media Design Program at Art Center College of Design in California; and David Watson, Professor of Higher Education Management at the Institute of Education, University of London.

Find out more about the conference.