Patterns of Thought: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Aesthetics, Education and the Arts

Organised by the University of Liverpool and the Bluecoat Gallery in collaboration with National Museums Liverpool, FACT, METAL, and Liverpool Biennial, this 2-day event brings together philosophers, artists, education theorists, museum professionals, policy makers and practitioners in order to explore and develop education programmes and practices for children and families in galleries and art organizations. This forms part of the larger AHRC Patterns of Thought Project, led by Dr Panayiota Vassilopoulou, that seeks to develop and promote the early-years teaching of reflective skills through engagement with art, especially in gallery and exhibition spaces. We hope that this event will bring pedagogical methods, as well as philosophical reflection more broadly, into productive interdisciplinary conversation with education theory, curatorial studies and the arts, so as to co-ordinate aims and objectives in planning strategically for the future. The conference will consist of keynote talks and roundtable discussions with an important emphasis placed on group discussion and dialogue between disciplines. The conference is supported by the AHRC, the British Society for Aesthetics, and the School of the Arts, University of Liverpool. Confirmed speakers include Dr. Eileen John (Warwick), Jeremy Newton (Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts) Dr. Morag Morrison (Cambridge), Prof. Nicola Shaughnessy (Kent), Peter Worley (Philosophy Foundation) and representatives from our partner institutions.