Arts Faculty News

On Tuesday 21 May, we brought together staff and student members of our community for the Inclusive Education in the Arts Conference 2024! Our 20 presenters – both those in the room, and asynchronous video presenters – showcased those areas where the Faculty is leading in inclusive education, highlighting more examples of positive inclusive practice in the Arts and asking where we can go next.

The University of Warwick is collaborating with the Coventry Biennial art festival 2023 to celebrate local artists.

The Biennial is an exciting time for contemporary art that heralds the cultural significance of the city and is set to launch this autumn in venues across Coventry and Warwickshire. The festival includes exhibitions, public talks, workshops, and activities that have been visited by a million people since the Biennial began in 2017.

Among the artist and researcher collaborators is Graeme Macdonald, professor of English and Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick who’s teamed up with local artist Paul Lemmon for Coventry Biennial 2023 as part of a new artistic commission.

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.

Researchers from the Department of History will be delivering a series of talks at Warwick Words History Festival. Now in its twentieth year, Warwick Words is a popular annual event, bringing internationally acclaimed historians to share stories from the past to venues around Warwick.

Since 2012, the University of Warwick has collaborated with the festival on a series titled Tea Time talks, where academics from the Department of History discuss their research. This year, topics are:

History and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine – Professor Christoph Mick and Dr Claire Shaw, Saturday 8 October

Picking up the Pieces: Gender and Romantic Failure in late 20th Century Britain – Dr Zoe Strimpel, Saturday 22 October

The Politics of Touch in the late 18th Century – Professor Mark Philp, Saturday 26 November

The programme also includes a play written by PhD student David Fletcher and performed by Loft Theatre company. Taking the Waters tells the story of a cholera epidemic that took place in Leamington Spa in 1849, and the medical and political conflicts that surrounded it.

Other speakers at the festival include Tracy Borman, Max Hastings, Dan Jones, Adam Rutherford, Charles Spencer and Alison Weir. Tickets are available from Warwick Words’ website: https://warwickwords.co.uk/ 

Warwick Celebrates: 5 - 15 July 2022. Congratulations to all our wonderful Arts students from classes 2020-2021-2022 who are attending the graduation ceremonies this summer. Wonderful to see you all back on campus.

Have a taste of what it is like to be a Faculty of Arts student through the video of the recent FAB Festival and opening of Warwick's new Arts Building.

This Arts Easter ResidentialLink opens in a new window took place from the 20th to 22nd April. It was a fantastic event with 17 students who identified as being autistic, spending three days and two nights experiencing university life, with many being away from home for the first time.

They took part in academic taster sessions, life skills workshops, shopping, cooking and a mini group project. Many of the young people spoke about their renewed confidence as they look to move from school to a more independent future.

On 27 April 2022, the University of Warwick hosted a joint event between the Widening Participation staff and Student Networks around the theme of 'Sense of Belonging'. The event was open to all staff and students at the university. There was a chance to highlight the support, opportunities and challenges faced by staff and students who study and work at the university. The event included interactive workshops, insight presentations and discussion forums.

Staff and students from across the Faculty of Arts were involved in presenting, and attending the event. Sessions included 'Young Carers’, 'Commuter Student', and also the 'Mature Student Experience'.

The Resonate FestivalLink opens in a new window is due to culminate in a multi-day festival on the University of Warwick campus from 19 - 21 April. Helen Wheatley, Festival Director and Arts very own Professor of Film & Television Studies, is inviting you to come and participate in an exciting programmeLink opens in a new window of activities and events. The FAB, Warwick's stunning new Faculty of Arts Building and the Warwick Arts CentreLink opens in a new window are at the very centre of these arts and cultural events, which include contributions from Arts colleagues as follows:

Classics and Ancient History

Michael Scott’s Was Fake News a Problem in Ancient Athens https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/was-fake-news-a-problem-in-ancient-athens

Paul Grigsby’s Roman Coventry Activity Day https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/roman-coventry-activity-day

Francesca Modini’s Roman Coventry and Music https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/roman-coventry-and-music

Cross Faculty Studies

Kirsten Harris’s Freedom in Utopia  https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/living-free-utopian-worlds

English and Comparative Literary Studies

Justin Tackett’s Make Some Noise https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/make-some-noise-exploding-the-poet-voice

History

Beat Kümin’s Rethinking Hospitality https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/rethinking-hospitality

David Lees’ Cooking up the Past https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/cooking-up-the-past

Martha McGill’s Invisible Worlds: Humans and the Supernatural Enlightenment in Britain https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/invisible-worlds-humans-and-the-supernatural

School of Creative Arts, Performance and Visual Cultures

Ronan Hatfull’s To Tell My Story: Remaking Hamlet – workshop on restaging Hamlet with Zoe Templeman Young and Devon Glover https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/remaking-hamlet

Michael Pigott’s Listening to our Environments workshop https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/listening-to-our-environment and Concrete Cinema installation https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/concrete-cinema

Vishalakshi Roy’s Coventry Made Me ­https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/coventry-made-me

School of Modern Languages and Cultures

James Hodkinson’s The Art of Visual Storytelling https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/the-art-of-visual-storytelling-voices-of-faith-and-migration

Alison Ribeiro de Menezes’s Rewind https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/rewind-with-ephemeral-ensemble

Kate Astbury’s Celebrating Languages https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/celebrating-language

Zhiyan Guo’s Chinese Culture in Words, Voices and Music https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/chinese-culture-in-words-voices-music

Mary Harrod’s Let’s Talk About Sex – https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/lets-talk-about-sex

Coventry residents will be able to travel back in time thanks to an exclusive compilation of archive TV news and other documentary footage, brought together by researchers at the University of Warwick, and on show for three days in the city centre.

Theatre Absolute’s Shop Front Theatre in City Arcade will host the unique newsreel from Thursday 14 April until Saturday 16th.