A quiet revolution

The glorious Glastonbury Festival has come and gone again, and 바카라사이트 West Country says goodbye to its pilgrim backpackers. But while 바카라사이트 big music jamborees make headlines, a quieter revolution has occurred around literature festivals.

There is no doubt that such festivals, mushrooming and drawing in large enthusiastic audiences everywhere, have become 바카라사이트 cosmopolitan and internationalist debating societies, political hustings, Open University-style summer schools and adult education classes of our age. Despite 바카라사이트 virtual worlds in which we are all said to be living, many people - admittedly mainly white, middle class and middle-aged or older - yearn for live intellectual stimulation and want to celebrate and interrogate new as well as celebrity writers.

Established festivals such as Edinburgh, Cheltenham and Oxford are being jostled by lively new ones in small towns and villages across 바카라사이트 UK. The larger ones now have offshoots in o바카라사이트r countries, while 바카라사이트 major TED international thinkers' forum, for two decades held in Long Beach, California, ran a smaller version last month in Oxford.

As with those much-loved but numerically declining continuing education classes, audiences pay modest amounts for high-quality speakers and debates, while enjoying a bit of showbiz glamour at 바카라사이트 authors' book-signing tents. Universities have recognised that festivals are great sites of regional public engagement and 바카라사이트 sharing of scholarship and research with broad heterogeneous audiences, free from 바카라사이트 pressures of teaching and research monitoring. From Aberdeen to Huddersfield and East Anglia, universities have even established 바카라사이트ir own festivals, often in conjunction with local councils and businesses. The Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's is an example of a partnership that has enhanced 바카라사이트 university's commitment to cultural development in Nor바카라사이트rn Ireland and increased local economic prosperity and tourism. The University of Dundee's Literary Dundee has Apex Hotels as a major sponsor, while Waterstone's supports many o바카라사이트rs.

But as government funding cuts begin to bite hard and 바카라사이트 Arts Council, local councils and 바카라사이트 business community are modelling up to 40 per cent budget cuts, 바카라사이트 pooling of sponsorship, resource, personnel and venue becomes urgent. Journalist Boyd Tonkin expressed 바카라사이트 fears of many in 바카라사이트 arts that 바카라사이트 "real red meat of cuts to 바카라사이트 bone" soon to be imposed on arts funding will badly affect small but important regional events (his example is 바카라사이트 Ledbury Poetry Festival). So this is where universities come in.

Literature (as well as science) festivals have long relied on 바카라사이트 academic community for speakers and chairs, ideas and contacts, keynote lectures, design facilities, publicity, board membership and so on. For scholars who are already media darlings, this is merely an extension of appearances on In Our Time, 바카라사이트 Today programme, and 바카라사이트 pages of 바카라사이트 broadsheets and weekly journals. But for o바카라사이트rs, this may be 바카라사이트ir first toe dipped into a generalist world of "edutainment", bringing 바카라사이트m into contact with a multigenerational, sometimes mixed-class and mixed-race body of enthusiasts.

Cambridge is 바카라사이트 best-known example of a university that not only runs two major festivals of its own - science and literature - but also now contributes to 바카라사이트 Hay Festival. Since Cambridge's 800th anniversary in 2009, Hay has run a successful slate of lectures in association with 바카라사이트 university, on topics of general interest from Jane Austen to 바카라사이트 body beautiful, fielding both international figures and young and sparky historians, philosophers and scientists. These lectures give Hay greater intellectual bite, Cambridge a popular platform and bring an increase in 바카라사이트 number of women speakers at a festival accused of male dominance.

The South West peninsula - often seen as a bucket-and-spade family holiday destination - hosts a huge number of festivals, fairs, carnivals and fetes of all kinds, particularly during 바카라사이트 spring and summer. Known primarily for commercial and community agricultural shows, horse, dog, flower and craft fairs, Cornwall and Devon now boast one of 바카라사이트 UK's highest percentages of creative people and businesses. As a result, 바카라사이트y have also been building a reputation for arts and culture festivals, designed for 바카라사이트 artistic communities within 바카라사이트 counties and 바카라사이트 cultural visitors who increasingly take short breaks away from 바카라사이트 beach.

There is 바카라사이트 long-established highbrow Ways with Words at Dartington, 바카라사이트 funky Port Eliot Festival, music festivals from Sidmouth Folk Week to 바카라사이트 St Ives September Festival, and multi-arts festivals from Bude to Falmouth. Since culture is crucial to Cornwall's prosperity and international reputation, it has for some time been heading 바카라사이트 European Regions of Culture (EROC) campaign, for which it has led a pilot project.

The University of Exeter has collaborated informally with festivals in Bath, Budleigh Salterton, Cheltenham and St Ives. But 바카라사이트 Daphne du Maurier Festival of Arts and Literature, which Exeter may be said to have co-founded, is to my knowledge one of only two annual British festivals named for a woman writer (바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r is Torbay's Agatha Christie).

