Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
Craft is brought to you by Wasafiri, the magazine of international contemporary writing. Check out our website (www.wasafiri.org) for outtakes from this interview that didn’t (quite) make the final cut, and much more from writers all over the world.
REMINDER: Upcoming event in week 10 – a talk by Ed Charlton (English, QMUL). Register by email, or through this form: https://forms.office.com/r/FeUpKRUKEU
Join us for the first focused engagement symposium on Interpersonal Violence and Violence Reduction hosted by SMD Crisis Network. Speakers include our very own Paul Heritage (Drama/People’s Palace Projects). The new Queen Mary & SMD Crisis Network is pleased to host our first focused engagement symposium on Interpersonal Violence and Violence Reduction. We aim to connect researchers from across all Schools & Faculties in the University who have an active academic interest in this area, and to explore new directions and collaborations for future research, education and engagement.
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
Join Rachael House, legend of the comic strip and queer zine scene, for a free two-hour zine making workshop in the Art Studio on the theme of queer Wonderland.
Talks Programme
Hochhauser Auditorium, Sackler Centre 11.30 – 15.00
Join Dr Kiera Vaclavik, Curator Alice Power, Queer Bruk founder Akeil Onwukwe-Adamson, and Quiplash for insightful talks about queer communities and identity.
11.30 – 12.00 Alice is a Boy’ with Dr Kiera Vaclavik
This talk explores the instability about identity at the heart of the Alice books and shows how ‘gender blind’ casting of the central role was for many years a feature of theatrical adaptations.
13.30 – 14.00 Finding queer communities through digital rabbit holes with Alice Power
Many journalists have put the blame of the closure of LGBTQ venues on social media and dating apps. Assistant Curator of Architecture and Urbanism, Alice Power, however, contends that from its inception the internet has been a vital tool community building for marginalised groups.
14.15 – 15.00 Making LGBTQ intersectional Wonderlands with Queer Bruk and Quiplash
This panel highlights two organisations striving to cultivate intersectional queer spaces to counter the mainstream gay scene.
ECRs Work in Progress Seminars
We would love to invite you to the first session of the ECR Work in Progress Seminars at the SED! The event will take place on Wednesday December 8th, 4:00-5:30pm atArts Two, 3.20. We will be hosting two speakers from the School of English, and the panel will be followed by a Q&A.
Dr Deven Parker – Byron’s Poetic Cartographies
This paper examines cartography as a popular and hotly contested form of representing the Peninsular war and argues for its centrality to the poetics of Byron’s Childe Harold. I explore how innovations in mapping, coupled with the British public’s desire to visualize the events of the war, created a new market for published military maps. The popularity of these maps coincided with the rise of body of poetry I term “cartographic war poetry” that was directly informed by and sometimes even published with popular war maps. I demonstrate how cartographic war poetry remediates the perspectives of the maps themselves, deploying a series of formal and textual strategies to anesthetize military violence and advancing the government’s case for continuing a war facing significant opposition. Byron seeks to intervene in these literary and political contexts, replicating the perspective of both military maps and cartographic war poems in order to expose its ideological underpinnings. Toggling between the distant, birds-eye perspective of war cartography and a much closer view, Byron reveals, I argue, the problem with cartographic representation: that its guise of accuracy and objectivity actually furthers violence.
Dr Clare Stainthorp – Freethought Dialogue and Debate in the Secular Review/Agnostic Journal
The freethought movement’s periodicals grew and sustained a space in which atheist, agnostic, and secularist ideas could be developed and debated during the second half of the nineteenth century. Reading, writing for, and editing periodicals built social networks, imagined communities, and feelings of shared endeavour. Nonetheless, the freethought movement was not built on a single homogenous platform; factionalism and infighting were rife. Debates and dialogues looked both inward and outward, and proliferated in various ways. This paper focuses on the Sunday weekly periodical that began life in 1876 as The Secular Review: A Journal of Daily Life and was titled The Agnostic Journal and Eclectic Review in 1907 when it ceased publication. I will explore how dialogic forms (specifically verbatim debate reports, imagined dialogues, readers’ letters, and correspondence columns) functioned and consider how the heterogeneity and multivocality of freethought was navigated by those involved in the movement.
Teaching and Learning for Neuro and Physical Diversity
Sumita Majumdar and Daniel Oliver wrote a chapter together for this book that’s just come out.
Inclusivity and Equality in Performance Training focuses on neuro and physical difference and dis/ability in the teaching of performance and associated studies. It offers 19 practitioners’ research-based teaching strategies, aimed to enhance equality of opportunity and individual abilities in performance education.
Challenging ableist models of teaching, the 16 chapters address the barriers that can undermine those with dis/ability or difference, highlighting how equality of opportunity can increase innovation and enrich the creative work. Key features include:
Descriptions of teaching interventions, research, and exploratory practice to identify and support the needs and abilities of the individual with dis/ability or difference
Experiences of practitioners working with professional actors with dis/ability or difference, with a dissemination of methods to enable the actors
A critical analysis of pedagogy in performance training environments; how neuro and physical diversity are positioned within the cultural contexts and practices
Equitable teaching and learning practices for individuals in a variety of areas, such as: dyslexia, dyspraxia, visual or hearing impairment, learning and physical dis/abilities, wheelchair users, aphantasia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autistic spectrum.
