The Unbinding Prometheus Project

Unbinding Prometheus is an arts and humanities education project bringing scholars from across the University of Pennsylvania together with global institutions, artists and communities of learning. Together we create ongoing spaces for innovative interdisciplinary research and public educational programming. Our inaugural, year-long project focuses on Percy Bysshe Shelley, with special emphasis on his lyrical drama, Prometheus Unbound.

Many of Unbinding Prometheus's pedagogical methods are designed to fulfill key aspects of the Penn Compact. We aim:

• To increase access to Penn's exceptional intellectual resources by creating open programming accessible to and engaging with the wider community
• To integrate knowledge across academic disciplines by bringing together faculty and students from many departments, hubs and centres of learning at Penn around collective, ongoing, and multifaceted Projects.
• To “engage locally, nationally, and globally to bring the benefits of Penn's research, teaching, and service to individuals and communities at home and around the world." The Unbinding Prometheus Project brings artists and scholars to Penn to teach and learn with our students and faculty, thus deepening our connections to the global academic community. We provide open seminars in our annual project areas which, in the tradition of programming at Kelly Writers House, are free for the public to attend. We also create MOOCs which are free and accessible to anyone with an internet connection. These MOOCs will, we trust, bring high-quality, Penn-based scholarship to interested parties around the world.