Action for the Arts and Humanities was set up in 2021 to assert the value, relevance, and importance of the humanities for addressing the challenges of the twenty-first century. We are a collective of like-minded students based in the Universities of York, Sheffield, and Leeds. We are frustrated and dismayed by the scale and scope of cuts to funding for arts and humanities education. As these cuts gain momentum, we use our collective voice to remember and celebrate the ways in which humanities scholarship can change the world for the better. We host activities and events to showcase the impact and significance of work in the field of the humanities and produce public pieces of work designed to remind politicians and society of what we are losing.

Action for the Arts and Humanities believes that humanities education is vital for developing the knowledge and skills society needs to navigate the twenty-first century successfully. We are ambitious on behalf of future generations, and we want skills in archival, historical, and literary analysis, critical thinking, structured communication, and persuasion to be available to everyone. We know that, as individuals, we have better, more informed ideas and we communicate those ideas more effectively because of our humanities education. On a global scale, by investigating diverse ways of knowing and thinking, the humanities offer new ways out of old structures, ways which can take account of the complexity of the world and find synergy and possibility where science and politics fail.

Our vision is of a society that understands and champions the value of humanities research, a society in which the humanities is equal to other fields of knowledge and in which students feel proud of their humanities education.

To achieve our vision, Action for the Arts and Humanities:

• Runs inter-disciplinary events which bring the tools, knowledge, and skills of humanities scholarship to bear on contemporary issues publicly showcases the outcomes from the events we run in a range of accessible media including blog posts and podcasts.

• Offers training opportunities for students inside and outside the WRoCAH network in how to be public intellectuals and advocate for the importance of the humanities.

• Forges links with groups inside and outside of academia to magnify our voice and lend weight to existing initiatives.

• Advocates for more investment in humanities scholarship by supporting national, local and regional campaigns.

• Takes every opportunity to highlight the skills, knowledge, and employability of humanities graduates to champion the value and relevance of humanities education.