This lecture will explore the formative influence of art school education within post-punk music culture. It will address the work of electro-pop and industrial music pioneer Fad Gadget (a.k.a. Frank Tovey) as a response to the avant-garde shock tactics of experimental performance by staff and students in the Fine Art department at Leeds Polytechnic in the mid-1970s. The presentation is based upon Butt’s forthcoming book No Machos or Popstars: When the Leeds Art Experiment Went Punk (forthcoming Duke University Press, 2022).
Our very own Di Beddow is featured in this exhibition in Cambridge.
This exhibition looks at the rich history of poetry about Cambridge, by focusing on poems and poets concerned with the places of the city. From Geoffrey Chaucer to the lesser-known Mary Davys, Sylvia Plath to William Wordsworth, poets both inside and outside the University have been moved to write about different areas of Cambridge. As well as transporting readers as far as Grantchester and Trumpington, these poems also help us shed new light on central locations, such as the Mill Pond and Market Hill.
Yesssssss you read that right! We’re offering 100 masters’ scholarships at 18 Preferred Partner universities in the areas of:
Media and Journalism
Tech
Sustainability
Policy
Law
Creative Content
We ask university partners to commit to tackling Islamophobia on campus and in higher education. Wondering why your preferred university isn’t on our list? Reach out to them and ask them to join our programme! Want to learn more about the scholarships?
The Women & Power festival at Shakespeare’s Globe will ask some of the most important questions of our moment. Join the conversation to discover the role that theatre, music, art and poetry can play in exploring the intersections of gender, race and class that are at the centre of social change today. How does the work of Shakespeare speak to this moment of gender revolution? How can we use Shakespearean performance to tell our own stories of oppression and assault?
This festival includes performances, panel events, a scholarly symposium and workshops that will spotlight and prioritise the work and the voices of women of all backgrounds.
Ever wondered what it’s like to work as a designer at Google? Or what the team look for in a great design portfolio? On Wednesday December 1st, Creative Lives in Progress is teaming up with Google Creative Lab to host a portfolio review for emerging designers. Apply to take part via Homerun.
Good to Go Festival at Theatre Deli London highlights artists whose work was cancelled due to the pandemic.
History of Political Ideas Seminar, Institute of Historical Research:
Shatema Threadcraft (Vanderbilt), ‘The Labors of Resurrection: Black Women, Death Work and the Making of the Black Counterpublic Sphere’
Wednesday 24 November 17.15 – 18.30 GMT
The seminar takes place on Zoom. To attend please register here. You will then be sent a link to join on the day.
Channel 5 Eggheads Opportunity
Eggheads is back for a second series on Channel 5 and we are looking for teams to take part.
Teams can be made up of friends, family, colleagues or members of clubs – whether you quiz regularly, started during lockdown or maybe this will be your first time.
Each team will consist of 4 team members and 1 standby.
If you beat the Eggheads you could win a cash prize. If you don’t the prize fund rolls over.
We would love it if you could share our flyer (attached) on social media, or forward it to people/students/colleagues who you think would be interested.
The closing date for applications is midnight on 10th December 2021 so don’t miss out on applying!
Thursday 2 December / Reference Point / £3.50 entry (+fees) / Tickets We’re excited to be celebrating the winner of the 2021 White Review Short Story Prize, sponsored by RCW, at Reference Point on 2 December. This year’s prize was awarded to RZ Baschir for ‘The Chicken’. On behalf of the judging panel, Preti Taneja said that the story ‘announces her as a brilliant new talent.’ Join us for short readings, followed by drinks in Reference Point’s bookshop and bar space. Issues of The White Review will be on sale, as well as Reference Point’s unique collection of first editions.
Theatre publishers Nick Hern Books are bringing their first-ever pop-up bookshop to acclaimed London new-writing venue the Bush Theatre for two days only on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 November! Choose from a massive range of playscripts and books all at amazing, one-off bargain prices, with hundreds available for just £2. Find out more
Further sources of interesting events, opportunities and jobs are…
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
Free event this Sunday in the People’s Palace Great Hall
The remarkable story of 1971’s Stepney Words, with Chris Searle, Stepney Words poets, historians, activists and today’s young voices.
In 1971, English teacher Chris Searle was sacked from a school in Stepney for publishing his students’ poems about their perspectives on the world around them. His students, joined by others from local schools, went on strike and marched from the East End to Trafalgar Square to demand justice. Fifty years later, Chris and his pupils, with historians and grassroots activists, reflect on Stepney then and now, student strikes then and now, and the continuing radical potential of poetry. The afternoon will end with performances from today’s young poets.
Speakers include: Chris Searle, Alan Gilbey, Tony Harcup, Judith Suissa, Ken Worpole, Julie Begum, Rob Waters, Tom Woodin, Angela Hancock, Alan Dein, Nadia Valman with poets Dillon Kalyabe and Becksy Becks.
Want to know how literary realism renders quantitative facts qualitatively perceptible? Don’t miss Prof. David Kurnick’s talk on “The Erotics of Large Numbers” next week!
