In the week that we welcome students back to a new term at University of Southampton, we’ve got a veritable toolbox of cultural wellbeing goodies lined up for you to dive in to. Though so much has changed, we’re #InThisTogether and here to help you relax with your culture fix.
In our first blog post of the term, we share details of an amazing online cultural project hot-off-the-press – The Ancient Mariner Big Read – launched this weekend. We also bring you a top 5 choice of online cultural encounters to be had, selected by the team at the University’s ownJohn Hansard Gallery – enjoy! Stay tuned for another top 5 recommendations from the team at Turner Sims, coming up later in the week.
John Hansard Gallery and Turner Sims are both exploring ways to focus their energies within the digital sphere, seeking to animate online spaces to bring you inspiring art and culture. Alongside this, Arts at University of Southampton’s digital channels will be dedicated to sharing with you the best of the arts to be accessed remotely. We’ll also be inviting the talented creatives and artists in our own team to contribute ideas and showcase their practice.
Jen Harris (right) and Liv Fontaine at HA HA Gallery. Image credit: @peanutkaiser.
What is your role at
Arts at University of Southampton?
My role is Arts and Culture Coordinator, working with Louise Coysh, Associate Director (Arts and Culture), to help facilitate all the exciting things that Arts at University of Southampton has to offer. I’ll be working with colleagues across the University and beyond to promote our world-renowned arts offer to students and the wider community, including our concert hall Turner Sims Southampton , John Hansard Gallery and our associate organisation Nuffield Southampton Theatres.
Our current team of student Arts Ambassadors, Molly, Kate and Thea will also be working with me getting stuck in to share the best of Southampton and Winchester’s art scenes.
Alongside all this, I’ll be working with the wider Arts UoS team to deliver some big, city-wide projects we’ve got lined up for 2020/2021!
Tell us about your
background. What did you do before you came to the University?
I studied Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts, graduating in
2012. Since then I’ve done a whole host of different things, with the first
three years after graduating mainly consisting of casual and freelance work for
a variety of organisations and people. I worked for a few different artists and
volunteered or worked for several Southampton organisations, including our very
own John Hansard Gallery.
During that time, I also ran an artist run-space in Southampton called HA HA Gallery with my good friend and artist Liv Fontaine. Liv and I first met at a John Hansard Gallery event during their show Anti Academy and we bonded over the fact that we had both not long graduated from Chelsea. The Gallery was born shortly after in an empty shop on Old Northam Road in St Mary’s and we quickly developed a reputation for a dynamic programme of shows, exhibiting artists from around the country and the world as well as showcasing Southampton talent. Highlights included a six-week season of shows funded by a Kickstarter campaign in 2015 and a commission to run a programme of activity as part of the British Art Show Fringe in 2016.
I’M SO EXCITED exhibition opening at HA HA Gallery. Image credit: @peanutkaiser.
Since 2015, I’ve worked at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton,
Hampshire. It’s the cottage at which Austen lived for the last eight years of
her life and where she wrote, revised or had published all her novels. I
started as Collections Trainee, moving on to a become Marketing and Brand Officer,
finally finishing up as Marketing Manager, covering for my colleague’s
maternity leave. Being a small team, you ended up doing a bit of everything
which was a real joy and a great way to gain experience.
What excites you most
about your new role?
I’m most excited by the prospect of (hopefully!) positively
influencing the lives and experience of students here at the University.
Opening up meaningful access to the arts for as many people as possible and
facilitating enriching cultural experiences are my goals.
I’m also particularly eager to get started on our new project, Connecting Culture, funded by Arts Council England. The project seeks to embed the role of children and young people at the heart of cultural activity in Southampton, giving a voice to our cultural leaders of the future. Read all about it here.
I’m interested in
getting more involved in the arts at the University – how do I get in touch
with you?
If you’ve got any questions about Arts at University of
Southampton, please do get in touch! You can reach me on arts@soton.ac.uk or
visit southampton.ac.uk/arts for more information. My normal working days are
Monday-Wednesday and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
Arts Ambassadors Shanelle, Nicole and Louise with Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair of Arts Council England at John Hansard Gallery. Photo Jon Banford
Are you looking to gain valuable experience and build your networks in a creative environment? Is your career ambition to work in the arts, cultural or creative industries?
The University of Southampton’s Careers Service have opened their new season of paid Internships with a brilliant range of opportunities in Southampton’s cultural sector for enrolled UoS students and graduates *.
Read on for details of the creative and cultural internships on offer and hurry, applications close on 27 October 2019.
Han Yin, MA Contemporary Curation student at Winchester School of Art, looks back on her time as Engagement Intern at John Hansard Gallery and shares what she’s enjoyed and learnt.
