The new festival of talks - Sorted! - which runs 25-27 September - brings together artists and art historians, botanic garden experts, scientists, historians, curators, horticulturalists, researchers and writers from Cambridge, Oxford, the RHS, the Natural History Museum and more, Sorted! will explore how we sort and organise the natural world.
Each day of the Festival is themed to provoke and shape discussion:
Sorted! by Science and Art, Tuesday 25 September, 10.15am - 3.00pm
Speakers: Dr Sam Brockington; Dr Chris Thorogood; Hettie Ward; Charlotte Brooks; Dr Lauren Gardiner; Dr Sara Lodge
The theme for Sorted! by Science and Art is inspired by the Council for Education: Department for Science and Art who commissioned the Garden’s Director, John Stevens Henslow, to draw and produce a ground-breaking set of botanical teaching diagrams in 1858.
Sorted! by Sight and Scent, Wednesday 26 September, 10.15am - 3.00pm
Speakers: Prof Beverley Glover; Dr Claudia Tobin; Prof David Coomes; Dr Ray Wightman; Dr Twigs Way; Dr Sophie Read
Founder of the Botanic Garden, Professor John Henslow gave the children in his parish school ‘instruction in botany as a useful and not unimportant method of awakening curiosity’. How do we look at plants today? Perspectives today range from the molecular to the poetic, but all start with curiosity.
Sorted! by Word and Deed, Thursday 27 September, 10.15am - 3.00pm
Speakers: Shelley Innes; Dr Caroline Cornish; Dr Alison Foster; Dr Ed Turner; Dr Sandy Knapp; Sally Petitt
How have the words and deeds of scientists, writers, collectors, researchers and conservationists shaped our understanding of the natural world and our place in it? Sorted! By Word and Deed will explore.
Juliet Day, Project Manager of CUBG’s Rising Path project and Sorted! Festival organiser says: “The idea for Sorted! came out of the wonderful adventure we’ve been on with the Rising Path, a project which has been enriched hugely by the different inputs of many experts in their field - collection curators, scientists, landscape historians, conservationists and many more. The exciting and diverse Sorted! programme will appeal to everyone curious about how and why we have always sought to sort and name nature. And with each inspirational day rounded off with tours of the Garden, the collections and the just-opened Rising Path, going back to school this September will never be more enjoyable than at Sorted!.”
Hosted in the Sainsbury Laboratory, within the Botanic Garden, the talks are followed by optional tours of the Botanic Garden’s plant collections in the company of knowledgeable Garden staff, including a visit to the newly-opened Rising Path which has been designed to offer a new view on the Garden’s historic Systematic Beds.
One-day and full-festival tickets are now on sale from the Cambridge Live Box Office and cost £30.00 for one day, or get completely sorted with a three-day, full festival ticket at £75. In addition to all the talks, the ticket price also includes admission to the Botanic Garden, mid-morning refreshments and lunch from the Garden Café, and end-of-the-day tours.
Online bookings can be made via www.botanic.cam.ac.uk by following the Sorted! link; by telephone on 01223 357851 or in person at the Cambridge Live box office, 2 Wheeler Street, Cambridge.
About CUBG: Supporting leading scientific research and welcoming 300,000 visitors a year, Cambridge University Botanic Garden is one of the largest University-owned botanic gardens in the world. The Garden’s living plant collection of over 8,000 species is spread across 40 acres of landscaped gardens.
The collection, which includes iconic and endangered trees and plants, supports University research towards meeting many of the world’s greatest future challenges (such as food security, climate change and medicine). The Garden also inspires schools, the local community and visitors from around the world about the importance of plants and plant science, horticulture and the joy of gardening.
The Rising Path and Systematic Beds: The Systematic Beds at Cambridge University Botanic Garden are of global heritage significance. Laid out in 1845 to demonstrate plant diversity and to teach plant taxonomy (the science of classifying plants) the Systematic Beds remain bold, visionary and beautiful to this day and are the inspiration for Sorted!.
The Rising Path gives a unique elevated view over the Beds. Intriguing, inviting and beautifully crafted, the Rising Path will inspire visitors to explore the Systematic Beds with fresh eyes and questioning minds. The Rising Path opens to visitors on Saturday 22 September 2018. For more information about the Rising Path please contact CUBG or visit www.botanic.cam.ac.uk