Please join us for the launch of a new book Entanglements of Two: A Series of Duets, edited by Karen Christopher and Mary Paterson, and published by Intellect Books. The event will include contributions from Karen Christopher, Mary Paterson, David Berman (Physics, QMUL), Andrea Milde and Jemima Yong.
QUORUM committee is excited to invite you to a free seminar hosted by QUORUM at Queen Mary University and online on 24 November: This lecture will explore the formative influence of art school education within post-punk music culture. It will address the work of electro-pop and industrial music pioneer Fad Gadget (a.k.a. Frank Tovey) as a response to the avant-garde shock tactics of experimental performance by staff and students in the Fine Art department at Leeds Polytechnic in the mid-1970s. The presentation is based upon Butt’s forthcoming book No Machos or Popstars: When the Leeds Art Experiment Went Punk (forthcoming Duke University Press, 2022).
Thursday 25 November, 7.00pm – 8.00pm UK time – Online – Free, but booking is essential
A strong emotional attachment to the memory of empire runs deep in British culture. In recent years, that memory has become a battleground in a long-drawn ideological war, inflecting debates on race, class, gender, culture, the UK’s future and its place in the world. Peter Mitchell’s Imperial Nostalgia surveys the scene of the imperial memory wars in contemporary Britain, exploring how the myths that structure our views of empire came to be, and how they inform the present. Taking in such diverse subjects as Rory Stewart and inter-war adventure fiction, man’s facial hair and Kipling, the Alt-right and the Red Wall, Imperial Nostalgia asks how our relationship with our national past has gone wrong, and how it might be improved.
Peter Mitchell will be discussing his book and the issues it raises with Nadine El-Enany, Reader in Law at the Birkbeck School of Law, and Gargi Bhattacharyya, Professor of Sociology at the Centre for Migration, Refugees and Belonging, UEL.
Kathryn Yusoff Reading group: Week 8 Monday 15 November 1-2:30pm
We’ll be reading “Inhumanities” from A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None (U of Minnesota P, 2018). A brief introduction will be given by Ananya Mishra. Chair: Charlotta Salmi.
The seminar will be IN PERSON in Laws: 3.08-D and ONLINE. Please register via the following link:
Thursday 18 November 2021 6-7pm GMT | 7-8pm CET | 1-2pm EST
The enduring power of storytelling is undeniable and the printed book has proved resilient, even in the face of digitization and the global pandemic. So what does the future have in store for reading, storytelling and the ‘text’ in a world where visual media is increasingly dominant? How do advances in digitization change the way we read and experience texts? And how does this change the way that books and other kinds of textual media are made?
Our esteemed panellists will draw on their own research projects to explore these questions and to demonstrate how important research from across the humanities is in shaping our understanding of the past, present and future of our cultural heritage and production. Register for the event here.
New Possibilities for Performance Eastside Projects
ONLINE: Saturday 4 December, 11am–1pm Pay what you can (£7 suggestion), Free to EOP
BSL interpretation and live captioning What is at stake in experiencing performance? How is this experience mediated, live and direct in close physical contact or mediated and transmitted via technology and screens? What does it mean to make performance, now in a pandemic and post-pandemic world? Where is performance made and shown, and by whose authorship?
This event will explore what is currently at stake in performance across all live contemporary art forms, reflect on the current climate for making and sharing performance and build collective conversations in response to a series of urgent questions and provocations by guest contributors. Guests include Barak adé Soleil artist, dancer and co-director of Live Art Development Agency, Joe Moran choreographer and director of Dance Art Foundation, Louise O’Kelly curator and founder of Block Universe, Lucie Mirkova, Head of Artistic Programmes at DanceXchange, and SERAFINE1369 dancer and artist.
The event will start with a series of provocations exploring ‘what is at stake in performance now’. With responses engaging with current concerns within choreography, contemporary art, live art, artistic practice and beyond. We will explore what is at stake in the live experience, and what a removed viewing through a screen or device may add or take away from the observer.
This event is “pay what you can” to allow for flexibility depending on your income, the suggested amount for those with secure income is £7 READ MORE BOOK TICKET
Are you keen to gain a year’s experience working in a theatre for young people? Half Moon Theatre is looking for an enthusiastic and dedicated Creative Learning Assistant to support all aspects of the company’s extensive programme working with young people in Tower Hamlets.
Each year, Half Moon works with around 26,000 workshop participants and has around 25,000 audience members. Half Moon is a theatre for young audiences which tours nationally and specialises in artform development and new writing. Our participatory work and professional theatre programme have equal status and are mutually enriching.
The post is a fixed term one-year contract, paid at the London Living Wage, funded by the Jack Petchey Foundation Internship Programme.
The Jack Petchey Internship development programme is designed for young people who are leaving further or higher education and starting out in the youth/charity sector – or young people who have done one or two years of employment and are looking to transfer into, or take their next career step in, the youth/charity sector.
We particularly welcome applications from residents of Tower Hamlets.
Please email a CV and covering letter (maximum 1 side A4) demonstrating your experience and abilities to : beccy@halfmoon.org.uk (Please also send your completed Equal Opportunities Monitoring form)
Closing date for applications: Friday 26 November 2021 at 10am Interviews: w/c Monday 29 November 2021 Starting date: Monday 10 January 2022
Computacenter roles are now open and they have some awesome opportunities for both placement years and graduate programs.
