Birth Rites Collection’s Summer School is a unique programme of lectures, workshops, seminars and one-to-one tutorials. This intensive programme will introduce you to the collection and facilitate a dialogue between you, your practice, this year’s themes, and the artworks. The Birth Rites Collection Summer School is led by artist and BRC Curator Helen Knowles and artist Dr. Leni Dothan. The course will empower you to articulate your own practice and responses to the collection in a supportive environment whilst exploring critical perspectives in the field of birth.
Birth Rites Collection Summer School 2025
4-day course (In-person)
University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7NU, UK
7th – 10th July 2025, 10:00 – 17:00 (with some late evenings)
Cost: £650 per person / £500 concession (for artists, students and those with a low-income)
15 places available, bookings are secured with a £100 deposit.
On-campus accommodation is available to book at an additional fee
Online course
Wednesday evenings 19.00 – 21.30 (BST), 11th June – 2nd July 2025
& Saturday 28th June, 14.00 – 17.00 (BST)
£550 per person / £400 concession (for artists, students and those with a low-income)
Bookings are secured with a £100 deposit
We will award one bursary place to the Summer School this year. To apply, please email [email protected] with a letter outlining your financial situation and links to your artistic work. The deadline for bursary applications is Friday 9th May 2025. If you are a member of an artist union or Art Fund you are entitled to a further discount of £50.
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Summer School workshops will explore the aesthetic, ethical, political and visual discourses of birth via text, film, and performance. In addition, this year we present a unique opportunity to engage with a curated selection of works from the collection that are not ordinarily accessible to the public. In a dedicated space (in person & online), these pieces will enrich participants’ engagement of the summer school themes.
Summer School themes include:
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Navigating mortality from preterm birth to post-partum
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Artistic responses to preterm birth
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How the collection informs and unpacks different perspectives in midwifery, medicine and education, and its potential to improve practice and policy
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The Collection’s impact on feminist art practices and the rehabilitation of visual discourses of birth into art history
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Censorship of artworks on birth, institutional responses, ethics and the law
2025 speakers include: Griselda Pollock (online keynote), Anna Perach, Hannah Conway, Courtney Conrad, Catherine Williamson, Andrea Khora, Helen Knowles and Leni Dothan, with more announced soon.
Any questions? Read our FAQs for more information about the BRC Summer School.
Images: Unborn by Puck Verkade, 2021 , The Crowning by Judy Chicago 1980-1985, Kinderwunsch by Ana Casas Broda, 2006–12, courtesy of the artists and Birth Rites Collection
For more information click here
