The Arts at Kent

The UK’s European university

THE ARTS AT KENT June 2012

COME AND JOIN US We welcome members of the community to join in events on our campuses, from drama productions and cinema screenings at the Gulbenkian, to open lectures in our colleges and exhibitions in our schools.

Below are some dates for your diary in the months ahead:

June 2012 Sunday 17 June, 2pm, Gulbenkian Theatre, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly. The People’s Theatre Company brings one of the world’s best-loved nursery rhymes to life for the first time. Suitable for ages 4+.

Monday 18 June, 7.30pm, Gulbenkian Theatre, Michael Winslow – The Man of 10,000 Voices. A true Hollywood legend (best known for playing Sgt ‘Motor Mouth’ Jones in Police Academy) tours the UK for the first time.

Wednesday 20 June, 7.30pm, Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury Lions – Railway Swing Band, supporting local charities in the Canterbury area.

Friday 22 June, 6pm, Gulbenkian Cinema, Glyndebourne: La Cenerentola (recorded 2005). Sung in Italian with English supertitles.

Tuesday 26 – Saturday 30 June, 2.30pm, 7.30pm, Gulbenkian Theatre, Summer Holiday performed by Herne Bay Musical Theatre Company.

July 2012 Friday 6 July, 8pm and Sunday 8 July, 7.30pm, Gulbenkian Theatre, Rock Choir, the contemporary choir for people who love to sing.

Saturday 7 July, 7pm, Gulbenkian Theatre, The Girl with the Iron Claws. Following a sellout success at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011, The Wrong Crowd presents this captivating dark fairy-tale, which shares its roots with Beauty and the Beast. Suitable for age 8+.

Friday, 20 July, 5pm, Gulbenkian Café, The Laurie Kay Trio. An hour of free jazz and blues to wash away the week and kick-start the weekend.

August 2012

October 2012

Monday 6 – Saturday 11 August 7.30 pm, Gulbenkian Theatre, The Old Stagers present You Never Can Tell, one of Bernard Shaw’s most delightful and popular comedies. A topical musical revue (known as the Epilogue) follows the play on Friday and Saturday nights.

Friday night is ‘gala night’, with a 40-minute interval for picnickers.

Thursday 4 October, 7.30pm, Gulbenkian Theatre, RSC actor Gerard Logan gives an astonishing solo performance of Shakespeare's narrative poem, The Rape of Lucrece.

Friday 17 August, 5pm, Gulbenkian Café, The Laurie Kay Trio.

Sunday 7 October, 7.30pm, Gulbenkian Theatre, Festival of the Spoken Nerd: Are You Sci-Curious? Join three of the UK’s best (and nerdiest) performers for an evening of comedy, science, music, maths and interactive experiments.

Friday 17 August, 6pm, Gulbenkian Cinema, Glyndebourne: Le Nozze di Figaro (live).

Sung in Italian with English supertitles.

Friday 12 October, 7.30pm, Gulbenkian Theatre, Jenny Eclair in a new stand-up show.

September 2012

Wednesday 17 October, Historic Dockyard, Chatham, Official launch of Medway School of Arts.

Official opening of Colyer-Fergusson Music Building Thursday 13 September, 7.30pm, Gulbenkian Theatre,The Showstoppers, in a brand new musical comedy.

Friday 14 September, 7.30pm, Gulbenkian Theatre, World-acclaimed jazz musician Courtney Pine takes to the Gulbenkian stage.

Wednesday 19 September, 7.30pm, Gulbenkian Theatre, Past Half Remembered tells the story of Maria Michailovna – whose life spans the Soviet century – in a remarkable tale of love, loss, calamity and hope.

Friday 21 September, 7.30pm, Gulbenkian Theatre, Brit Award-winning singers Blake perform the greatest love songs of all time.

Saturday 22 September, 7.30pm, Gulbenkian Theatre, Shylock. Is he a villain, victim, or someone even more intriguing?

Monday 24 September – Friday 14 December, Studio 3 Gallery, Canterbury Campus, And God Cryed. New exhibition

by John Blackburn, open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm. Free admission.