What do Computacenter do? In simple terms, you’d be joining a company who delivers digital tech solutions to some of the biggest organisations in the world. They have opportunities across Business Management, Project Management, Technical Consultancy, and Sales.
Placement Years – £17k, Locations across the UK, Add real value from Day 1, Hands on experience and the opportunity to learn and work on innovative solutions for our customers.
Graduates – £30k starting salary, Locations across the UK, Structured support programme designed to fast track your learning and development in a business that really cares about it’s employees.
Interested? Follow the link below to their Future Careers page to find out more.
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
For many years, Tower Hamlets Council and Queen Mary University of London have been proud to support A Season of Bangla Drama, an annual festival which brings the borough’s communities together each November to celebrate the magic of theatre as well as the arts and cultural traditions of Bangladesh.
As we mark the 50th anniversary of the Independence of Bangladesh, this has been renamed the Freedom and Independence Theatre Festival.
The themes in the title have inspired the plays and events that make up this year’s programme. We are delighted that we are continuing to profile British Bangladeshi theatre as an important way to spotlight key events of 1971, tell untold stories, and reach out to new audiences.
The variety of plays on offer cover topics including the plight of women, the tales of freedom fighters, the journeys of refugees such as the Rohingya and Vietnamese, as well as the power of protest.
There will be a fringe programme of events including a Bengali heritage walk, film screenings, an international youth writing project, talks and exhibitions.
The festival will also provide opportunities for audiences to participate through Q&As, and to be immersed in the richness of poetry, music and dance.
This is a fantastic way to learn about the history, legacy and impact of what unfolded half a century ago.
For the full programme listings, please visit our What’s On page.
To celebrate the publishing of his new book The Unbreakable Student: 6 Rules for Staying Sane at University Nic will be sharing some of his best hints and tips with our student ambassadors before giving you the chance to ask your own questions. The free live event will be happening on Wednesday 10th November at 2pm.
Are you interested in getting into the field of factual television production? #ProductionUnlocked has a day packed with all the tips and tricks you need to create great factual content
Sign up now for the award-winning We Speak Employment online programme. Improve your speaking confidence and employment opportunities with mentors from companies including Just Eat, Investec and Google.
Your place would be fully funded by our corporate partners. During live weekly online sessions, you’ll build your confidence around how to contribute to discussions, speak comfortably at job interviews and speak in front of groups.
The programme take place once a week over 4 weeks. You can choose from dates starting in mid November. Participants will receive a Certificate of Achievement. It’s a friendly and relaxed environment so perfect if you feel less confident speaking.
Sign up as soon as possible at www.wespeak.co/apply (2 minute form). The opportunity closes on Monday 8 November but places may run out earlier.
While commonly associated with hedonism and excess, the word ‘decadence’ has a much richer set of connotations, including a taste for decay, delight in uncommon sexual and cultural practices, and the upturning of moral hierarchies. For this event, we’ve selected some of the most innovative scenes from Remy de Gourmont’s Lilith (1892), in a new translation by Dan Rebellato; the first act of Jean Lorrain’s Ennoïa (1905), translated into English for the first time by Jennifer Higgins; Djuna Barnes’s brilliant one-act play The Dove (1923); and a little-known text that was well ahead of its time by Izumi Kyōka called Kerria Japonica (1923). The curators and translators will also be offering short introductions to each of the performed texts.
Expect an unusual and expansive evening filled with femme fatales, sadomasochistic pleasures, queer desires, and the fall of humankind.
Curated by Dr Adam Alston and Professor Jane Desmarais | Directed by Jonathan Meth | Performers: Lauren John Joseph, Georgia Sansom, Sadao Ueda, Yuriri Naka, Eric Stroud and Adam Alston.
The Freedom & Independence Theatre Festival runs from 5-28 November 2021 and will comprise an intercultural programme marking the 50th anniversary of Bangladeshi independence. Activities will include 12 theatrical performances, exhibitions, curated talks and seminars.
It will facilitate a dynamic cultural exchange between youth, elders and marginalised groups across the UK Bangladeshi, Palestinian, Rohingya, Somali, Vietnamese and London’s East End communities, celebrating in diverse modes and media the themes of freedom and independence.
Queen Mary University of London has been a key partner on the festival since its inception with events happening on campus in our ArtsOne Building.
Bengali History Walk by Swadhinata Trust A poet will be joining this year’s Banglatown walk to add a new dimension to this engaging, interactive slice of local history
Future 001 Xuriyo by Numbi ArtsFuture 001 Xuriyo is an Afro-Futurist project that tries to imagine the possibilities of a Somali future
Use Your Words by Arts Without Borders Come along and hear how young writers have got creative and honed their craft using the themes of independence and freedom
Ummsiyah by Arts Without Borders This is a celebration of Palestinian arts and culture as well as the lived Palestinian experience
When Madonna was Dying by BSK This play tells the story of the women activists in 1971 in the UK who were the forerunners in raising voices for freedom
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
I’m excited to share my latest profile for Black History Month, featuring freelance writer and critic, Tomiwa Owolade (English BA, 2018). (Thank you to Suzanne, who bumped into Tomiwa at a book signing recently and told me about him!)
