Fine arts research is the focus of the 2007 Wendy Michener Lecture tomorrow

Bruce Brown, pro-vice-chancellor for research at the University of Brighton, England, will be the featured speaker for the 2007 Wendy Michener Lecture on Oct. 11 in the Faculty of Fine Arts. He will give a public presentation on “Research in the Fine Arts” at 7pm in the Joseph G. Green Studio Theatre at York.

Right: Bruce Brown

Educated in graphic design at the Royal College of Art in London, Brown previously served as director of the UK Higher Education Academy’s Subject Centre for Art, Design & Media and for 19 years as dean of the Faculty of Arts & Architecture at the University of Brighton. He was instrumental in the University of Brighton’s winning of a £5 million grant from the UK Funding Councils to establish a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning through Design in partnership with the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Royal College of Art.

He was recently selected by the UK Funding Councils as one of 15 distinguished academics to chair the UK’s national Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008) panel for research in the arts and humanities. He has served on many other national committees including the Arts and Humanities Research Council and UK Council for Graduate Education, as well as international organizations including the Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation.

Brown has lectured widely both in the UK and abroad on his research concerning visual memory. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts since 1971, and was recently elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art.

The presentation by Brown will also serve as the keynote address for the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Fine Arts Deans, being hosted this year by York Faculty of Fine Arts Dean Phillip Silver. The conference will bring deans of fine arts programs at post-secondary institutions from across the country to York’s Keele campus.

The Wendy Michener Lecture was established in the Faculty of Fine Arts in honour of the noted Canadian arts critic and journalist Wendy Roland Michener (1935-1969), to mark her contribution towards the promotion of cultural awareness, development of cultural policy, and excellence in journalism and the arts in Canada. The lecture provides a forum for discussion of issues and developments in the Canadian cultural scene, past and present.

These annual lectures are made possible by the Wendy Michener Memorial Fund, instituted at York in 1986 by the late Roland Michener and Norah Michener in memory of their daughter.

Admission to the Wendy Michener Lecture is free and everyone is welcome. The Joseph G. Green Theatre is located off the main lobby in York’s Centre for Film & Theatre on York’s Keele campus.