This is an invitation for joining a four-day conference on the History of the Arts & Crafts Movement and the History of the Settlement Movement. The conference will take place in Leiden, The Netherlands, from July 1 – July 4, 2008, at the Leidse Volkshuis centre for education and culture. Click here for the provisional conference programme.
The Arts & Crafts and Settlement Movements are closely linked. They both emerged in the early days of the social emancipation movement at the end of the 19th century. Arts & Crafts has had a worldwide influence on architecture and industrial design. For many people Settlements have been a first chance on personal development and education.
In the Netherlands both Movements have had great influence on the evolution of the modern care and welfare society, as well as on education and urban development. Although reflection on and the arrangement of the caring society is an object of far-reaching political transformation at present, elements of the idealistic principles of both movements become manifest again in the Europe-wide debate on the encouragement of culture- and art education and informal learning.
During the conference programme both Movements will be discussed along different lines of approach. Present developments will also be covered. The invited speakers come from The Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium), but also from other countries in and outside Europe, such as America and Japan. Along with lectures and debates there will be room for contributions of participants and for excursions.
The programme offers an ideal opportunity to become better informed about some important aspects of the origins of present-day community art and community education. It is also a chance to revaluate modern policies and to explore which lessons can be drawn from the past. Everyone who is active in or interested in community arts and community education, either as a researcher, lecturer or as a practitioner, should therefore not miss this conference.
You may register for participation via the online registration form. You can book your hotel accommodation via the hotel registration form. Both links are also available via our website www.leidsevolkshuis.nl Registrations and hotel bookings will be confirmed.
Please download the attachment for presenting proposals for lectures or presentations. For any further questions please apply to the website www.leidsevolkshuis.nl or to volkshuis@bplusc.nl
With kind regards, on behalf of the Organising Committee,
Jack Paluch, director of the Leidse Volkshuis.
The Organising Committee consists of the following persons: Prof. Ruud van der Veen, Columbia University, New York; Prof. Wim de Pauw, Vrije Universiteit Brussel; Dr. Kees Hammink; Dr. Barry Hake, former lecturer Leiden University; Mr. Jack Paluch, director Leidse Volkshuis; Mr. Henri Braakenburg.
Founders of the History of the Arts & Crafts Movement and History of the Settlement Movement conferences are Prof. Haruhiko Fujita, Osaka University and the Reverend Luke Geoghegan, warden of Toynbee Hall, London.
NB: Please forward this message to your colleagues and friends and others who might be interested in this conference!