In his profile, Tomiwa explores the idea of ‘pride’ and talks about how his degree helped to develop his skills as a writer, how lucky he feels to have a job that aligns so much with his interests, and why he’s been inspired to begin writing a book about black British identity.
“[My book] is a critique of a tendency to conflate the experiences and cultures of the black British population with the black American population. Obviously, there are instances when comparisons are valid, but the assumption, which I found pervasive after the Black Lives Matter protests last year, that we can analyse black Britain through an American lens, is reductive.”
Calling all lovers of reading and literature! Join Wasafiri’s Malachi McIntosh and your favourite international writers including Daniel Mella, Chen Chen, Bernadine Evaristo, and Raymond Antrobus to take you on a journey behind the scenes and unpack the often-hidden side of how their work was created.
New Learning Resources
Digital Theatre + (digital recordings of theatre productions). This is in addition to Drama Online (digital recordings of theatre productions and play scripts), which we started subscribing to last year.
Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Literature (dynamically updated key reference work on literature)
Alexander Street Academic Video Online (documentaries and films across all subject areas)
We have the opportunity for you to engage with some specialist mentoring.
Unlock your Talent, build confidence and tackle any difficulties you are facing whilst being at university and identifying from a Black Asian and Minority Ethnic Background.
If you are interested please sign up here or via the QR code in the email.
18th – 28th November 2021 At Stanley Arts & Online A Bit Of A Do, our annual festival of theatre, dance and cabaret, featuring work by disabled and non-disabled artists is back! Everyone is invited! We will be returning to Stanley Arts – a community arts venue in South Norwood, from the 18th to 28th of November. This year there will be two ways to experience the festival: this can be in person or online, so you can choose which you prefer. All events include British Sign Language interpretation and some events include enhanced access for visually impaired audiences. We have a range of amazing performances and digital experiences including work from Bert & Nasi, Forced Entertainment, Moxie Brawl, GymJam, Ellen Renton, Jack Dean & Company and Aby Watson. As well as an evening of Cabaret Performance, an inclusive club night and a Scratch Night that will showcase brand new performance ideas from disabled artists. As always all events are Free to attend – you just need to book a ticket so that we know how many people will be with us! You can find all of the festival information and book tickets by following the link below. We can’t wait to have ‘A Bit Of A Do’ with You! Learn More
Friday Late takeover, this month gal-dem and friends are back for a night of live performances, workshops, installations, talks and screenings. As we enter the Roaring Twenties, this Friday Late, we’re asking you to remake with us, using your hands, minds and imagination to radically change the times we live in. 29 October, 18.30 – 22.00
Featuring live readings from two of the UK’s most exciting literary voices, Inua Ellams and Nikesh Shukla, a long-overdue Social performance from the incredible 4 BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE and finally, Musa himself in conversation with Ian Wright (can’t believe we’ve actually just written that…
We’ll also have music from DJ Pierre Nedd, and the usual array of Rough Trade Books merchandise for sale. So get down to the best bar in town for what promises to be a classic night.
Calling all avid readers! Enrich your CV with a portfolio of book reviews on our independent review site Reedsy Discovery.
We spotlights gems of the indie publishing world — great books that are often overshadowed by big bestsellers. As a reviewer, you can contribute as much or as little as you like, and great reviews will be featured in our newsletter, sent weekly to 300k readers.
What do you need to apply? At least 1-2 book review examples.
WebCrafters is a student-led project aiming to enable students to access the hidden job market through the power of the personal website. Whether you are a student, a graduate, or looking to have a change of career, we are here to help you promote your personality and achievements in the best possible light. How? By teaching you to code your own personal portfolio website and showing you how to interface that site with LinkedIn and other key employability sites to maximise your online presence. These will enable you to gravitate towards the hidden job market and showcase yourself in the best possible light to prospective employers.
What do Computacenter do? In simple terms, you’d be joining a company who delivers digital tech solutions to some of the biggest organisations in the world. They have opportunities across Business Management, Project Management, Technical Consultancy, and Sales.
Placement Years – £17k, Locations across the UK, Add real value from Day 1, Hands on experience and the opportunity to learn and work on innovative solutions for our customers.
Graduates – £30k starting salary, Locations across the UK, Structured support programme designed to fast track your learning and development in a business that really cares about it’s employees.
Interested? Follow the link below to their Future Careers page to find out more.
The Uni Bubble regarding our free weekly careers newsletters where we’re equipping students to move into industries of the future after university. We’ll be guiding you on the opportunities available to you, the free skills and qualifications you can gain to increase your employability and other specific advice on each industry weekly.
Our 7 industry-specific newsletters you can choose from are: Digital, Technology, Creative, Business, Green Jobs, Entrepreneurship and Exploring Opportunities.
It can be overwhelming navigating the career paths available to you so we’re here to guide and prepare you to find work in an industry you’re interested in, regardless of your degree background.
Next week sees an all-new festival taking place at the Royal Albert Hall, celebrating 150 years of immigration via a series of inspiring talks, performances, and interactive events, featuring an array of artists, musicians and speakers from immigrant backgrounds.
