The Royal Society of Edinburgh-funded project the Eighteenth-century Arts Education Research Network (EAERN), established by John Butt (Principal Investigator), Brianna Robertson-Kirkland and Elizabeth Ford, launched its activities in January 2017. EAERN is a ground-breaking enterprise that brings together practitioners and scholars to investigate new approaches to using eighteenth-century arts educational materials. Eighteenth-century practitioners in the field left a legacy in the form of education treatises and manuals that have played a significant role in establishing the environments in which modern arts education currently resides, such as music conservatories, schools of art, dance academies and universities. This has resulted in a separation of the artistic disciplines within the modern educational context, which can be problematic for both students and scholars when they try to develop clear methodologies and a common terminology when working with historic materials.
This was one of the main concerns discussed at the popular workshop ‘Women and Education in the Long Eighteenth Century’ held at the Glasgow Women's Library in September 2016 (see my report in Eighteenth-Century Music 14/1, 171–173). Though the aim of the workshop was to consider the roles played by women in all education throughout the period, topics of conversation tended to concentrate on arts subjects such as music, dance, literature and needlework. Elizabeth Ford and I, as co-organizers, realized that this workshop represented a rare opportunity for eighteenth-century arts scholars to come together and discuss their methodologies. Further discussions focussed on common concerns surrounding the wider understanding of arts education within the period and the effect of arts education in a modern context. The concluding roundtable at this event highlighted work taking place within the field, and called for more opportunities for scholars as well as practitioners to come together for further colloquia, seminars and workshops that could provide opportunities for collaboration. A research network provides an ideal framework within which to pursue these goals.
The aim of EAERN is to bring national and international interdisciplinary scholars of music, dance, art history, literature, education and heritage together to collaborate for two years on the development of new approaches to the study of eighteenth-century arts education, focusing on how to engage with historical materials within contemporary artistic practice. During this time EAERN aims to investigate how eighteenth-century arts education has affected the development of Western society and the development of artisan institutions such as music conservatories, schools of art and academies of dance as well as universities; to establish a dialogue between researchers about how they currently analyse, deconstruct and use eighteenth-century education materials in practice; and to try and establish new standardized methodologies that will be valid across various disciplines.
EAERN is actively providing forums for such discussions through the establishment of a practice-based workshop series held at the University of Glasgow, social media activities – including a blog series – and the hosting of three colloquia, the first of which took place at the University of Glasgow Library in May 2017. Librarian Robert MacLean provided a fascinating insight into the eighteenth-century educational materials held within Archives and Special Collections that include treatises on music, dance and drawing as well as ephemera advertising schools, institutes and private teaching services. The wealth of material has emphasized the important role of arts education at the time, and this was continually accentuated by the speakers at the colloquium. Karol Mullaney-Dignam (University of Limerick) provided an in-depth discussion of the significant role arts scholarship has to play in enhancing historical accounts, and demonstrated that accounts records can reveal a hidden history of music practice taking place in elite Irish households throughout the period. Nel Whiting (University of Dundee) continued this theme, posing that hidden histories could be found by examining the construction and layout of eighteenth-century family portraits, as these were a vehicle for promoting values in a given society. Jennifer Thorp (New College Oxford) outlined the present state of eighteenth-century dance research in the UK, its scope, resources and opportunities, which led us neatly into a workshop provided by Concerto Caledonia on eighteenth-century Scottish ceilidh dancing. A series of unfamiliar steps was patiently taught to the attendees by violinist Aaron MacGregor, who also played the dance tunes alongside cellist Alison McGillivray. The workshop was an excellent example of research and practice coming together, an aspect which EAERN will cultivate in the upcoming workshop series. Details regarding EAERN's future activities are available from their website: https://eaern.wordpress.com/.
