Dear Colleague,

The ASA is delighted to invite contributions to its first anthropology festival to be held in Manchester in April 2024. The festival is designed to celebrate anthropology and bring new audiences to our work, and is one of a number of new initiatives to encourage more people to be curious about our work, and to appreciate what social anthropology can bring to the world. Alongside the festival, we will hold the annual Firth Lecture, and we encourage ASA networks to bring their annual meetings to Manchester as well.

We are thrilled that the new festival will be inaugurated along with a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the department at Manchester University, and we look forward to welcoming ASA members and others to the events. The call for contributions is below, and please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the organisers if you would like to discuss any ideas prior to making a proposal.

Association of Social Anthropology’s Public Anthropology Festival 2024
& 75th Anniversary of Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester

The Association of Social Anthropology (ASA) is expanding the range of its activities and will be moving toward an alternate-year cycle of holding a conference in odd-years, and a different event in even-years. In April 2024, we are delighted to be doing something completely new, a public facing festival to showcase anthropology and the work of anthropologists: PeopleFest.
 
The festival will be facilitated by the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester, with the support of the School of Social Sciences in the Faculty of Humanities. A Festival Committee will produce a varied programme of public facing activities, including working with partner organisations in various locations across the city.
 
We are now calling for participants who would like to produce an event within the festival. Do you have an idea for a creative event to engage a public audience and raise awareness of the amazing things that anthropologists do? This could be:

• A performance
• An exhibition
• A film screening and Q&A
• An interview
• A workshop
• A book talk
• Something hands-on!

To apply, please complete the files linked below and send all listed files to caroline.parker@manchester.ac.uk by September 15th, 2023.

• Application form 
• Proposed budget (we understand this will be preliminary, so don’t worry if you can’t fill out every section at this initial round).
• Project lead’s resume or CV 

A panel will be convened to consider applications, and will evaluate them according to quality, feasibility, and the likely availability of a suitable venue. Decisions will be made by October 2023.