Performance-based Edutainment
I define "edutainment" as being the educational use of a medium associated with entertainment. I am placing the emphasis on the edu(cation) and using the (enter)tainment factor as the "way in" for non-specialists. The content thus accessed is produced by subject specialists and is linked to disciplinary research.
I define "edutainment" as being the educational use of a medium associated with entertainment. I am placing the emphasis on the edu(cation) and using the (enter)tainment factor as the "way in" for non-specialists. The content thus accessed is produced by subject specialists and is linked to disciplinary research.
As part of examining the appeal of different types of event/knowledge transfer I have produced, scripted and directed the interactive edutainment performance piece Underworlds Live in Leeds. It consisted of factasy walks that started from the Leeds City Museum’s permanent exhibition (the Ancient Worlds Gallery) and incorporated the architecture and public art of Leeds, as well as indicating a special exhibition in the Classics Department where an expert in Roman Religion (Steve Green) could be questioned. The walks were interactive and involved academics acting as characters from works which they researched or taught and as well as students acting as clasical characters in which they had a particular interest and interacting with the general public in scripted and improvised encounters. Underworlds Live in Leeds was the UK's largest single classics outreach event of 2010, reaching over 8,000 people on the night of performance alone (8th October 2010).
The walks have been made available in written form via my website and requested by the Leeds Art Walk, the Psychogeography Group and the local branch of the Classical Association as a guided tour or, preferably, as ‘walking theatre’.
Presenting research as performance art involved identifying an appropriate context for its production. This was Light Night, an annual event run by Leeds City Council's Arts and Regeneration Unit, that supports work by local artists and has a funding competition. The process of securing funding and producing the event led to a number of serendipitous meetings with artists and organisations who have formed part of the network of contacts being established.
A successful working partnership with the Arts and Regeneration unit of Leeds City Council and the Leeds City Museum has been established by the Classics Department with regard to this event. Arrangements are currently being made for modified walks to be repeated live (as 'walking theatre') in Spring 2011 (subject to funding to pay student actors being secured).
Plans for a similar performance art piece based on the hero Hercules are in development, in consultation with Emma Stafford (expert on Heracles/Hercules), the Leeds City Museum and the Leeds City Art Gallery, to be presented for possible inclusion in Light Night 2011.