Part of the Hall’s 150th anniversary programme, Journeys is curated by prolific musician, producer and broadcaster Nitin Sawhney, who will headline the festival with a concert in the main auditorium on Friday 29 October.
Nitin will also be on hand to lead panel discussions covering the relationship between diversity and creativity, and evaluating the meaning of being an immigrant in society today. He will be joined by such names as Andy Serkis, Sonita Gale and YolanDa Brown. Limited £5 tickets for these talks are available for students, under 26s and unemployed.
Wednesday 27 October 2021: 5.00-6.00pm UK time (BST)
Online via zoom
Rivka Galchen’s novel, published this summer, about the witchcraft trial of Katharina Kepler was described by the Wall Street Journal as “a very beautiful work of fiction” and the LA Times as “a smart book that investigates the power of narrative… while being funny and deceptively easy to read.” Galchen re-imagines the world of the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years War, concentrating on the herbal remedies, troubled friendships, and worldly tribulations of the mother of the astronomer Johannes Kepler. To discuss the book and the case, as well as the challenges of rendering difficult histories in artistic forms, Galchen will be joined by Professor Ulinka Rublack of Cambridge University, whose book on the trial and its implications for the history of science and magic, the Reformation, and women’s lives, was an important source. Rublack also created an opera, Kepler’s Trial, on the subject.
Rivka Galchen is the author of the novel Atmospheric Disturbances, the short-story collection American Innovations, the essay Little Labors, and the children’s book Rat Rule 79. She is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards and is a regular contributor of essays, reviews, and fiction to The London Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, and The New Yorker. She lives in New York and Montreal and teaches in the writing program at Columbia University.
Ulinka Rublack, FBA, is a professor in early modern European history and a Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge. She is editor of The Oxford Handbook of the Protestant Reformations; her other books include Dürer in the Age of Wonder and The Astronomer and the Witch: Johannes Kepler’s Fight for His Mother, which won the Deutsche Historikerpreis. Her current project, The Triumph of Fashion, charts the rise of fashion in different parts of the globe from 1300 onwards. During the academic year 2021-2 she is a Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin.
Recently launched podcast series called The Amplify Project is committed to supporting Black British writers and amplifying the Black British literary cannon. We’ve invited writers for the stage, page and screen to tell us about themselves, their work, what inspires them and why they write.
You can find our website here which also has links to our social media handles.
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
Queen Mary Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies 2021– Tuesday 19 October 2021
Nicole Aljoe (Northeastern): Racing the Rise of the Novel: Black Lives and the Development of the English Novel from 1688-1832
This talk comes from a larger study that aims to analyze the complex relationships between the development of the novel and narratives of Black lives in Britain during the long 18th-century (1688-1837), as well as contribute to conversations about the impact of notions of race and empire on the development of the novel in Europe during this time. Tracking the representations of Black lives across novels and other texts throughout the century highlights the ways in which Black and White writers used these representations to engage particular questions not only about the aesthetics and form of the new genre, but also important attendant questions about notions of subjectivity and human rights. The appearance of a range of black characters and protagonists in early European writings over the course of the century provides a useful framework for revealing an/Other story of the development of the novel that complicates the often nativist and frequently exclusive narratives of the “rise” of the genre that continue to dominate in the field. In essence, this talk aims to explore what happens when Watt’s “rise of the novel” model is “recast” with a focus on Black texts. Chair: Markman Ellis
If you wish to join this seminar IN PERSON please come to the Francis Bancroft Building, Room 109, Queen Mary University of London, E1 4NS (no. 31 on this map https://ph.qmul.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Article/Mile-End-campus-map.pdf). If you are attending in person, please e-mail w.bowers@qmul.ac.uk to confirm this, so we can keep track of numbers for social distancing and refreshments.
At this event, a panel of Black alumni will speak about their journey as a Black person looking for work and their personal experiences in the workplace. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and find out more about our speakers.
Click here to self enroll to our QMPlus module, which you will need access to to view the event. If you are a graduate, please contact careers-events@qmul.ac.uk
If you require captioning for online events, we recommend using the Google Chrome extension. Find out how to do this by clicking here.
Equipped with some know-how and a touch of irony, Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver (Queen Mary Drama) use spoken word and movement to respond to a world turned upside down. How do you survive a loss? First you recalibrate…
Drama Grads Figs in Wigs are coming out of isolation and this time they’ve got their period (dresses)
Presenting a live art, feminist ‘adaptation’ of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel Little Women. Wild, irreverent and cosmically comical, this production dismantles the traditional canon to make way for the doomed future of humankind.
For many years, Tower Hamlets Council and Queen Mary University of London have been proud to support A Season of Bangla Drama, an annual festival which brings the borough’s communities together each November to celebrate the magic of theatre as well as the arts and cultural traditions of Bangladesh.
As we mark the 50th anniversary of the Independence of Bangladesh, this has been renamed the Freedom and Independence Theatre Festival.
The themes in the title have inspired the plays and events that make up this year’s programme. We are delighted that we are continuing to profile British Bangladeshi theatre as an important way to spotlight key events of 1971, tell untold stories, and reach out to new audiences.
The variety of plays on offer cover topics including the plight of women, the tales of freedom fighters, the journeys of refugees such as the Rohingya and Vietnamese, as well as the power of protest.
