Centre for Public Culture and Ideas
The Centre for Public Culture and Ideas is an interdisciplinary research centre. With members across humanities, creative arts and life sciences its central brief is to encourage greater collaboration between these areas, while articulating with contemporary debates in public culture and ideas. As part of this agenda, the centre regularly hosts seminars by internal and visiting scholars, public lectures and other public events.
Featured news
In April 2009, the Centre hosted the highly successful conference, 'Creative Communities: Sustailable Solutions to Social Inclusion'. In September 2010, the centre will host 'Creative Communities II: Culture, Identity, Inclusion'. The call for papers is out now and registration for this event has commenced.
About the centre
Our purpose is to conduct integrated and cross-disciplinary research into major contentious issues of our time and the new publics forming around these issues.
We value collaborations with universities and industry partners across sectors and welcome contacts from international and national research centres, academic institutions and others interested in public culture and ideas.
We promote cross-disciplinary research that addresses the question: 'How can cultural representations, practices and institutions promote public deliberation about questions of the common good in a pluralist society?' Such research is intended to explore:
- How value is assigned to the strange multiplicity (Jame Tully, 1995) represented by the term 'culture' in a globalising world;
- The ways culture is deployed in public spaces for civic, commercial and other purposes;
- The extent to which public disagreement is a creative force, capable of producing new forms of democratic association;
- The local and particular rationalities used to settle questions about justice and cultural recognition;
- The tensions inherent in the formation of communities of belonging and communicative publics;
- The ways "history" is invoked in public arenas.
We encourage partnerships with cultural institutions, public agencies and local government and community and corporate organisations. Through a program of publication, exhibitions and symposia, we aim to make the processes and outcomes of that research available to public audiences as well as scholarly communities.
If you would like to be informed about up-and-coming centre events such as seminars, book launches and public lectures, please visit our news and events page or join our mailing list.
News
Grand passion of Saul
Queensland Conservatorium is in opera season with four performances at the Conservatorium Theatre of Handel's breathtaking masterpiece Saul, from Sunday, September 13 to Saturday, September 19.
Popular music and mainstream audiences
How do television shows like Australian Idol fit into notions of contemporary popular music? What attracts youth audiences to ageing rock icons?
The Good Life Conference
What is meant by The Good Life? Does it mean the same to all Australians? Did the good old days really exist?