agenda ideas history

Fancy trying your hand at a bit of spear throwing? Or perhaps dancing the night away to a DJ – in a museum? Now’s your chance…

agenda ideas whipple

The University’s annual Festival of Ideas takes place this month, with a host of events and activities for adults, children and families. The idea, says festival co-ordinator Sophie Smith, is to give the arts, humanities and social science departments a chance to showcase their research and facilities – and for the public to have a lot of fun getting behind the scenes, finding out what goes on in those departments, and having a go at some things.

‘It’s about promoting what the university’s doing, yes, and publicising the great research that goes on here,’ says Sophie, ‘and it’s also an opportunity to open up the colleges and give people the chance to see some of the amazing buildings that are normally closed to the public, and what goes on in them.’

Indeed, there are some great venues opening up for the festival– the Cambridge Union building is hosting a talk on the Arab Spring on 26 October, and a series of pieces of music is taking place in Kings College Chapel. ‘And most of our events are free of charge, so it’s a pretty revolutionary thing to be doing,’ says Sophie.

Science Festival, University of Cambridge

The latest thinking

It’s also a great opportunity to hear the latest thinking on some of the hot topics of the day, meet some well-known academics and authors, and get hands on with some of the facilities at the university and exhibits at the museum.

‘Most of our events are based on cutting edge research that’s coming out and there’s lots of press and publicity around those topics,’ says Sophie. ‘We’re covering lots of interesting and controversial debates this year - for instance, there’s a talk called ‘Seven billion, the crowded planet’, all about overpopulation. Supposedly we’re going to hit the seven billion mark during the festival, so it’s a chance for academics to talk about what that means for the world, and also for the public to get involved and ask their questions.’

And with high-profile – and controversial – names such as Richard Dawkins and Michael Moore recently announced it’s certainly a chance to be in on the debates that are central to society today.

Children’s events

The festival is by no means all serious academic subjects though. There’s a host of fun children’s events, with authors such as Charlie Higson and Marcus Sedgwick coming along to talk, and plenty of hands-on activities, and events such as circus skills workshops.

Local organisation Custard Comedy is also running workshops for children. ‘This is a great way to give children confidence and new skills in a safe, fun environment,’ says Rob Coleman of Custard Comedy. ‘And given that comedy has never been more popular, we might even set someone on the first stage to becoming a stand up. Kids are a joy to teach - they usually haven’t switched off their social editor yet so they come up with brilliant ideas.’

The festival takes place from 19 to 30 October, with day and evening events to cater for workers as well as families. Sophie is particuarly looking forward to the main family day, on Saturday, 22. ‘There’s just so much going on,’ she says, ‘the sheer breadth and diversity of activities on offer is really exciting – there’s a series of adult talks, and there’s lots of hands-on actitivies for children to go to. Musical Mayhem in particular, is going to be a really good one, with lots of singing workshops, drumming and gamelan workshops.’

A great way to spend Saturday

And which event does Sophie particularly want to see herself? ‘Why Do Languages Die? – looking at whether it’s possible that the English language could ever become extinct and why languages go in and out of fashion,’ she says. ‘Steven Pax Leonard, the anthropological linguist, whose just come back from studying Inuits is taking part in that debate, and I think that’s going to be really exciting.’

So whether you want to go and do some spear throwing at the Archaeological Unit, join in a debate about the philosophy of science fiction at the Faculty of Law, or learn how to play the steel drums at the Faculty of Music, this is, as Sophie says, ‘a great way to spend a Saturday and something really unusual’.

The Festival of Ideas, 19-30 October. Most events are free (some have a small fee) and drop-in, some must be booked in advance. Find out more at cam.ac.uk/festivalofideas or call 01223 766766. Programmes are available from University buildings, the Pitt Building and the Cambridge University Bookshop as well as other locations around the city, or can be requested online or by phoning