Collaborative Festival Event for the 40th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Classical Studies, 50th Anniversary of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and 60th Anniversary of the UNE Museum of Antiquities (UNEMA)

Abstract

<p>In 2019 the Australasian Society for Classical Studies (ASCS) and Australian Academy of the Humanities (AAH) collaborated with the UNE Museum of Antiquities (UNEMA) to create a regional festival event including public exhibitions and lectures, combined with a Classics research conference, to explore how Classics can engage researchers, school teachers, and the general public in a regional centre of learning, and work to ensure that Classics is neither the preserve of wealthy white elites nor a metropolitan privilege (Hall & Stead 2013; Lawrence 2018). Festival events included diverse public lectures on social revolution in the Roman Republic, Pagan and Christian architectural thought, Sudanese archaeology, and the dialogue between Classics and LEGO. The public exhibitions included a photographic exhibition on the New England region, the unveiling of an Ancient Egyptian sandal (the oldest shoe in Australia) accompanied by an exhibition on footwear, and an exhibition displaying together for the first time classical and archaeological books in the collections of the UNE Department of Classics, the UNE Heritage Centre, and Dixson Library Rare Books Collection. The public events were held concurrently with the ASCS Annual Conference, which brought over two hundred researchers in Classics, Ancient History, Museum and Reception Studies, and Archaeology to Armidale, and which for the first time was registered with NESA to provide an accredited professional development opportunity for NSW school teachers.</p>