We are delighted to announced that, from this year, the Battle of Ideas festival will be held at the Barbican in London as an ongoing partnership. Obviously it is very exciting and a great honour to be working with one of the world’s leading arts centres: new challenges and adventures lie ahead. We leave the wonderful Royal College of Art, our home for 7 successful years, with sadness but will continue collaborating with the RCA on a variety of Battle of Ideas related projects into the future.
Moving to the Barbican allows us a fantastic opportunity to reconceive the festival in its eighth year: to expand the numbers, but also to realise our ambition of making the Battle of Ideas a focus for Europe-wide intellectual discussions about the key social, artistic, economic, political and scientific issues of our times. One positive aspect of this new Battle of Ideas home is the use of some fabulous new spaces for the weekend’s 70+ debates, from the cinemas and the Pit Theatre to the conservatory and the myriad nooks and crannies in the many foyers. It will be great fun taking over such a prestigious venue for a weekend and making it come alive with the buzz of debate. This year the Battle of Ideas weekend will be held on the third weekend of October: 20-21 October 2012. Put the date in your diary and we’ll see you all there.
LET BATTLE COMMENCE!
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"There's a real sense of intellectual delight that so much can be discussed in just sixty minutes - and so thoughtfully - both by the speakers and especially by the audience. A rich feast of ideas."
Christopher Kelly, reader in Ancient History and Fellow and Director of Studies in Classics at Corpus Christi College
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