The F-word: has the battle been won or do we still need feminism

December’s Salon event sees the team asking ‘The F-word: has the battle been won or do we still need feminism?’

Is the battle won? Or has it just changed?

Nobody doubts that there is a place in our society for feminism, but with bra-burning being a thing of the past – what is it’s role in our modern lifestyle? Two speakers are presenting us with their viewpoints.

The first speaker, Valerie Bryson (professor of politics, school of human and health sciences, University of Huddersfield) will be considering whether we have come far enough, and that addressing feminist questions is increasingly urgent for our society.

The other speaker, Alan White (professor of Men’s Health, Leeds Metropolitan University) asks why there is no male equivalent, and considers how feminism shapes a man's view of the world.

Date: Tuesday, 9th December
Time: 6.00pm – 8.30pm
Tickets: £5.00

Price includes soup and a sandwich, mulled wine and mince pies.

View or download the poster

Grass Roots or Gala Performance: Where should the arts spend be going?

Tuesday, 11th November 2008 - Grass Roots or Gala Performance: Where should the arts spend be going?

Join us for what may well be our most provocative Salon yet, as we ask ‘Grass Roots or Gala Performance: Where should the arts spend be going?’

In an evening that promises to deliver a few fireworks of its own, Franco Bianchini, Professor of Cultural Policy & Planning Faculty of Arts & Society, Leeds Metropolitan University of Leeds, and Andrew McGill, Head of Arts and Events at Leeds City Council, will be discussing the role of culture in the new financial climate; how culture can be co-opted for political ends, about the nature of spectacle and its role in engaging the public, and whether money is better spent on grassroots and infrastructure development or big spectacles and performances.

With the Festival of Light coming up in Huddersfield, we think that this will be a lively debate for all! Everyone’s welcome – the evening should be of interest to anyone with something to say about how our arts spend is delivered. Come along and have your say!

Speakers:

Franco Bianchini
Profesor of Cultural Policy & Planning Faculty of Arts & Society
Leeds Metropolitan University

Andrew McGill
Head of Arts and Events
Leeds City Council

Event details

Venue: Cafe Ollo, The Media Centre
7 Northumberland St, Huddersfield, HD1 1RL
Time: 6:00 - 8:30pm
Tickets: £5 available form The Media Centre reception or telephone 01484 483 000 ( price includes soup and a sandwich)

www.the-media-centre.co.uk

Should we be protected from ourselves?

On Thursday 16 October, the Fine Bunch return with the first Salon of the autumn season, asking ‘Should we be protected from ourselves?’

Life is full of risks but where do we draw the line between what's acceptable and what isn't? If we want to eat, drink or smoke ourselves to death, is it our decision or should the government have a say? Where does the role of the state end, and personal responsibility begin? And which risks are worth taking?

The Salon is an open event for anyone who is interested in a lively discussion, whether you’re think that we should be taking more risks or exercising more caution. This promises to be one of our most provocative debates yet, so please come along and hear what the speakers have to say, and join in with your own thoughts.


Speakers

Angus Kennedy, technology consultant and freelance writer, says "it seems that every new risk that is identified, no matter how minor, has to be responded to with some new moralising campaign or draconian measure to restrict our liberties further."
http://www.instituteofideas.com/people/angus_kennedy.html


Graham Carson from Drury PSM, who promote health and safety management in companies, will be taking the view that sensible risk management is a positive thing.
www.drurypsm.com


Event Details

Thursday 16 October 2008, 6.30 till 8.30pm
Tickets £5.00 from The Media Centre reception or by calling 01484 483000
The Media Centre, 7 Northumberland Street, Huddersfield HD1 1RL


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Brands can save the world – or are we being greenwashed into another marketing ploy?

As part of an International Brand Circle Event in Huddersfield we are delighted to present a June one off special Salon event.

Speakers:

Clive Woodger, Architect at SCG London, A major brand implementation consultancy

Nicola Turner, Liberal Democrat candidate for Colne Valley, Hudderfield.

As pressure builds for producers to present themselves as part of an environmental solution and consumers get more demanding in their desire to reduce energy impact and be part of the answer, are we all being hoodwinked or greenwashed by cynical marketing that frankly is part of the problem?

Wednesday 18 June 2008, 6.00pm for 6.30pm start.

Tickets £5 on the door (ticket price includes soup and a sandwich)

Venue: Cafe Ollo, The Media Centre, 7 Northumberland Street, Huddersfield

The Salon will take a break over the summer. Look out for further details of the Autumn programme including: ‘The F word: has the battle been won or do we still need feminism?’ and ‘What are we frightened of? Fear and risk in modern society’.

Should childhood come with a health warning?

Whether it’s stranger danger, the internet or just playing in the street, our children are portrayed as being in constant danger. The government feels it must launch a campaign this week to encourage children to play outdoors – the way their parents and grandparents always used to. This, in the light of a recent survey that shows that one in four eight-to-ten year olds have never played outside without an adult present; and one in three parents will not even allow older children aged eight to fifteen to play outside the house or garden.

Are we over-protective of our children? Child psychologist and former primary school teacher, Dr Helen Guldberg, certainly thinks so. She believes that an obsession with protecting children from all risks is depriving them of valuable learning experiences.

