Educating, entertaining and inspiring through public engagement

The power of… ideas

Joan Concannon, Director of York Festival of Ideas, said:

“Once again it was an enormous privilege to bring the Festival to the local York community and our wider audience from across the UK and the globe under the banner of ‘The Power Of…’ It’s really thrilling that we have grown our total audience across in-person, online and watch again by an incredible 51%. 

“The continued growth and diversity of the festival is in large part because of the amazing and sustained generosity of our supporters and donors. Without their commitment to public and free dissemination of ideas we would be unable to continue to deliver the majority of the programme for free. We are therefore incredibly grateful that their support means we can continue to attract audiences of all ages and backgrounds, and often audiences who are ‘priced’ out of attending events, discussing the very complex issues that comprise their lived experience. We would miss a lot by excluding those compelling voices. 

“Working in collaboration with 178 local, national and international partners and supporters, the 2024 Festival inspired people of all ages with a diverse programme of talks, exhibitions, performances, guided walks and interactive activities. As always, it was wonderful to hear attendees comment on the sense of community the Festival encourages, and the feeling of pride in our city and its people that it helps foster. 

“In this spirit, we took our family-friendly Discovery Zone out to York community venues in New Earswick and Acomb, offered hands-on archaeology sessions for blind and partially sighted people, and many of the University of York’s academics presented short ‘flash talks’ at York Explore Library.  We were also determined to ensure that those who cannot attend in person did not miss out and so we also continued to present a programme of online events as well as recording many of our in-person talks to watch again. 

“As ever, we were proud to welcome a host of inspirational speakers and performers from across the UK and further afield. This year’s line-up included children’s author Michael Morpurgo; double-Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes; BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner; broadcaster Janina Ramirez; journalists Gavin Esler and Zeinab Badawi; Ambassadors Steven Pifer and Androulla Kaminara; and violinist and composer Anna Phoebe - among many others.    

“I am deeply proud to work at the University of York where we see our primary mission as being ‘for the public good'. The Festival of Ideas is an exemplar of that ethos. It provides a platform that transcends individual organisations; engages audiences on their own terms, offering them a platform from which they can tell their stories, celebrate their achievements and share their challenges. 

“Since 2011, we have learned as much on how to engage different audiences from our collaborations with local libraries and community associations as we have from major sponsorship collaborations with the likes of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the French Embassy in the UK, Aviva, York Civic Trust or the Morrell Centre for Legal And Political Philosophy (major festival partners whose financial support enables us to deliver the festival for free to our audiences), or world-class speakers ranging from Nobel Laureates to celebrated actors and directors. 

“But most of all we - and our core partners - have learned from the Festival’s audiences: we have learned humility from listening to people who are open about the visceral challenge of living in poverty on our doorstep; of hearing people describe the loneliness and isolation of the Covid years (and how tuning into an online festival helped), and above all audiences who are bewildered and angered by the state of the world around them. 

“A perennial question often posed by Festival audiences as we grapple with complex issues like democracy under threat, poverty and inequality, peace in the Middle East, social media and disinformation and so on, is ‘what can I do’. 

“The Festival offers the opportunity to draw audiences together to not only be ‘educated and entertained’ but also to inspire action and activism. The Festival is committed to continuing to connect with our local and global community and to demonstrate the power of ideas and education. 

“We’re already looking forward to next year’s festival when we’ll be celebrating pioneers whose spirit of enquiry has changed/is changing our world. We look forward to welcoming you in 2025.”

Building stronger communities 

Led and co-ordinated by the University of York, York Festival of Ideas is a city-wide endeavour, bringing together many different partners from across the city and further afield. This partnership model creates a strong sense of community and shared purpose, as well as greatly enhancing the range of events on offer and allowing organisations to expand their reach. 

Many festival partners are long-standing including the National Centre for Early Music, York St John University, York Civic Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, while others took part in the festival for the first time this year, including Aesthetica, Little Vikings and York Lindy. The 2024 festival also saw the welcome return of organisations who had previously participated including Aviva, English Heritage, York Conservation Trust and St Helen Stonegate.

Many of our partners collaborate on local initiatives and projects, which often have a strong emphasis on community building and engagement. Events this year included:

• York Pride – a colourful celebration of our community and a march for equality and LGBT+ human rights in the UK and around the world. 

• York Trailblazers – a series of events inspiring residents to discover and celebrate the history and heritage stories of people who are important to our local communities.

• Reimagining Wealth to Support a More Equitable and Just Future – a series of interactive sessions supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to foster more equitable community-led economic approaches in York.

However, the community of shared interest and ideas fostered by the Festival stretches well beyond the boundaries of York. We were very pleased to once more partner with the Jaipur Literature Festival, the French Embassy in the UK and CITY College, University of York Europe Campus.

Sponsorship’s vital role

At York Festival of Ideas, we are proud to bring people from different backgrounds together to discuss important topical issues through a series of Festival Focus sessions. Our ability to offer these events for free is almost entirely due to the generosity of our supporters and donors. 

This year, against the background of the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral and the Paris Olympics, we collaborated with the French Embassy in the UK to examine how to preserve our heritage and the science of sport. We also teamed up with York Civic Trust and Make it York to help bring to light some of York’s lesser-known pioneers through a series of talks, a guided walk and performance.

Reimagining Wealth to Support a More Equitable and Just Future – two interactive sessions supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation – explored topics including community wealth building, and the generation and distribution of wealth. 

Reflecting the fact that more than half the world’s population will go to the polls this year, 2024: A new world order? featured discussions around the dynamics and safety of elections, their implications for the future of democracy, and the rise of the Global South. The sessions were presented in collaboration with the Morrell Centre for Legal and Political Philosophy, which is supported by the C and JB Morrell Trust. 

Other sponsor-led events this year included EV Charging Infrastructure: Ramping up rollout, led by the Institution of Engineering and Technology; and Hands on History: Bringing the past to life - a series of sessions for blind and partially sighted people - supported by Professor Phil Harris and Mrs Irene Harris.

We are also indebted to those sponsors who support the Festival as a whole, including the Holbeck Charitable Trust and Portakabin, as well as to our individual donors. 

Showcasing research in action

York Festival of Ideas provides attendees with unprecedented access to some of the innovative research taking place right here in our city. In turn, York researchers have an ideal platform for showcasing their work and demonstrating how it will improve our lives and knowledge. This year, 350 members of the University community delivered talks, led guided walks, curated exhibitions, took part in panel discussions and chaired events, whilst another 300 participated in York Concerts.

Not only are our research-led events thought-provoking for our audiences, but interaction through Q&A sessions and polls often prompts a new line of thought or investigation for researchers, as well as facilitating new collaborations.  For example, Designing Inclusivity: Graphic design for dyslexia, a workshop presented by a York postgraduate student, prompted interest from a new special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) school. 

Research-led events in 2024 ranged from a guided Sociologically Imagining York podcasted walk, to an Arts of the Islamic World exhibition, to a talk on Dancing DNA. Colleagues from BioYorkshire explored The Remarkable Power of Poo, whilst the next generation of biomedical researchers from York Biomedical Research Institute shared the impact of their work on our health and wellbeing (Why You’re Not Dead).

A popular new addition to the Festival programme was Insights in a Flash. Held at York Explore Library, researchers gave a series of short 20-minute flash talks covering topics as diverse as the safety of AI, learning for mental health and wellbeing, and the power of statistics in sport.