We are thrilled to be strengthening our longstanding partnership as we join forces to create a more inclusive and accessible environment to study Shakespeare. This year's Shakespeare and Race Festival is a joint endeavour full of exciting events such as workshops, student performances, an international symposium, and conversations with lodestars in the fields of poetry and Shakespeare- the partnership, the festival and our initiative, the Early Modern Scholars of Colour Network, all testify to our commitment to open up Shakespeare studies with the aim of developing a much more diverse academy.
Professor Farah Karim-Cooper, Professor of English at King’s and Co-Director of Education at Shakespeare’s Globe
23 August 2022
Shakespeare Centre London launched in partnership with Shakespeare's Globe
Formalising 20 years of collaboration between two world-renowned institutions, Shakespeare’s Globe and King’s have established a new research centre with a focus on critical knowledge, creative practice and social justice.
Shakespeare Centre London, the new research centre from King's and Shakespeare's Globe, will be a place of excellence for Shakespeare studies, dedicated to exploring Shakespeare and early modern literary works.
The Shakespeare Centre London will bring together academics from the Globe and King’s, with the aim of being a beacon for the inclusive study of Shakespeare, text, performance, and premodern critical race studies. With its focus on critical knowledge, creative practice and social justice, the Centre will strive to be an inclusive space for the study and dissemination of new research.
The research centre will build on and formalise two decades of successful collaborations between two renowned institutions. Previous collaborations between King's and Shakespeare's Globe have included the joint MA in Shakespeare Studies and the co-sponsorship of biennial postgraduate conferences, and most recently the Early Modern Scholars of Colour network.
The first joint activity to emerge from this exciting new centre will be co-curating and co-hosting the fourth annual Shakespeare and Race Festival 2022.
First held in 2018, the festival is an event series originally conceived and curated by Professor Farah Karim-Cooper, Professor of English at King’s and Co-Director of Education at Shakespeare’s Globe.
The partnership is born out a long-established link with the Department of English within the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at King's - which aims to interrogate and explore some of society's biggest challenges.
The Faculty of Arts and Humanities at King’s College London is delighted to be launching our new partnership with Shakespeare’s Globe at the Race in Shakespeare festival. The festival is a great example of what we can do together, and the ways in which our work with the past can address urgent issues of the present and the future. Our partnership has lasted over 20 years but this new deeper relationship puts our combined research, educational programmes, outreach work and world-class entertainment at the forefront of culture in the UK and beyond.
Professor Marion Thain, Executive Dean, Faculty of Arts & Humanities
The festival aims to highlight the importance of race in the consideration of Shakespeare and to give a platform to scholars, actors, writers, theatre-makers, and educators of colour. The theme of the festival is ‘Spoken Word(s)’, exploring the intersection between poetry and performance, with speakers and artists including Terrance Hayes (award-winning Poet and Author), Karen Ann Daniels (Artistic Director, Folger Theatre), Iqbal Khan (Associate Director, Birmingham Rep) and Akiya Henry (Much Ado About Nothing, RSC), and the official launch of the Early Modern Scholars of Colour network, with more to be announced.
For more information about the Shakespeare and Race Festival 2022, click here.