There will be a fringe programme of events including a Bengali heritage walk, film screenings, an international youth writing project, talks and exhibitions.
The festival will also provide opportunities for audiences to participate through Q&As, and to be immersed in the richness of poetry, music and dance.
This is a fantastic way to learn about the history, legacy and impact of what unfolded half a century ago.
For the full programme listings, please visit our What’s On page.
1927’s Roots is a medley of these rarely-told stories, an anthology of ancient folk tales by anonymous authors. Tales of tyrannical ogres, magic bird’s hearts and very, very fat cats are brought to life with 1927’s signature fusion of handcrafted animation and storytelling.
I wanted to let you know about FlairBox’s Workshop Week, an exciting opportunity for your students to learn from industry Professionals through online masterclasses, at a discounted price. Places are going rapidly, but we want to do everything we can this year to support graduating and recently graduated students by giving them as much support as possible in entering the industry.
I’m delighted to be able to offer the students of Queen Mary University a 20% discount on all of our workshops! (including masterclasses with Casting Director Nancy Bishop, United Agents’ Olivia Jones, and viral comedy sensation Jonny Weldon). All your students need to do is apply the discount code: DramaSchoolRef when purchasing a workshop space through our website FlairBox.
(RE)CONNECT WORKSHOPS
For young people aged 16+
Thu 28 – Sat 30 Oct; 11.30am – 1pm; £4.50 each + Booking Fee
Want to start your own podcast, write your own music or create your own solo show? We’ve got a series of workshops this month from amazing artists to help get your creative juices flowing.
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
The Death of King Arthur by Seth Kriebel explodes the legend we all think we know and asks: What story do you want to believe?
The Death Of King Arthur is a new version of a very old story, an interactive twist on the enduringly popular tales of Arthur and his knights.
Choose which parts of the story you want to hear: The bit about the sword in the stone? Lancelot & Guinevere? How Arthur dies?
Or the other version of how Arthur dies? …or the other other version?
Sit back and enjoy or actively take part in the decisions that guide the story. Each show is unique, depending on the audience’s choices… bringing a lost Britain back to life and asking what the old tales can tell us in these complicated times.
The Queen Mary Postgraduate Research committee is delighted to invite you to our schedule of seminars this autumn (see poster).
We have put together a fantastic line-up of speakers from across the UK and America, who will be sharing their work with us, ranging from seventeenth-century skin colour to twenty-first century music videos.
This semester, we will be hosting seminars on Zoom on Thursdays, beginning 14th October. The seminar begins at 17:00 (UK time) and follows the format of a paper of up to 45 minutes and a question session of 15 minutes. All QMUL staff and students are warmly invited to attend, and to share with anyone else who might be interested at other universities or elsewhere.
We hope the seminars inspire you and spark new discussions, especially at a time when we are rediscovering the strength of our QM English community after a long time apart. It is our belief that the PGRS seminar exemplifies all that is best about QM English – innovative, supportive, and led by learning from each other. We are so looking forward to seeing you all there this autumn as we reconnect with our community here at SED.
Zoom registration for our very first talk, ‘Citizenship in an Erotic Mode in the work of Beyonce Knowles and Warsan Shire in Lemonade (2016)’ on 14th October, is open now! Follow this link to sign up:
Temporary Before Permanent is a contemporary art exhibition curated by Drama graduate Rebecca Sangs showcasing prints from Ann Chang which were collected and archived over the artists’ time here in the UK. These prints were primarily stencils used for the practice of . Each of the stencil prints exhibited represents a person, an interaction and the connection between the artist and the person that was .
Stencils are often used right before the start of a session for the artist to find the best position for the design to permanently live on someone. It could often take multiple tries of applying and wiping to eventually find the best location. Stencils act as temporary guidelines and will be wiped off completely from the skin by the end of the session. As a sentimental act, the artist collected all the stencil prints used in every session.
Originally from a small town based in Taiwan, Ann Chang takes inspiration from the origins of her parents’ home where rain and wet weather are a common phenomenon. Through connections from back home, as well as friendships built within East London, interactions of culture form many aspects of the artist’s work which are delicately showcased within the amalgamation of this exhibition.
Chang has an obsession with vases, where it took her a long time to figure out what it meant to her. She explains, “Vases are like people, they are in all shapes and colors and it’s up to you what you’d like to put inside of it. The vases I draw are often covered in a rain texture, which represents the melancholic rainy cities and small towns I live in now and have lived in before”.
As well as representing a collection of experiences found through human connection, Chang’s practice aims to present a discovery of peace within all aspects of art-making. Seen as a form of therapeutic experience, there is power in the artwork not only for the artist, but also the people who connect and participate with it, as well as the clients who get . Framed as a non-aggressive approach to active creation, these prints represent the idea of continuously being able to find joy in a time of challenges and hardships.
Ann Chang is a artist, printmaker, illustrator and painter. makes up a large part of her original work. As the kind of art form that Chang practices is not only unsupported but also red taped by the government, she is applying for a visa as a printmaker and illustrator to continue living her life in London. The word has to be erased and kept secret. By marking the word in the color of the stencils the artist believes that the art form is not completely disowned but highlighted with a distinctive shadow.