See http://bit.ly/blackburnatstudio3

Monday 29 October, 2pm, Gulbenkian Theatre, Rapunzel and the Tower of Doom presented by the Theatre of Widdershins.

Find out more www.kent.ac.uk/music www.kent.ac.uk/gulbenkian http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/studio3gallery

www.kent.ac.uk

INTRODUCTION The University of Kent has a major cultural impact on the south east region. Since our founding almost 50 years ago, we have always placed great importance on not only providing outstanding teaching and research opportunities, but championing the arts in all its different guises. In recent years, we have invested heavily in, for example, art, theatre and music.

At Medway, we are making a £5 million investment in new facilities and courses for our students on the former Historic Dockyard. Our Gulbenkian arts centre continues to be a popular venue for both theatre and cinema – last year, we sold over 75,000 seats for performances and screenings. And our new Colyer-Fergusson Music Building will open this summer, providing a multi-purpose music centre and concert hall for performances and rehearsals.

The University has also recently announced an exciting Affiliate Partnership with the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London that will offer extensive educational benefits and opportunities to Kent students and staff.

You can find out more about these in the following pages, as well as other ways that the University of Kent is celebrating the arts.

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INVESTING IN THE ARTS AT MEDWAY

The University is investing over £5 million in its Arts at Medway initiative to provide its Fine Art, Music and Audio, and Event and Experience Design students with the best possible study environment. Buildings in the Historic Dockyard will be transformed over the next two academic years to create inspiring environments for our students to work and study in.

Head of the School of Arts Dr Jonathan Friday says: ‘Our new creative arts developments on the Historic Dockyard will provide our students with excellent facilities and a truly inspiring environment in which to study the creative and performing arts. When combined with the innovative new programmes we are designing, these developments represent an exciting educational package for students of the arts.’

The arts have been taught at the Historic Dockyard since 2006 and, following recent investment by the University, the School of Arts at Medway is set to grow rapidly. In the 2012/13 academic year, with new postgraduate degrees in Fine Art and Music, student numbers are expected to increase by 50%. This will create one of the strongest

creative and performing arts course portfolios in the country.

Staying close to the University’s roots of encouraging interdisciplinary study, students from different subject areas are encouraged to work together closely; for example, Event and Experience Design students creating innovative work with those studying Music.

With the range of courses available at the campus broadening opportunities of this kind, creative interactions are set to increase, leading to the potential for further exciting collaborations.

The School of Arts is thriving, with courses oversubscribed and some of the highest levels of graduate employment in the UK. Located in the south east, where recent growth has been sparked by investment in the creative arts – including the Turner Contemporary in Margate and the new Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury – Kent students are well placed to benefit from opportunities in the local area. The existence of this vibrant artistic community, alongside the proximity of the School to London, attracts students who are keen to get involved with the local arts scene while receiving a world-class education.

The Historic Dockyard itself also provides a huge source of inspiration to students, both through the incredible nature of the spaces they are working in, and the immediate community that surrounds them. The 20-acre dockyard site is home to a host of small businesses, visitor attractions and exhibition spaces, including The Joiners Shop, which houses about 40 small creative businesses including design, film, photography and video game companies. Exploring the dockyard further, you will find a wealth of creative talents, including a rope maker, a sign writer, a microbrewery and a forge.

The School is also building partnerships with local groups, showcasing the talents of students and playing a part in regenerating local communities. A recent partnership with Medway Council saw a group of second-year Fine Art students – the New Kent Creatives – put on their first external show at historic Eastgate House in Rochester. Having stood empty for nearly ten years, the house is being transformed into a hub of creativity for the local community, and Kent students were invited to display work inspired by the spaces and history of the venue. Their show, ‘The Voices in Our Heads’ was a great success, and the School hopes to continue this collaboration in the future. For more information, see: www.newkentcreatives.co.uk

www.kent.ac.uk

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www.kent.ac.uk

ICA AND UNIVERSITY OF KENT ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP The University of Kent and the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London have announced an Affiliate Partnership that will offer extensive educational benefits and opportunities to Kent students and staff.

