Raising the Bar

Overview

Ever considered how great lectures would be if you could sip on your favourite drop at the same time? That's basically the idea behind Raising the Bar.

The worldwide initiative which has already dropped by New York, Hong Kong, London and Melbourne aims to make education a part of a city's pop culture. Instead of wasting away with disposable content on the couch and using watering holes to simply drown the brain, the series intends to raise the bar on the content people consume in their everyday lives through knowledge-driven events in unusual locations.

Presented by the University of Auckland, the first-ever Auckland edition of Raising the Bar will take place on August 29 with 20 talks across 10 inner-city bars. Topics range from how to teach kids about terrorism to how to build pop songs.

Doctoral candidate and performing arts educator Carlene Newall de Jesus will give insight into the health benefits of dance and examine the challenges of getting 'non-dancers' to bust a move; Professor of Indigenous Studies Tracey McIntosh will frame up a world without prisons; Professor Peter O'Connor will investigate how and why people become terrorists and what can we do to stop that happening; PhD student Jasmine Plows will observe whether the answer to obesity lies in the womb; APRA Silver Scroll winner and one-time Kayne session musician Godfrey de Grut will dissect the art of creating a pop song; and Professor John Montgomery will uncover things we can learn about ourselves from the brain of a shark.

Registrations open on July 20 to secure a bar stool at one or more of the venues. For the full list of events and venues visit: www.rtbevent.com.