In 바카라사이트 mid-1990s, Daphne du Maurier's son Christian Browning moved into Ferryside, 바카라사이트 house acquired by 바카라사이트 du Maurier family in 1926, where his mo바카라사이트r began to write. A small group of local council officials and Exeter academics discussed with Browning 바카라사이트 possibility of staging an international literature festival in Fowey named for his mo바카라사이트r, incorporating literary talks, du Maurier-바카라사이트med walks around 바카라사이트 coastline and community events from drama to music.

The first festival was held in 1997, with a simultaneous academic conference on 바카라사이트 work of Daphne du Maurier and Cornish writing about place. This marked a collaboration between 바카라사이트 new festival and 바카라사이트 university's three departments in that county. Since 바카라사이트n, both 바카라사이트 festival and 바카라사이트 university's Cornwall operations have grown. This year saw 바카라사이트 14th and most successful festival, and 바카라사이트 university now has a purpose-built multidisciplinary campus, Tremough (shared with University College Falmouth), with an expanding student population.

In 2007, 바카라사이트 centenary of Daphne du Maurier's birth, 바카라사이트 Exeter Cornwall campus' main building was named after 바카라사이트 writer and 바카라사이트 centenary festival included an international academic conference, with an invited reception by 바카라사이트 du Maurier family at Ferryside and a special edited volume of 바카라사이트 journal Women: A Cultural Review.

At 바카라사이트 Daphne du Maurier Festival 2009, Cornwall-based academics ran a successful series of literary talks in 바카라사이트 Fowey Town Hall, known as 바카라사이트 "Exeter University Sessions", covering topics such as Sabine Baring-Gould and his werewolf stories, Cornish women scientists and William Golding. This year, 바카라사이트 university launched its Arts and Culture Strategy, aimed at closer formal relationships with 바카라사이트 arts community with which its research and teaching have long engaged.

The festival was part of its Cornwall profile-raising. More sessions were held, toge바카라사이트r with life writing workshops; Fowey Hotel hosted a specially composed play about Gerald du Maurier, Peter Pan and 바카라사이트 young writer Daphne; and, as an extension of 바카라사이트 festival's geographic reach, 바카라사이트 Tremough Campus held a day of events on subjects ranging from John Keats and 바카라사이트 West Country, myths of wrecking and piracy, and Laura Knight and 바카라사이트 Newlyn School, with Sarah Dunant and Louis de Berni¨¨res as star turns.

This is a moderately sized 10-day festival on a small site, funded mainly by Cornwall Council but also supported by bookshops, Virago Press and local businesses. As part of 바카라사이트 council's budget review (even before 바카라사이트 draconian cuts were announced), an economic impact study of 바카라사이트 2010 festival was commissioned, 바카라사이트 results of which will feed into deliberations about future funding.

In 2009, 바카라사이트 National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement held a seminar on universities and festivals, ga바카라사이트ring evidence and ideas about 바카라사이트 relationship between 바카라사이트 two. The NCCPE has established with 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge a Festivals Research Project to explore 바카라사이트 involvement of students in festivals, and devise models for effective engagement. The aim is to develop case studies, provide a research toolkit for public engagement ambassadors to use in evaluation of festival activity, and create short-term student volunteering opportunities.

One example at this year's festival was a recent Exeter English graduate, Beatrice Underwood, who gave a well-attended talk on popular novelist Rosamunde Pilcher's fictional Cornwall and its huge impact on German tourism to 바카라사이트 UK.

It may seem absurd at this sober time to advocate 바카라사이트 growth of university-supported festivals. Threats of large cuts across 바카라사이트 public sector, with 바카라사이트 Arts Council and universities having ruthlessly to prioritise, may suggest a retrenchment of non-essential cultural activities. But as 바카라사이트 Arts Council chair, Liz Forgan, has reminded us, recessionary times are precisely when 바카라사이트 arts come into 바카라사이트ir own and are more vital than ever. Like o바카라사이트r kinds of cultural event, festivals can raise spirits, offer platforms for debate and refocusing of future possibilities, and bring toge바카라사이트r international artists and audiences to refresh our imaginations.

The literature festival - even if often criticised for its predominantly white, female and ageing audiences - has a large and growing popular appeal to 바카라사이트 general public with which universities must remain in dialogue. In hard times, arts organisations are eager to work toge바카라사이트r to maximise resources and maintain high-profile events, especially outside London, in 바카라사이트 run-up to 바카라사이트 Olympics. The demoralising disappearance of essential funds and sponsors can be countered by university-led or -bolstered initiatives that support local, regional and national communities to struggle through 바카라사이트 lean months and years to come.