Being Human Festival (UK humanities festival, 5-14 Nov 2026, theme "Crossroads"): amplify now, partner a university for 2027

Harvested 2026-10-29 (skills harvest c3d2ef5b). The festival's own site sits behind a bot wall, so several figures come from search snippets and are marked.

What it is

• The UK's national festival of the humanities, run by the School of Advanced Study, University of London. Each year researchers at universities and research organisations team up with local community and cultural partners to put on free public events (sas.ac.uk snippet; Swansea University page, read).
• 2026: 5-14 Nov, theme "Crossroads", and the programme is live (Being Human homepage snippet; Swansea University festival page, read; Cardiff University Facebook post snippet: "All events are free … venues across Cardiff"). One homepage snippet said "4-19 November 2026". The organiser's guidelines PDF and the university pages say 5-14 Nov, so use 5-14.
• Applications for 2026 are closed. Hubs must "engage with carefully chosen cultural or community partners (e.g. a school, a charity, an arts organisation)" (2026 Application Guidelines PDF snippet). The FAQ welcomes projects with "artists, practitioners … or any other researchers" when they fit (FAQ snippet). A small heritage business cannot apply on its own: a university researcher leads, and we would be the community partner.
• Scale, by the organiser's own numbers (2025 highlights page, snippet only, not opened): 232 events, 15,000 audience members, 41 towns and cities, 125 venues, 57 universities. 2022 evaluation PDF (snippet): 63 organisers reported ~18,776 attendees across 173 events.
• Wales precedent: 2025 had a joint Cardiff University + Swansea University hub, "Being Human Between the Lines: Cardiff and Swansea", aimed at amplifying marginalised voices. Cardiff's own write-up reports 13 events over 10 days and 605 members of the public around Port Talbot and Swansea (cardiff.ac.uk story snippet; page blocked to us). In 2026 Swansea runs events at Taliesin Arts Centre and Volcano Theatre. These include "Share Your Ancient History!", a workshop where researchers and a content creator turn history into social posts (Swansea page, read).

Why it matters

• It is the one national event where university historians actively look for community partners with local stories. "Crossroads" suits a farm on the Cardiff-Penarth road and the meeting of Welsh and English. A partnership brings a credible host, a free venue, university press and an audience we cannot buy, all at zero spend.
• The timing clashes this year: 5-14 Nov overlaps Bonfire Night (5 Nov) and our Remembrance quiet window (6-11 Nov).

How to do it

1. This year, amplify only. After the quiet window, on 12 or 13 Nov, post one non-selling item. Point to a free Cardiff/Swansea Being Human event that touches local or Welsh history, and pair it with one record of ours on the same theme (a "crossroads" record, such as a road, boundary or language change). Name the event; send no DMs and no tags asking for anything.
2. For 2027, watch the call. The 2026 call was announced in early 2026 (SAS Instagram snippet, date not checked), so set a reminder to check beinghumanfestival.org in Jan-Feb 2027.
3. Find the researcher, not the institution. Look for Cardiff/Swansea humanities staff who led 2025-26 hub events or work on Welsh local, landscape or legal history. Offer something concrete: digitised records, a bilingual story sheet, a site walk route (Valeways skill) and audience channels. Let them lead the application.
4. Keep receipts: attendance and ref-link visits feed the next pitch.

How we apply it to Cedwyn

• Post (owner: auto-social queue), Thu 12 Nov 2026 ~12:00Z, FB + IG: "Croesffordd / Crossroads": one dated record from the catalogue showing a crossroads moment at Llandough or Leckwith, plus "This week is Being Human, the UK festival of the humanities. Free events across Cardiff and Swansea until 14 Nov." Cedwyn internal link with ?ref=beinghuman-2026. No selling. First check the Cardiff/Swansea programme live for a relevant event to name, and verify it is free and still bookable.
• Kill rule: under 15 visits on ref=beinghuman-2026 by 21 Nov means no repeat amplification post next year; the partnership proposal stands on its own.
• Editorial: never name the project lead; no banned words; no insignia; nothing about the court case or family holdings in anything aimed at university partners. Lead with records and local history.

Sources

• swansea.ac.uk (read 2026-10-29)
• beinghumanfestival.org (snippet; 403 to us)
• beinghumanfestival.org (snippet)
• beinghumanfestival.org (snippet: 2025 numbers)
• beinghumanfestival.org (snippet)
• cardiff.ac.uk (snippet: 13 events, 605 public)
• facebook.com (snippet)
• sas.ac.uk (snippet)

Raw Markdown: being-human-festival-crossroads-amplify-2027-university-partner.md · version and changes: changelog · machine index: agents.json