Arts Faculty News

The second annual Widening Participation conference was held on Wednesday 8^th March, themed on Student Voice: A Widening Participation Perspective. The conference provided an opportunity and platform for staff and students to share ideas and discuss student voice as a cross-cutting theme across the whole institution, bringing together academic and professional service colleagues and students. It was fantastic to see contributions from staff and students from the School of Modern Languages and Cultures and Liberal Arts, and delegates from across the Faculty of Arts.

This year's annual Widening Participation conference, with the theme of Student Voice: A Widening Participation Perspective, took place on Wednesday 8th March, with contributions from staff and students from across the University of Warwick, including contributions from the School of Modern Languages and Cultures and Liberal Arts.

Lucy Alder, a final year History student, has written a play which is being staged at Warwick Arts Centre, February 2023

Mika Watkins studied English Literature at Warwick, before going on to create and executive-produce the hit YouTube premium series Origin. Her writing credits include Guillermo del Toro’s Netflix horror series Cabinet Of Curiosities; Stan Lee’s Lucky Man on Sky 1; and BBC1 period drama Troy: Fall of a City.

Mika will return to the English Department next Wednesday, 1^st February to share her experiences in the TV and film industries with current Arts Faculty students. 

Join us for a lunchtime talk linking the Faculty of Arts with events at Warwick Arts Centre. Thomas Ellmer, Exhibitions Curator for the Mead Gallery will introduce Katrina Palmer’s new exhibition – What’s Already Going On? in the Cinema on the ground floor of the FAB (FAB0.21) at midday to 13.00 on Wednesday 18th January.

Due to open on 12th January 2023, the exhibition is the artist’s largest commission to date and showcases a new body of work that departs from Palmer’s well-known text-based projects, including sculptures, drawings and moving image. This talk will appeal to those interested in contemporary art and visual culture, as well as anyone keen to experience something new.

To attend, please register here.

Congratulations to Warwick's Learning Design Consultancy Unit on being one of the winners of Advance HE's 2022 Collaborative Awards for Teaching Excellence (CATE). The LDCU team is led by Jess Humphreys and includes contributions from the Faculty of Arts' Director of Student Experience, Dr Rob O'Toole. Since moving to a Faculty role in April 2021, Rob has been working on digital pedagogic interventions with staff and students and more recently on designing a new UG course on Innovation by Design, which it is planned to launch for 23 entry in the School for Cross-Faculty Studies.

FAB Fest

Friday 20 May, 12pm - 5pm

Students, staff and members of the local community are invited to the official opening of the Faculty of Arts Building (FAB) taking place at midday on Friday, 20 May. The opening ceremony, where a festive glass of fizz will be provided for all guests, will be followed by FAB Fest – a festival celebrating the arts at Warwick.

New scientific analysis of the composition of Roman denarii has brought fresh understanding to a financial crisis mentioned by the Roman statesman and writer Marcus Tullius Cicero in his essay on moral leadership, De Officiis.

Professor Kevin Butcher explains the context: “In the years after 91 BC the Roman state was in danger of becoming bankrupt. The Romans were at war with their own allies in Italy, and by the conclusion of the war, in 89 BC, there was a debt crisis.

By 86 BC there appears to have been a crisis of confidence in the currency, too. Cicero related how the Roman tribunes approached the college of praetors to resolve the crisis, before Gratidianus claimed sole credit for the collective effort.

“One theory is that Gratidianus fixed the exchange rate between the silver denarius and the bronze as (which had only recently been reduced in weight). Another is that he published a method for detecting fake denarii, and so restored faith in the coinage.