COVID-19 & ART #9: NEW initiative - The Arts Society Connected

At 11am today there will be a lecture as part of a new initiative for those isolated at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Arts Society Connected

The Arts Society Connected is a brand NEW initiative orgnised by The Arts Society.

We want to enrich lives through the arts: even if we cannot leave our homes.
During the the current situation many people will feel isolated and lonely.
On this site we want to connect people through a shared love for the arts.

There is

• a Forum - A friendly and informative place where Members and our wider community can connect and share.
• a Blog - do read their first post about the new initiative “ENRICHING LIVES THROUGH THE ARTS” - a 4 minute read with news of an arts quiz!
• A fortnightly schedule of lectures - see below. The first one is today at 11am!

This is who the Arts Society is

Lecture about Velaquez Las Meninas

You can actually watch the first lecture now! ( see below)

This is the link to the Arts Society's YouTube Channel. Do follow them because once they get a 1,000 followers they get to do more things with their videos!

For some reason the video is NOT LISTED on the YouTube Channel and I assume this is an oversight. (It seems very odd if it was deliberate!)  The link is https://youtu.be/i_ZaNuKgPIg

(I'm a bit surprised they haven't done this before - I've got more followers on Making A Mark Videos than they have!)

Enjoy the arts at home with a series of films by Arts Society Accredited Lecturers, published every fortnight. We begin with an insight into Las Meninas by Velazquez from lecturer Dr. Jacqueline Cockburn - filmed at home.

According to this morning's 'The Guardian' article  Arts Society to launch online lectures for over-70s

The first lecture being broadcast at 11am on Tuesday is by the art historian Jacqueline Cockburn and was recorded in her home by her son. She had been due to lecture on Picasso at the society’s now-cancelled annual general meeting and suggested Las Meninas, which hangs in the Prado in Madrid, as a shorter alternative for the new project.

I'm not sure what "broadcast" means in this context given the video is already online.....

There will be more lectures as follows - although no clue as yet as to what they will be about

• Sarah Dunant: 21 April - a British novelist, journalist, broadcaster, and critic.
• Mark Hill: 5 May TV presenter and dealer who specialises in producing ground-breaking & innovative books on new areas in 20thC design and decorative arts.
• Nicola Moorby: 19 May - An independent art historian specialising in British art of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I'm wondering whether she will do a rerun of 
• either Turner vs Constable: The Great British Paint Off
• or An Introduction to J. M. W. Turner: Theory and Practice
• or ‘As if by Magic: The Secrets of Turner’s Watercolour Techniques 
• Marc Allum: 2 June - a freelance art and antiques journalist, writer and broadcaster based in Wiltshire. He has been a miscellaneous specialist on the BBC Antiques Roadshow since 1998
• Rebecca Hossack: 16 June - a great champion of Non-Western artistic traditions, who has been exhibiting Western and Aboriginal art in her own gallery in London and New York since 1988
• Sandy Burnett: 30 June - a leading broadcaster, conductor, bassist, lecturer and evangelist for music

Each talk will be followed by a Q&A with the Lecturer on our dedicated Talks & Lectures Forum.

Please do join us in visiting our Lecturers in their homes from your home. 

I'm hoping they'll give us all a bit more notice next time.....