Held jointly between the ICA and the University’s School of Arts and School of English, it is expected that the partnership will lead to a range of opportunities such as a joint MA, internships, professional practice projects for PhD students, ICA practice-based talks and gallery visits, and a student-curated film ‘festival’.

Photo: Jess Oli. Courtesy the ICA, London

A major component of the partnership will be, for the School of English, free membership of the ICA for one year for all incoming students (both under- and postgraduate) while 500 students at the School of Arts will benefit from the same. The membership will enable Kent students to interact with students from other institutions, attend and network through private views for members, and use the members-only studio facilities.

The University already has an affiliation with the ICA and, in recent months, has participated in or contributed to events such as In Numbers, an exhibition of the oftenoverlooked genre of serial publications produced by artists around the world from 1955 to the present day.

Professor Peter Brown, Head of the School of English, welcomed the partnership. He said: ‘I am pleased that the School has become part of such an exciting, creative and productive partnership. It is also one that will enable students to engage with one of the UK’s flagship arts institutions at an important period in their lives.’

Dr Jonathan Friday, Head of the School of Arts, added: ‘With a predominantly young audience and strong student representation, the ICA is in a unique position amongst other contemporary arts venues in London and as such is an ideal partner for Kent. It will provide our students with unique learning and development opportunities, as well as further underlining the School’s position as a leading educator in the contemporary arts. This is also

an important development for the School that perfectly complements our existing programmes of study, and in particular provides a perfect partner for the expansion of music and fine art programmes on the University’s Medway campus.’

The ICA was founded by a group of radical artists and writers in the 1940s as a space for experimental and challenging arts practice.

Since moving to its present location on the Mall in 1968, it has become the home of the British avant-garde and continues to foreground interdisciplinary art practice.

Its facilities include: learning, studying and socialising spaces, including a café-bar; exhibition spaces and galleries; two cinemas; and an arts bookshop/retail outlet.

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ARTS FOR ALL AT THE GULBENKIAN The Gulbenkian is the University of Kent’s Arts Centre offering a wide and vibrant range of high quality arts events to the public, University staff and students.

Our vibrant year-round programme includes high-quality diverse music, film, drama, dance, cinema, comedy and a developing programme of work for families including exciting family shows and Saturday matinee screenings. We work closely with local groups including choirs, schools, amateur performance groups and musicians to offer affordable access to put on their work in a professional venue. Local film artists, academics and companies are actively encouraged with the development of FilmTalk post-show discussions in collaboration with Film Studies at the University. Our cinema has recently introduced live and recorded transmitted events from the Royal Opera House and Glyndebourne making the highest quality of opera and ballet affordable and accessible.

We are committed to developing and supporting local artists providing opportunities for them to showcase work; this will be further developed in the future with the introduction of our ‘Made in Kent’ branding to local companies in our brochure and website.

We currently have two resident companies The Breadbin Project (recently seen at Brighton Fringe) and Bright Shadow (performing at Winchester Hat Fair 2012) and are supporting the School of Arts resident company Little Cauliflower and local group Three Half Pints (both performing at Edinburgh Fringe 2012).

The future is even more exciting with an international festival for children and young people planned, as well as increasing our work with and for schools. The Gulbenkian Youth Theatre, in collaboration with the School of Arts and Wide Eyed Theatre, will be launched in September 2012 giving local young people an opportunity to work with a fantastic local theatre company and University lecturers, practitioners, and visiting artists and companies. We have plans too for a major project to develop the skills of artists graduating from the University of Kent providing mentoring and creative support.

The Gulbenkian also has a growing commitment to work in partnership with a range of local, national and international creative and business partners to become a leading local, national and international arts centre.

With a fantastic year behind us, we have been developing our audience specifically engaging with the student community who made up an impressive 25% of our cinema attendees in February and March. We had an overall increase of 6% in audience attendance between March 2011 and March 2012 and over 75,000 event attendees during 2011. With over 32,000 people attending events during January-March 2012, we expect, by the end of this year, to have attracted over 100,000 visitors to the Gulbenkian.

