Shakespeare Institute Lecturer and Fellow Erin Sullivan has been successful in bidding for AHRC Connected Communities funding. Her project, called 'Shakespeare's global communities', will involve the creation and analysis of a multi-user digital platform in which academics, theatre practitioners, audience members, and the wider public will debate the meaning and significance of the 70+ intercultural Shakespeare performances that will take place this summer as part of the World Shakespeare Festival, which is a major strand of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

The project will involve two workshops and the writing of an edited academic collection which will all seek to address the central question, 'What does the World Shakespeare Festival reveal about Shakespeare's status as a site for intercultural community building in the twenty-first century?'.

Project partners include representatives from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare's Globe, and academics from universities across the UK.