On Tuesday 15th October 2019, the Art History department at the Open University will be hosting an afternoon event in London for teachers and museum educators on the challenges and opportunities of teaching Art History from a global perspective. We will draw upon our experience of co-producing BBC’s Civilisations and of creating our new third level module and its textbooks, Art and its Global Histories.

2019 marks fifty years since the foundation of the Open University. The department of Art History at the OU has followed its mission of widening participation, most recently with our Open Arts Objects project. The new A-Level Art History specification has widened the discipline by incorporating a global curriculum. It seems a crucial time to address how these changes in the discipline can attract and encourage new interests in, and new audiences for, Art History.

Bringing together a variety of educators who approach the history of art from many different perspectives, the event will enable conversations, brainstorming, networking, and reflection. The event is aimed at sharing best practice, providing an opportunity to reflect on where the discipline is and where it is going, and addressing some of the challenges of teaching Art History in a global age.