I’m pleased to announce that Robert’s freelance courses for September are now available for registration! In a break with long-standing tradition, we’re now offering two freelance online courses per week, in addition to the WEA courses (however they eventually emerge).

First, we are re-running one of Robert’s favourites: Thieves, Scholars and Dilettanti: The birth of archaeology. A few of you have already done this, but many alumni of various Roman and classical courses have especially enjoyed episodes from the early modern fascination with all things ancient and pre-historic. We hope that this course - starting with the adventures of early (and necessarily wealthy!) amateurs, and tracing the early stages of the professionalisation of archaeology, with some (…how should I put it…?) “characters” along the way - will be of interest.

Secondly, we have a brand new course in our art history strand: Art Nouveau. Robert has been eager to develop this one for some time now (not just because he likes looking at pretty pictures... but quite a bit because that!). This is, of course, a natural follow-up to The Impressionists and Post-Impressionism, but it is not necessary to have done either before Art Nouveau, as the course assumes no prior knowledge.

You may notice that we have revised our registration fees for 2021-22. In last year’s flurry of activity to get Robert’s freelance courses online tout de suite, we mapped our fees to those of WEA, with a hefty discount for double bookings. Once we were able to step back and breathe, we had to concede, reluctantly, that we cannot sustain our current level of activity at those rates - not least because we don’t receive the subsidies which allow WEA courses to be priced as they are. This is not a decision which we have taken lightly. We are fortunate to be in a position in which we don’t need much income - we don’t need to thrive, but we do need to survive! We hope that you agree that an increase of £2 per week on the single fee and a 50% reduction for a second person sharing a screen will still offer good value for money.

Finally, there is still space on A History of York, which starts on 10 June. For those of you already booked - and, indeed, for those of you who are still thinking about it! - I’ve updated the course page with the session titles to whet your appetites!

NB Registration for A History of York is still at the 20-21 rate.

So without further ado, voila (click on the course titles to go to the relevant course pages)…

A History of York

10 weeks, on Thursdays, 2.15-4.15, from 10 June. 

Art Nouveau

10 weeks, on Wednesdays, 7.15-9.15, from 22 September

Thieves, Scholars and Dilettanti: The birth of archaeology

10 weeks, on Thursdays, 2.15-4.15, from 23 September

NB Details of Robert’s WEA courses will follow as soon as they’re confirmed.