2016 Princess of Asturias Laureate for Social Sciences Mary Beard will return to Asturias for the special edition of the "Taking the Floor"

2016 Princess of Asturias Laureate for Social Sciences Mary Beard will return to Asturias to participate in the events on the occasion of the special edition of the “Taking the Floor” cultural programme for schools in the Principality of Asturias, which has been extended for the first time to include schools nationwide.

This edition was convened last November to mark the tenth anniversary of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Asturias as Honorary President of the institution, which also coincides with the ten years since the launching of this project. The proposed activities are linked to the work of two Laureates who have already participated in this program: namely, Mary Beard and Sandra Myrna Díaz, 2019 Princess of Asturias Laureate for Scientific and Technical Research, who will also participate in the closing events of this edition next March.

Meeting with students

As part of the program, Mary Beard will hold a meeting with a representative group of teachers and students from thirty-eight schools from Asturias and other Spanish communities, such as Andalusia and Aragon, who have participated in the “The Adventure of the Classics... to be continued” activity inspired by her work.

In this new proposal, Mary Beard invited students to look at the past in a different way to establish correlations between the ancient and modern world, exploring the Greco-Roman past in search of its links and repercussions in contemporary culture. This activity has recorded a participation of 613 students, with 189 projects having been received.

Moderated by historian and communicator Paco Álvarez, the event will take place at 11:30 am on Wednesday, 12th February at the Real Instituto de Jovellanos Secondary School in Gijón.

Meeting with the public

The following day, Thursday, 13th February, Mary Beard will participate in an event open to the public and led by the journalist Guillermo Fesser, at 7:30 p.m at the Niemeyer Centre in Avilés.

The Foundation will make tickets available to the public for this event. These can be purchased through the website. The registration period will open at 10:00 am on Saturday, 8th February.

Taking the Floor

The goal of the “Taking the Floor” cultural programme for schools in the Principality of Asturias is to bring the work and careers of the recipients of Princess of Asturias Awards into the classrooms. Since its launch in 2015, this programme has boasted participation by more than 55 700 students from 259 schools in Asturias. In 2017, Her Majesty Queen Leticia held meetings at El Quirinal Primary School (Avilés) and Jerónimo González Secondary School (Sama de Langreo) with a delegation of teachers and students from the 74 schools that participated in the programme in 2016. The “Taking the Floor” programme was suspended in 2020 due to the public health situation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.