forthcoming events

Explore Programme at NECLL from January 2010

This is adult education at its finest. Join the award winning North East Centre for Lifelong Learning Explore scheme for an exciting range of courses and workshops.

Green Phoenix Festival, 19-22 August 2010

Green Phoenix Festival, 19-22 August
Taking place over four days, on a beautiful site within the stunning National Trust Estate at Gibside 18th Century Pleasure Grounds, in the heart of the North East of England. The Green Phoenix Festival will provide the region with a platform to explore the broad spectrum of arts and sustainable culture. Through arts, music and vibrant celebration community interest company Patchwork Planet Productions will produce an event that will truly support grassroots development, in the understanding of sustainability and the future of our societies.

The aim of the festival is to provide the communities we serve with high quality informal education experiences, including those people whom are most vulnerable from disengagement. Patchwork Planet Productions reflects the epitome of what a RCE can offer and through the Green Phoenix Festival we will bring together artists, teachers, philosophers, ecologists and environmentalists to create a foundation of learning.

The festival will be a flamboyant family affair that will offer a varied and ranging schedule of activities, from permaculture to hi-tech solutions and music making to debates. We will create a world away from everyday life, to allow people to engage with evolutionary ideas about how we can create a sustainable society and how to reincorporate these philosophies into their communities. We will make a subtle impact on local education that will perpetuate over subsequent years, unleashing a wave of transformative grassroots learning. Utilising the GPF website, social networking technology and participatory workshops we will continue to engage with people throughout the year.

The concept of sustainability will be the driving force of the festival and has been embedded throughout the preliminary developments stages and this will be evident in the delivery of the festival. The entire festival will be powered by renewable energies. It is imperative that this is evident to festival goers and thus we will provide interpretation boards highlighting and explaining techniques and strategies used to produce this event.

Talks, demonstrations and debates will aim to fully embrace the issues pertaining to a sustainable future. These will include energy provisions, community development, and personal development, sustainable and low impact structures, low impact food production and waste management. We will be aiming to exemplify as many of these principles on site, including the presence of compost toilets.

The goal of talks and workshops is to inspire people to look at their home lives with fresh eyes and consider their impact on the environment with a view to making changes that will protect their children’s futures.

Offshore Wind Farms - Can the wind industry deliver again?

Sir Joseph Swan Annual Memorial Lecture
Tuesday 19th October, 5.30pm, Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University
Bruce Valpy, Director of BVG Associates
The wind industry has come on a dynamic journey over the last 25 years, characterised by finding cost-effective solutions to many significant engineering challenges. It is now the renewable energy generation technology of choice, globally, having experienced a doubling of installed capacity every 3 or 4 years in the last two decades. In front of it today is its biggest challenge yet - to continue this growth by combining next generation, very large wind turbine technology with the best that the marine and oil and gas sectors have to offer in exploiting the massive wind resource in the waters around our coast. From a technical perspective, the lecture will look at where the wind industry has come from, what it has learnt so far and where it is today. It will then look at some of the areas where new solutions are required if it is to succeed in the future and paint a vision of what this success might look like in the next 10-20 years, both in terms of technology and benefits for society.

Economic Growth: Bane or Boon? 7pm, Tues 19 October

The Great Debate Head to Head with Jonathon Porritt and Daniel Ben-Ami
Gallery North, University of Northumbria

Jonathon Porritt and Daniel Ben-Ami

Is economic growth a good thing? Until the 1970s few would have even thought of asking this question. Yet today the West is often seen as guilty of overconsumption, while the rapid growth of developing countries such as China and India is seen by many in a highly negative light. People who champion growth are accused of encouraging greed, damaging the environment and widening social inequalities. Daniel Ben-Ami, in his new book Ferraris for all, challenges these notions, arguing that society as a whole benefits from greater affluence and that we should celebrate growth. Renowned environmentalist and writer Jonathon Porritt disagrees and will take up the arguments in what promises to be a truly great head to head debate. So, come along, hear the arguments and have your say!
BOOK NOW: Contact Remy Buchanan: r.buchanan@unn.ac.uk

previous events

Indria – power of fusion July 2010
MILUN - a meeting of Indo- Irish Musical traditions July 2010
Sarod Recital by Gurdev Singh, June 2010
Getting Real About Energy, May 2010
YUVA South Asian Music Festival April 2010
Getting Real About Climate Change March 2010
It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine) February 2010
Asian Circle Dinner December 2009
North East Schools Art School October 2009
South Durham Summer Art School 2009 September 2009
Explore Programme Launch September 2009
17th Annual Ganesh Festival September 2009
Indian Summer Celebratory Event September 2009
Don't Shout at the Telly, Change What's On It! March 2009
the great sustainable energy debate October 2008
Summer art school in South Durham September 2008
Student Conference July 2008
Developing world challenges March 2008