Accredited Arts Society lecturer, Mary Alexander, guides us through time from the Gilded Age, the Ashcan Artists, and the Jazz Age to arrive in the city of New York today with its High Line and Reflecting Pools.

Whether New York holds a special place in your heart or is still waiting on your travel wish list, we’d love you to join us for this inspiring Special Interest Day.

This immersive experience will transport you straight to the heart of one of the world’s most iconic cities. Across three beautifully illustrated talks, Mary brings New York to life—capturing both the energy of the modern city and the elegance of the Gilded Age, when the Vanderbilts’ horse-drawn carriages made their way along Fifth Avenue.

Along the way, you’ll encounter the voices and stories behind the city’s cultural legacy. From writers such as Henry James, Edith Wharton and F. Scott Fitzgerald, to the art, architecture, design and photography that define New York’s character, Mary weaves together a rich and vivid portrait of the people, places and moments that shaped this extraordinary city.

It’s a chance to explore, imagine and experience New York in a whole new way.

10.00am to 3.00pm including light lunch.

The Abbey Centre, 10 Overslade Cl, Northampton NN4 0RZ

This special interest day is now full but we do have a WAITING LIST - please contact Gillian Dimbleby - gilldimbleby@msn.com

From 10am - 3pm

The Abbey Centre in East Hunsbury

Twentieth Century Theatre  (1900 - 2020) A day of three lectures by Giles Ramsay

This series of talks examines how the theatre responded to the extraordinary upheavals of the Great Depression, two World Wars, the Cold War, the Space Race and the Information Revolution.

We will consider how, throughout this age of extremes, the show still went on and continued reflecting our story right up to the present day.

Includes welcome tea/coffee and biscuits, and a buffet lunch. 
Giles Ramsay: Independent theatre director and producer who specializes in creating new work with artists in developing countries.  He is Course Leader in Theatre at the Victoria and Albert Museum.  He regularly lectures on the history and practice of theatre on the Queen Mary 2 as it sails from New York to the UK.  Giles combines academic analysis with hands-on experience to bring a unique insight into the world of the theatre.

If interested please get in touch via the CONTACT US page.

From 10am - 3pm

The Abbey Centre in East Hunsbury

Can Art Change the World?  Art with something to say
A day of three lectures by Val Woodgate

This series of talks will concentrate on those artists who have used their art to communicate ideas, opinions and fears about their world and, in doing so, tell us a great deal about the period in which the works of art were created.

Artists as varied as Goya, Manet, Chagall, Picasso, Grayson Perry, Ai Weiwei and many others created powerful, exciting, moving and sometimes disturbing works of art dealing with a variety of political and social concerns.

Includes welcome tea/ coffee and biscuits, and a buffet lunch. 
Val Woodgate: Lecturer at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, also at many other London galleries. She is also a former member of the teaching team at Dulwich Picture Gallery.

If interested please get in touch via the CONTACT US page.