Growing up in northwest London, Kaya Patel (BA Film and LiteratureLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, 2020) considered universities around the UK. But she chose to move to the Midlands for her undergraduate experience because she trusted her intuition.  

Stratford Herald reported on the cultural insights revealed at the Shakespeare and Poland Festival gala concert for Ambulance Aid which took place at Stratford Town Hall on Sunday evening. The event included a lecture by Tony Howard, Emeritus Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Warwick, entitled A Better World Than This: Shakespeare and Poland.

This summer saw the resumption of the annual PhD Writing & Publishing Workshop at the Monash Prato Centre in Italy. Led by staff from the University of Monash, it took place over three days, 20-22 June, at their palazzo in the Tuscan city. Prior to the global pandemic, Warwick had participated in this event and this year three postgraduate research students from the Faculty of Arts and Professor David Lambert CADRE Director joined staff and students from Australia, Malaysia, India, Italy and elsewhere in the UK. The event included staff-led workshops on the fundamentals of academic writing and publication – from choosing journals and structuring articles to responding to feedback and building an academic track record. The heart of the event was the sessions devoted to the practice of writing itself. Supported by allocated academic staff who were on-hand to help with planning, the presentation of arguments and the choice of language, these provided great opportunities for focused work in a supportive environment.

Recently, we shared more about our new home in Venice, just one of the ways Warwick is reconfirming a deep commitment to the arts.

In this article for the Times Higher Education (THE), Stuart Croft, our Vice-Chancellor, talks about the importance of backing both STEM and the arts, and why Warwick is investing more than ever in arts and humanities.

You can view the article on the THE website (first published 26 June 2023) or read it below.

The University of Warwick is proud of its long-standing connections with Venice. Our History and History of Art departments have collectively taught students in Venice for well over 50 years. From 2007, the University had a base in the Cannaregio district of the city. Other departments, including Italian Studies, WBS, Global Sustainable Development, Economics, WMG, and the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, also used this space to deliver short courses and host academic conferences.

Circumstances necessitated the search for a new premises. After an interim period during which we were hosted by Ca’ Foscari, a new location was identified: the Palazzo Giustinian Lolin.

The opening event for the new venue was held on the 22nd May followed by a series of bi-lateral meetings between academics from Warwick and their counterparts from Ca' Foscari University on the 23rd May.

BA English and Theatre Studies alumna Vinitaraj Aulak may have only graduated in 2021, but she wasted no time chasing her dreams and securing a radio presenter role on BBC Asian Network. Here she shares how her undergraduate degree taught her to break the mould and follow her passions.

Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons premiered at Warwick Arts Centre in 2015 and won three Judges' Awards at the National Student Drama Festival, before appearing at Latitude Festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Camden People's Theatre, London.

The play is now on in London's West End at the Harold Pinter Theatre.

The playright, Sam Steiner, is an alumnus of Warwick University (English Literature 2014) and gave an interview to our alumni team about his experience of breaking into playwriting for stage and screen.

Before Warwick, alumna Armani Chante Samuel-Carthy (BA Film and Literature, 2022) found work experience with support from a charity, who help students from underprivileged backgrounds into the creative industry. Fast forward to now, she’s the proud owner of a first-class degree, her own production start-up, a role with Netflix, and even more determination to write her own shows. It’s no wonder she’s been featured on Powerful Media’s Future Leaders 2022/3 list, which recognises 150 of Britain’s most outstanding Black university students.

We know our arts alumni go on to do wonderful things after they leave us, and we love that everyone’s story is a little different. Arts advocate, Sunday Times columnist, mum, self-confessed cake scoffer, women’s fiction writer and ex Tellytubbyland resident alumna Pernille Hughes (BA Film and Literature, 1994) has had a rollercoaster of a journey since she graduated from Warwick. Here she tells us how she found her writing voice, and why your arts degree will always be a good talking point.

Theatre Director Ali Pidsley (BA English and Theatre Studies, 2014; MA English Literature, 2016) shares how Warwick inspired him to set up a different kind of theatre company.