News

Faculty of Arts Showcase

As some of you know, the showcase space in the FAB foyer was originally conceived in 2015 as part of a cabinet of curiosities project space to highlight research across the Faculty. The History of Art department’s 50^th anniversary display showed what a strong, department-led presentation can deliver. 

New Programme to Highlight Research

To increase strategic use of the showcase, the Art Collection curatorial team has worked with the Faculty on a new proposal, enabling staff and students to develop displays selected through a Faculty process.

While this programme gets underway, the Art Collection team has supported a new display by a Coventry artist, aligning with the University’s cultural strategy and its commitment to strengthening the city’s arts ecology.

This gives colleagues time to propose exhibitions for consideration. The Art Collection team will provide support and a small interpretation budget of £250 including VAT. If proposals are not forthcoming or viable, the young talent group from the Art Collection Committee will curate displays featuring other Coventry artists. Please see the paper for further detail on the policy and how to apply. 

Mead Gallery Forward Programme

Your proposals may also connect with our upcoming programme and help generate broader engagement and impact. Our schedule for the next academic year is: 

Autumn Term 2026

British Art Show 10: 1 October 2025 -10 January 2026

The British Art Show, held every five years, is the UK’s major survey of contemporary art. Coventry is the opening venue for its 10th edition, launching across the Mead, Herbert Art Gallery, and Coventry University.

I hope it would be possible to include any related departmental activity or events in the city-wide programme that is being curated around the core exhibition. 

Curated by Ekow Eshun, its themes include:

• A People Yet to Come: alternative futures, myth, and new forms of kinship
• Inner Visions: dreams, memory, and the subconscious
• Listen to the Land: ecological attention to the more‑than‑human world
• Traces of History: fragments of suppressed or unstable histories 

Summer Term 2027

George Shaw

George Shaw paints Tile Hill, the area immediately beyond the cemetery from campus. Using enamel paint, his work addresses themes of memory, urban environments, and British working‑class identity.

If you would like to discuss any of this, do please contact me.

Very best wishes

Sarah

Sarah Shalgosky (she/her)

Principal Curator, University of Warwick

Three Weeks of Poetry and Performance
Seven events, three weeks, all free

Welcome to the first Warwick PoetryFest, a vibrant celebration of energy, creativity, and the freshest voices Warwick has to offer. Across three weeks and seven free events, this new festival brings together Warwick alumni poets, rising student voices, and sessions shaped and led by students, where poetry meets community and every voice matters.

We invite all Warwick staff and students to join us for poetry and performance that inspires, challenges, and delights. Whether you love spoken word, new writing, or want to take the mic yourself, there is something for everyone.

PoetryFest is developed collaboratively with students and hosted by poet Professor David Morley, and forms part of the Warwick Writing Programme’s Warwick Thursdays series in the School of Creative Arts, Performance and Visual Cultures. Please share the word. Everything is free and open to all current students and staff.

Events & Details:

• Thu 26 Feb, 5–6:15 pm | Jane Commane
  OC1.01, Oculus Building
  Coventry-born poet and publisher Jane Commane launches Assembly Lines with opening poet Aanu Akintola.
• Mon 2 Mar, 1–1:45 pm | You Must Not Come Lightly!
  FAB0.20, FAB Building
  Warwick Poetry Society shares readings inspired by Stephen King’s On Writing.
• Thu 5 Mar, 5–6:15 pm | Jonathan Edwards
  OC1.01, Oculus Building
  Costa Award-winning poet and alum Jonathan Edwards reads with opener Fig Leary.
• Mon 9 Mar, 1–1:45 pm | UniSlam Reading
  FAB0.20, FAB Building
  Warwick’s national slam champs perform live, including University Slam Champion Aanu Akintola.
• Thu 12 Mar, 5–6:15 pm | Cathy Galvin
  OC1.01, Oculus Building
  Launch of Ethnology: A Love Song for Connemara by poet and alum Cathy Galvin.
• Thu 12 Mar, 7–8:30 pm | The Agora Poets Invite You…
  JX2.03, The Junction
  Open mic hosted by postgrads The Agora Poets. To perform, RSVP claire.cunningham@warwick.ac.uk.
• Mon 16 Mar, 1–1:45 pm | Concordia: Voices in Harmony
  FAB0.20, FAB Building
  Poetry anthology launch and undergrad student reading.

WPC- Warwick Postdoctoral Community  

Launching the Warwick Postdoctoral Community (WPC) Teams group, open to staff members with a doctorate that consider themselves to be “Early Career”. It is a Teams group for postdocs run by postdocs, to help postdocs find each other, organise social events and share information.

You can join the Teams group using this link: General | WPC (Warwick Postdoctoral Community) | Microsoft TeamsLink opens in a new window.

It is often harder for postdocs to meet others at similar career stages to them as postdocs are more dispersed than PhD students, may start at any time in the academic year, and have shorter contracts. The main aims of this group are to enable postdocs to organise regular social events, provide a noticeboard for information, and a provide a forum for discussion and feedback on the postdoc experience at Warwick.

Mayumi and I are the ECLS LGBTQIA+ Student Network Coordinators. We are writing to gauge interest among staff in contributing to a proposed project; a series of talks, given by staff at Warwick, organized by the Arts Faculty LGBTQIA+ Student Networks.

The aim is to foster an inclusive, interdisciplinary space in which students and staff can engage with research and creative practice, relating to LGBTQIA+ themes within the arts and humanities or the University of Warwick. Any participation would be entirely voluntary.

At present, the network operates on a student-led basis and is not formally funded. As such, this email is intended as an expression of interest rather than a formal invitation. We are also exploring whether a partnership with the University, through the ‘Queering University ProgramLink opens in a new windowme’, may be possible in the future, and an indication of staff interest would be helpful in shaping those discussions.

If you would be interested in contributing a talk or would simply like to be kept informed as this idea develops, we would be very pleased to hear from you. Attached is a form; registering interest at this stage does not imply any obligation or commitment.

Expression of Interest: Student-Led LGBTQIA+ Arts Faculty Talks Link opens in a new window

Thank you so much for taking the time and consideration.

Kind Regards,

Nadija and Mayumi