University of Kent Magazine | AU/WI 2019 | www.kent.ac.uk
FEATURE: COMMUNITY
Welcome to GULBENKIAN Gulbenkian is the University of Kent’s Arts Centre offering innovative, engaging and high quality arts activity for the public, staff and students. It provides a key role in delivering the University commitment to public engagement and has a particular focus on the creative empowerment of children and young people. Gulbenkian’s Story: Radical Roots & Dangerous Ideas
20
to experiment, discover and create. Time that is squeezed from busy daily life, artistic space that is in short supply here in Kent, precious opportunities to speak up and change the world.
Gulbenkian celebrated its 50th anniversary in summer 2019, forged in a time when conventions were being questioned and traditions being challenged. In 1969, The Vietnam War raged, Woodstock raved, man landed on the moon, the Paris student rebellion was fresh in the mind. Young people felt they could change the world, the University of Kent was a hotbed of radical action, using creative thinking to find answers to society’s problems.
Gulbenkian is a powder keg, where young people, artists, academics and communities meet and exchange ideas. As these new ideas explode, we see confidence grow, careers form, talent get uncovered, work get created and the future unfurl.
50 years on, Gulbenkian remains an organisation with a radical vision. We believe that young people’s voices must be heard and we are committed to providing time, space and opportunities for them
We spoke to students, staff, alumni and the local community who have made the Gulbenkian their own over the past 50 years. You can read their thoughts and memories overleaf.
