Given that we’ve not been seeing some of you over the summer and we were getting in touch anyway, we thought it would be worth reminding you that this evening (8 September) sees the start of our first Ars Ludendi for Wright History course - The York Mystery Plays: History, culture, and performance.

It’s not too late to book! If you’d like a reminder, please click this link. And if you’re wondering why we’re clearly so happy to hand over the reins to other experts on this occasion, you may find enlightenment here (with a side-order of sniggers at some of the ridiculous things Robert and I got up to in our youth [“youth” is a relative term, non…?).

Secondly, regular readers will know that we’ve been working on the Wright History programme for January 2023 and beyond. As part of that, we’ve been re-evaluating our models of course duration and scheduling, now that we’re no longer tied to the rhythms of WEA. We are, of course, mindful that the rhythms of WEA (and, of course, of other course providers) suit you very well, so we’re trying to work out how to schedule things in a way which would best suit you, O Denizens, without throwing the baby out with the bathwater! Further details coming soon, at a website near you….

Thank you very much indeed to those of you who have let us know your thoughts on this following last month’s post. Your comments and suggestions have given us a truly welcome steer as to how we might best proceed.*

*[Further comments and suggestions, should anyone else feel so inclined, will, of course, also be most welcome!]

In the light of that feedback, and to help us to work out what our Denizens’ desires might be more generally, we thought that a little experiment might be in order. So…

• Like the idea of a tw0-session Short & Sweet course, but find Saturdays (as is now-traditional) tricky and would prefer it to be on a schoolday?

• Fancy a short and sweet ‘hit’ of something exciting without the commitment or expcnse of a 10-week course?

• Like the idea of exploring modern art, but don’t like evenings, so haven’t booked our previous modern art courses?

• Loved our previous modern art courses and want more, regardless of the day or time thereof?

• Well…

Ta-daaaahhh!!

Ladies and gentlemen, I present unto you…

Blast! The birth of British modern art

Thursdays (No really!! Thursday 17 & Thursday 24 November, 2.00-4.30pm).

And continuing the theme of experimentation….

One thing with which we’re wrestling is whether/when to offer reiterations of recent courses. This is an art, rather than a science, and it’s an art which we’ve yet to completely master!

Our experimental Denizens’ Choice of Byzantium, for example, has attracted little interest. I hasten to stress that we fully understand that things change - not only for the obvious reasons of diary clashes/change of heart/life stuff/rising gas bills, etc., but also - dare I say it? - perhaps because our other offered courses are simply too good to resist!

We’re wondering whether, in our bid to cover requests and “strands” (e.g. ancient history, classical, modern art, more “history-centred”) which have proven to be especially popular, we’re offering too many options per term - thereby not only ill-serving you but also inadvertently scuppering our chances of making Wright History a going concern. Are we spreading ourselves too thinly? Would you prefer to have fewer options per term, so as not to miss out on things you’d like to do? All thoughts would be most welcome!

Err… It’s perhaps worth saying here what we’ve explicitly/implicitly said in other contexts…. We’re both more than mindful that “showing our workings” and “thinking out loud” in this way is not the ideal way to be as slick and professional as some other course providers.

As most of you know, our respective professional backgrounds are not in things such as business, marketing, design, tech, data analysis, and business or financial modelling. We are extremely grateful that so many of you are willing to take the time and trouble to help us navigate these choppy waters! If our being explicit about such things is annoying, we apologize, and thank you for your patience and for staying with us regardless!

Anyway… if you’re wondering whether you might like to go Byzantine or, indeed, to anywhere/whenever else with us this coming term, to see all our courses currently available, please click here for a reminder of what we’ve got coming up.