AUSTRALIAN YOUTH HUMANITIES FORUM

Australian Youth Humanities Forum will be held on 18 – 19 January 2014 at The University of Melbourne.  The program is free of charge and will give 80 students entering Year 11 and Year 12 the chance to receive career guidance and mentoring from professionals working in the Arts and Humanities.  The weekend will also include inspiring talks by intellectual leaders such as philosopher Raimond Gaita.  Students apply by filling out a short 2-page application form (see link at the end of this article and on the forum website) by 29 November.  Applications are encouraged from students who enjoy humanities subjects.

To apply, see information and application details are on the leaflet and on the forum website.

http://www.youthhumanities.org/

Background information

Part festival of ideas, part careers fair, the Australian Youth Humanities Forum is an exciting new initiative that will offer a Humanities 

counterpart to the highly successful National Youth Science Forum (a summer school which educates VCE students about careers in science). 

The pilot Forum will bring together 100 participants (comprising Year 11 and 12 students, current undergraduates and professionals working in humanities-related fields) for two free days of career presentations, small-group discussions, plenary lectures, and mentoring sessions. The speakers will inspire and inform participants about pathways after university by sharing their own stories and offering advice. Participants will be exposed to a thought-provoking exchange of ideas with some of Australia’s leading public thinkers and humanities practitioners through keynote lectures addressing the relationship between creativity, critical thinking and citizenship. Students will have the opportunity to ask practical questions (How can I become a festival director?  An international development consultant?  A curator, writer or ethicist?) and intellectual ones (What is the relationship between literacy and democracy? 

What is the importance of history in society? How do the arts contribute to social change, and how can I join in?)

Founded by Bridget Vincent, a McKenzie Postdoctoral Research Fellow in English Literature at the University of Melbourne, the Forum was made possible by an $8,000 University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor's Engagement Award and the generous support of The General Sir John Monash Foundation and Janet Clarke Hall, a Residential College of the University of Melbourne.

For further information please email bridget.vincent@unimelb.edu.au

Or Michelle Rocca, Forum Liaison Teacher at McKinnon Secondary College, roc@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au

Michelle Rocca

Forum Liaison Teacher