Hello Brisbane Free University!

If you’ve maneuvered your way to this site, you might have noticed that things here are a little out of date. But never fear! The Brisbane Free University project is still going strong – we are just a little behind on our digital administration.

If you’re new to the BFU project, we are a community political education project based in so-called brisbane. The Brisbane Free University began in 2012, co-founded by Fern Thompsett, Briohny Walker & Anna Carlson in a carpark under the old Westpac Bank in West End. Initially, the BFU primarily involved free, public lectures, discussions and workshops hosted in public spaces. Now, the project has expanded to include other collaborative projects, including research collectives and a regular radical reading group.

While we work on overhauling our website, please get in touch with us directly if you’re looking to get involved, or want to learn more about any of the following projects!

The BFU Radical Reading Group

The most consistent part of the Brisbane Free University at present is our radical reading group. The reading group meets fortnightly in Woolloongabba on Thursday evenings from 6pm – 8pm. We select texts for the following year as a group, and we share the responsibilities of facilitating discussions, providing readings, and recording audio versions of the texts we are engaging with.

We have four sessions remaining in 2023, and we will be creating our reading list for next year in late November. If you’re interested in getting involved in the radical reading group, please get in touch with us at brisbanefreeuniversity @ gmail (dot) com and we will send you details about how to get involved. If you’re on facebook, the easiest way to stay up to date is to join the private group: “Brisbane Free University Radical Reading Group”. You’ll be able to see all of the events for each reading group, as well as find copies of the reading materials for each week.

Brisbane Free University Activist Research Collective

In addition to public events and reading groups, BFU members also work collaboratively on independent research projects and collaborations with local artists, activists groups and community organisations. We have collaborated with artists on public installations, and we frequently overlap with our sister project Radio Reversal on 4zzz.

If you’re interested in learning about some of the longer term research collaborations that we are part of, or if you’d like to be involved, please get in touch with us at brisbanefreeuniversity @ gmail (dot) com.

Brisbane Free University public events

The BFU remains committed to regular public events, but in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic it has been more challenging to organise regular public lectures and workshops. We plan in 2024 to work towards some other political education projects, including short courses, workshops & symposiums.

If you’re interested in being involved with organising or attending any events, or supporting the Brisbane Free University in any other way, please get in touch with us at brisbanefreeuniversity @ gmail dot com.