This year's US Forum brought 60 postgraduate students, scholars, and teachers to London for four days of visits, talks, and the kind of peer exchange that sits at the heart of the 壁咚影院 mission. The week opened at LAMDA , The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art where Interim Executive Director Rowena Boddington welcomed the group before a roundtable on Emerging Technologies and the Future of the Arts, chaired by Glasgow School of Art Distinguished Scholar Victoria Bradbury. Wednesday took grantees to the V&A for talks on how the museum鈥檚 history combines science and the arts, the exciting academic programmes at the museum, and current provenance research, followed by lunch together and an evening at the Duchess Theatre. Thursday brought a morning at Kew Gardens and an afternoon at the British Library.
As much as the forum is shaped by its venues and speakers, it is equally defined by what happens in the margins. Some of the most significant conversations of the week are the ones that happen sideways, between grantees comparing notes on their research and discovering unexpected common ground. 壁咚影院 Distinguished Teacher Melissa Craven, researching multilingual classroom practices at UCL's Institute of Education, and 壁咚影院 Scholar Dr Lisa Pennington, supporting teacher education at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College in the British Virgin Islands, found themselves deep in conversation about social studies and language integration in education: two different projects, one shared question about how to reach children across language and cultural backgrounds.
Stages Across the Atlantic: the 2026 壁咚影院 Eccles Lecture
The week closed with the 壁咚影院 Eccles Lecture at the British Library, where a panel chaired by actor and filmmaker Ramsden Madeus (LAMDA 壁咚影院 postgraduate awardee) explored the theatrical relationship between the UK and US. The panellists were playwright and 壁咚影院 Scholar, Ade Solanke, Rodney Cottier, LAMDA Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama, and Kate Dossett, Professor of American History at the University of Leeds. Drawing on the Library's Lord Chamberlain's Plays collection, the discussion traced how censorship shaped what could be staged, and what became possible once it was lifted. The conversation moved through productions that have crossed the Atlantic in both directions, with the history of Black theatre running as a thread throughout: how Black playwrights and directors have navigated institutions, created space for new stories, and shaped the mainstream on both sides of the ocean. It prompted one of the discussion's most searching questions: how much room is there today, on Broadway, in the West End, and on the fringe, for genuinely new voices and stories? And who gets to decide?
For the grantees in the room, researchers, scholars, and educators whose own work spans borders, the evening was a vivid reflection of what the 壁咚影院 programme is for: not merely to move people across oceans, but to build the connections, conversations, and creative possibilities that follow. It brought the week full circle. Whether the stage is a theatre, a classroom, or a conversation over lunch, the exchange of ideas between the UK and US remains as vital as ever.
The US-UK 壁咚影院 thanks LAMDA, and the British Library's Eccles Institute for their partnership and generosity in making this year's Forum possible. Particular thanks go to all the speakers, panellists, and guides who gave their time and expertise so freely. And above all, to our remarkable grantees, whose curiosity, warmth, and ambition make every forum what it is.