"These events are amazing, I love them! Keep it up - you're making the world better."

Like most things, The Philosophers' Yard began as an idea.

This particular idea had its roots in Birmingham - a city full of diverse cultures, traditions, and ways of understanding life. However, these ideas rarely interacted with each other. Whether due to social media echo chambers or people not associating with others outside of their own academic, cultural or religious tradition, we had missed opportunities to learn from each other and to grow in wisdom.

The name 'The Philosophers' Yard' was chosen because the literal meaning of a philosopher is someone who loves (philien) wisdom (sophia). The idea and dream of The Philosophers' Yard remains to create a suitably robust, balanced and open space for people to come together to explore life's big questions.

Work on The Philosophers' Yard began in early 2022, with the creation of a name and visual identity (see an early draft above - thankfully we were able to employ a designer to bring this to life!)

In May 2022, a survey was circulated via social media, providing  an opportunity for respondents to vote on topics that they would be interested in learning about and to join the planning team.

From summer 2022, a small group of volunteers began to meet regularly to set the vision for The Philosophers' Yard and to plan the first series of events, which had been selected unanimously from the survey as being 'Individualism and Collectivism'. All event themes are chosen democratically by attendees.

Our inaugural series of events took place across May and June 2023, featuring academics, practitioners and performers from across the region.

In September 2023, The Philosophers' Yard became a registered charity, number 1204617.

The core activities of The Philosophers' Yard are events and education.

All events are carefully curated to ensure that ideas are presented in an accessible and welcoming format. We identify a diverse set of speakers – both academics and practitioners – to provide a breadth of perspectives on a chosen topic, and begin events with a creative activity, such as meditation, live music or spoken word, which serves to ‘ground’ attendees at the start of the event.

Events are designed to be inclusive:

• All events are hybrid, allowing attendees to join online.
• We have flexible ticketing prices, including free tickets, so that cost is not a barrier to participation.
• Where permission is granted, recordings of talks and performances are uploaded to YouTube (see Gallery).

We are in the process of developing an 'education arm' for The Philosophers' Yard that will provide tools and guidance for corporate organisations, community groups, and schools.