Find out more at www.kent.ac.uk/gulbenkian

www.kent.ac.uk

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NEW MUSIC BUILDING NEARS COMPLETION The University's new building for music performance and rehearsal moved a major step nearer completion on 23 March 2012 with a topping-out ceremony.

The Colyer-Fergusson Music Building is being built next to the Gulbenkian Theatre at the Canterbury campus and will provide a multipurpose music centre and concert hall for performances and rehearsals. Work began in June 2011 and is expected to be completed

by September 2012 in time for the new academic year.

Artists’ impressions © Tim Ronalds Architects

The music building has been funded almost entirely from philanthropic donations: a £1 million posthumous bequest from Kent philanthropist Sir James Colyer-Fergusson and a further grant of £5.2 million from the charitable trust that bears his name, as well as matched funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England and donations from over 100 individuals.

Professor Keith Mander, University Deputy Vice-Chancellor, said the Colyer-Fergusson Building promised to be the ‘best concert hall in Kent. This new facility will be hugely attractive; it will enable us to nurture the musical talent of students coming to the University and to host visiting groups.’

Even before the new Music Building opens, our students have been busy music-making with the community. Students of all subjects get involved in a wide range of extra-curricular music activities which have an impact on the cultural life of both the campus and the community. Student musicians regularly give fundraising concerts in churches around Kent, in joint events with local schools and also join in the annual Children in Need campaign.

The University’s Music Scholars perform in a lunchtime concert as part of the Canterbury Festival, East Kent’s festival of arts and culture which we also sponsor.

The University also presents a number of major concerts in the city each year, including the thrilling Choral and Orchestral Concert at Canterbury Cathedral which regularly attracts an audience of over 1,000. Our many concerts on campus are also open to the public and we encourage the local community to participate as performers alongside our students and staff in the University Chorus, Symphony Orchestra, Concert and Big Bands.

Find out more at www.kent.ac.uk/music or http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/music-matters

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STUDIO 3 GALLERY Studio 3 Gallery is a dedicated exhibition space within the award-winning School of Arts’ Jarman Building on the University’s Canterbury campus.

The £6.6 million building – named after iconic artist Derek Jarman – was opened officially by Dame Liz Forgan, Chair of Arts Council England, in October 2010.

Housing state-of-the-art facilities including drama and film studios, computing and editing suites, teaching rooms and the Studio 3 Gallery, the Jarman Building received a RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Award in 2010. The RIBA judges said the building ‘demonstrates how good design can improve learning and is an exemplar for future campus architecture.’

Since its opening, Studio 3 Gallery has played host to a series of major exhibitions. These include a show of original prints by the great historical painter James Barry (1741-1806) and his contemporaries, including Reynolds, Gainsborough, Mortimer, and Fuseli. A major collaboration with the RCA has just finished (Double Take: The Art of Printmaking – Professor Jo Stockham), and previous shows have seen collaborations with Lisson Gallery (Art & Language) and Pratt Contemporary (Ana Maria Pacheco).

According to Studio 3 Curator Dr Ben Thomas: ‘All of these shows have been supported by an educational outreach programme reaching 25 schools in the region and have resulted in internships, publications and local/national media coverage. The RCA show was listed no.1 exhibition in the UK on the Art Rabbit listings site. Footfall in the gallery is good for a small regional gallery and we maintain a very good media profile. We are also attracting funding and donations.’

The Studio is currently developing shows for 2012-13 with Osborne Samuel (Gordon Samuel representing the painter John Blackburn), Chelsea College (Professor Paul Coldwell), Arts Canteen (Aser el Saqqa), and with the support of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. The Alfred Drury sculpture show in development for 2013, supported by Mellon, is currently involving major loans from private collections, a campaign of archival research across the UK, and possible links with the University of Leeds, Henry Moore Institute and others.

Find out more about Studio 3 past, present and future at: http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/wordsforpictures http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/studio3gallery

www.kent.ac.uk

ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS EXIT WITH PEEP SHOW

The annual end-of-year show by students from the University of Kent’s Kent School of Architecture (KSA) will launch on 15 June.