Putting a different point of view will be Hazel Wigmore, a local champion of children’s causes. Hazel believes that it’s not childhood but parenting that should come with a health warning. Children are more aware of risk than we give them credit for. Maybe we should spend our energies discouraging adults from having children as ‘lifestyle accessories’.

The Salon is an open event for anyone who is interested in a lively discussion. Whether you are a parent, professional, interested in the future of our planet, or even a young person yourself. This promises to be one of our liveliest debates yet, so please come along and hear what the speakers have to say, and join in with your own thoughts.

Tickets £5.00 from The Media Centre reception or by calling 0870 990 5000

The Media Centre, 7 Northumberland Street, Huddersfield HD1 1RL

The Huddersfield Salon is organised by A Fine Bunch of people: an informal grouping of local cultural leaders including senior members of most of the major Kirklees Arts Organisations.

Speakers details:

Dr Hazel Wigmore

Huddersfield-born Hazel Wigmore founded the National Children’s Centre at Brian Jackson House in the town. She pioneered professional standards, training and registration for childminding, and created the Crying Baby Hotline and the Playtrain Nursery at Huddersfield Station. Whilst chairing the National Under-fives Group, she assisted in drafting The Children Act and also chaired the BBC Children in Need Awards panel in the North East and the BBC National Committee on Community Action.

Serving on the Parliamentary All Party Group for Under Fives led to Dr Wigmore succeeding Lady Plowden in chairing the national association for voluntary organisations working with under fives. This in turn gave her the opportunity to work with the Under Secretary of State’s Office in framing the pre-school sections of The Children Act.

Her young people’s work has included pioneering fatherhood classes in youth detention centres and prisons, the SUPERDADS project giving young fathers supervised access to their children and the COOL project for school refusers.

Dr Helene Guldberg

Dr Helene Guldberg is co-founder and Managing Editor of spiked-online, the first custom-built online current affairs publication in the UK. Her writing - in publications from spiked-online and the New Scientist to the Independent and Guardian - specialises on issues of science and society, human psychology and child development.

After working as a primary school teacher for a few years, Guldberg obtained a PhD in developmental psychology from the University of Manchester in 1999. She currently teaches a post-graduate course in child development (as part of an MA in Education) with the Open University, and an undergraduate course in child development at Centres for Academic Programs Abroad (CAPA) and the Institute for the International Education of Students (IES).

She is now working on a book for Vision Paperbacks on children’s lives - exploring how they have changed, and the impact on children’s development.

Sustainability - good for the planet but bad for architecture?

The visit of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to Huddersfield last May will be remembered for widespread public celebration in glorious weather. The Royal pair were actually in town to open two new buildings – phase three of The Media Centre, and a social housing scheme in Primrose Hill. These developments were deemed extra special because they employ the very latest in eco-friendly building and maintenance techniques. Huddersfield is pleased to be acknowledged as a leader in the field of sustainable building and architecture, which everyone now agrees is the way forward. Or do they?

One man who certainly does not agree is Austin Williams, who will be telling us, in no uncertain terms, why. The London-based architect and Director of the Future Cities project, will be speaking at the March meeting of the Salon.

Williams believes that the job of architects is to design great buildings, but they are being prevented from doing this by politically correct box-ticking exercises such as the need to be sustainable. He says the "...green mire that architecture finds itself in today can only get worse unless it begins to break free of the low aspirational, sanctimonious, petty-minded, misanthropic, miserablism that sustainability represents."

Putting forward a rather different point of view will be Carl Meddings, who is Principal Lecturer in Architecture at the University of Huddersfield, a centre of excellence in sustainable architecture. Since qualifying in 1990 has also had considerable experience in private practice with Rod Hackney Architects, Hodder Associates and then his own practices Core Architects and Bareham Architects.

Thursday 13 March, 6.30pm

Venue: Cafe Ollo, The Media Centre, 7 Northumberland Street, Huddersfield

New Salon Dates for Spring 2008

Monday 18 February - Obesity - are we bingeing on another scare story?

Speakers: Rob Lyons, Deputy editor of Spiked Online (see http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/issues/C34/ and http://www.robertlyons.co.uk)

Lyons argues: "Just fill in the gaps with obesity/climate change/bird flu/whatever and you have a ready-made panic, ... in response to which Something Must Be Done - usually by the government, because we feckless individuals are too weak to do it ourselves. "

Thursday 13 March - Sustainability - good for the planet but bad for architecture?

Speaker: Austin Williams (Director of the Future Cities Project http://www.futurecities.org.uk/articles/art141103.html)

Williams argues that the "...green mire that architecture finds itself in today can only get worse unless it begins to break free of the low aspirational, sanctimonious, petty-minded, misanthropic, miserablism that sustainability represents."

Wednesday 16 April - Should childhood come with a health warning?

Speakers: Helene Guldberg (Founder of Spiked, see http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/1657/)

Guldberg argues "At a time when government, the media and advocacy groups are constantly panicking about children and their wellbeing, is it any wonder that fear for our kids is widespread in society? Couldn’t it be a self-fulfilling prophecy?"

Venue: Cafe Ollo, The Media Centre, 7 Northumberland Street, Huddersfield.

Time: 6.30pm - 8.30pm; refreshments available from 6.00pm.

Tickets can be purchased by visiting The Media Centre reception or by calling 0870 990 5000.

Ticket price: £5.00 or £12.00 for three.