Subtitled PEEP SHOW, EXIT 12 will run until 22 June in the Giles Lane Annex on the University’s Canterbury campus (10am-4pm everyday). It is free and open to all.

Showcasing work from a range of under- and postgraduate/PhD architecture and interior design students, the show will contain design project work including architectural design proposals, visualisations, models and other interdisciplinary work, which communicate the identity of the school.

Other highlights include first-year life drawing, second-year computer modelling and PhD work.

Recent KSA end-of-year shows have attracted large numbers of visitors. The 2011 show in particular, with its theme of regeneration in Kent, was considered a success by visitors and participants alike.

The programmes represented by EXIT:12 are: Master of Architecture (RIBA Pt 2), BA (Hons) Architecture (RIBA Pt 1); BA (Hons) Interior Architecture; BA (Hons) Interior Design; MA Architectural Visualisation; and MA Architecture & Cities.

Howard Griffin, Programme Director of the MA Architectural Visualisation, said: ‘The Kent School of Architecture has a national reputation for its academic standards, excellent teaching and expanding research profile. As we know from our previous end-of-

year shows, EXIT:12 PEEP SHOW is both a welcome and ideal opportunity for everyone to experience this first-hand through the work produced by students across our range of degree programmes.

‘The show is also an excellent opportunity for prospective students – or anyone with an interest in architecture – to meet our staff and current students.’

Find out more at www.kent.ac.uk/architecture

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CREATIVE CAMPUS ‘Creative Campus’ has acted as a catalyst for new creative projects at the University that support learning and teaching, the arts and development of the campus environment.

Since its launch in 2008, Creative Campus has resulted in over 50 projects engaging more than 1,500 staff, students and members of the local community.

“I think it is important that students feel part of the campus landscape and can leave their mark. When I go back to the benches, I feel like it is partly my work, and that is very satisfying.”

Jules Roberti-de-Wingh Creative Campus Champion (2011)

Creative Campus has also sparked wider engagements with the local community. The University’s People and Planet Society, for example, ran a ‘Don’t Bin it’ campaign at the end of the summer term to distribute unwanted clothes and goods to local charities.

Kent has joined 13 other universities in the south east to support the Cultural Olympiad 2012. It has also taken part in the ‘100M’ touring exhibition of creative projects and hosted a wood donation day for ‘The Boat Project’, an innovative scheme to build a seaworthy vessel from wooden objects donated by people across the south east.

During 2011/12, the Creative Campus is focusing on projects to increase student

engagement and enhance their learning experience. The ‘Soundtrack to your Life’ photographic competition in the autumn term received over 70 entries. At Medway, there are exciting new developments for the Rochester Building and Bridge Wardens College emerging from our Social Hubs Survey.

Student interns are acting as champions for various creative projects and working towards recognition through the Kent Student Volunteering and Employability Points Schemes. Creative Campus will also continue to promote staff and student engagement with the University’s Green Impact programme, both through the curriculum and wider development of outdoor spaces on campus.

“As a campus-wide creativity initiative guided by a multi-disciplinary team, the project has been a force for positive cultural and social change by improving learning and social spaces, promoting well-being, as well as showcasing creative talent.”

Dr Louise Naylor Director, Unit for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching

Highlights over the past year have included: • the Love your Campus campaign with Kent Union with regular events in the CREATE space in the Marlowe Foyer, including sessions in support of GoGreen week and Transport and Wellbeing days • showcasing creative talent in the sciences and arts through exhibitions in the Crossover Gallery in the Gulbenkian (Canterbury campus) and the ‘On the Buses’ advertising campaigns • staff and student volunteers helping the Green Impact team to develop the campus kitchen garden and nature trail • working with students from the Conservation Society to create a new outdoor learning and teaching space, Quercus genius, carved from a fallen oak tree

Find out more at www.kent.ac.uk/creativecampus

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Corporate Communications University of Kent The Registry, Canterbury Kent CT2 7NZ