If you would like to know more about why certain words are removed from the texts above, please write to us at temporary.before.permanent@gmail.com and we will send you a personal letter written by the artist to tell you more about the story as the artist would still like to keep the focus of the exhibition on the artwork. You can also follow Ann on Instagram @she_shan_yu to see more of her fantastic work.
Exhibition period: 10am- 6pm, 11 – 17 of October 2021
Stepney Words 50 Years On
An event at the People’s Palace reflecting on the significance and legacy of the publication of Stepney Words & the Stepney Schools Strike with Chris Searle, historians, activists & poets.
In this authoritative, accessible study, historian Suzanne Schneider examines the politics and ideology of the Islamic State (better known as ISIS). Schneider argues that today’s jihad is not the residue from a less enlightened time, nor does it have much in common with its classical or medieval form, but it does bear a striking resemblance to the reactionary political formations and acts of spectacular violence that are upending life in Western democracies. From authoritarian populism to mass shootings, xenophobic nationalism, and the allure of conspiratorial thinking, Schneider argues that modern jihad is not the antithesis to western neoliberalism, but rather a dark reflection of its inner logic.
About the speaker:
Dr Suzanne Schneider is Deputy Director and Core Faculty at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, working in the fields of history, religious studies, and political theory. She is the author of Mandatory Separation: Religion, Education, and Mass Politics in Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2018), and her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Mother Jones, N+1, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among other outlets.
British East Asian and Southeast Asian theatre and performance are perhaps less well-known than theatre and performance created by British South Asian companies and artists. How are British East Asia and Southeast Asia represented by theatre-makers? So, how has Asia been represented on the contemporary British stage? Increasingly more plays about Asians and on Asian themes have been produced at the National Theatre, the Arcola, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court and more. There are a wealth of stories, histories and voices that are yet to be explored and told. Theatre artists Kumiko Mendl and Kwong Loke join us in conversation.
Join leading practitioners for a roundtable discussion about the practical strategies, approaches and exercises that enable them to practice feminism in their work. We’ll be asking them about the politics of their work, how they experience power in the theatre, and how they have navigated it in their careers.
Exploring both process and product, this unmissable event aims to inspire and to further understanding for those interested in both creativity and social justice.
University of the Arts London (UAL) is a vibrant world centre for innovation and top 2 in the world for Art and Design (QS World University Rankings 2021). UAL draws together six Colleges with international reputations in art, design, fashion, communication and performing arts.
Student Marketing and Recruitment is a forward thinking department. We deliver market intelligence, marketing campaigns, prospective student communications and guidance.
Registration for the free virtual ‘Books on Screen’ symposium is now open!
Join us for part or all of 3 November 2021 to explore how books are represented on screens. All welcome, please share widely.
Bestselling author Candice Carty-Williams will be in conversation with Jamelia at The Ritzy cinema next Monday 11 October at 4.30pm about her new book, Empress & Aniya – South London’s answer to ‘Freaky Friday’.
Tickets are only £5 + booking fee, and attendees will have the chance to ask Candice questions, buy a copy of the book and get it signed. Monday 11th October is also International Day of the Girl, so this event which will focus on female friendship should be particularly relevant and inspiring! The ticket purchase link is here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/candice-carty-williams-introduces-empress-aniya-tickets-172357384577.
Further sources of interesting events, opportunities and jobs are…
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
Please let us know if you have any suggestions for next edition via sed-web@qmul.ac.uk
From QMUL, Partners & Friends
Black History Month in Tower Hamlets
Music, film, workshops, heritage and more form the mainstay of varied, month-long programme of events and activities to mark Black History Month 2021.
In addition to the wide array of events listed, Museum of London Docklands have a great programme for Black History Month throughout October.
You can learn about key moments in London’s Black history with an interactive timeline, drop in to a weekend storytelling session with Soup Stories, inspired from the new display ‘Feeding Black: Community, Power & Place’ and explore the stories of past Black Londoners with a digital trail for the who of half term week.
Local organisation Trapped in Zone One are creating two new community murals in Tower Hamlets which showcases the rich diversity of the borough and honour a community champion who is an inspiration to young people in Tower Hamlets. For details to how you can get involved in these FREE creative workshops please visit their website.
English PASS (Peer Assisted Study Support) starts for first year students in person on Thursday 7 October 2021. Email Amanda to RSVP or if you have questions: a.perumal@hss20.qmul.ac.uk
SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN FOR PEACH MAGAZINE: 🦋PASSAGES🦋
‘After a difficult period of time, this new academic year will hopefully be one of positive change and transition, and we want our first print run to reflect that. By making ‘passages’ the theme of our first print run, we are hoping it will provide an outlet to help aid the healing process this next year will bring.
‘Passages’ can be the fleeting or lasting effect of going through changes in life. It could mean passing next to someone and recalling a memory; the perfume of that person might remind you of a family member; a stranger you cross paths with might look familiar without personally knowing them. “Passages” could be the feeling of wading through water – there is little resistance, it is natural and almost as instinctive as time passing through life. What can Passages encompass?
Submissions can focus on: emotional or physical transitions, transformations, changes in physical space, the progression of time, or any other interpretation that reflects this theme!
We are open for submissions NOW. We take submissions for poetry, prose, short story, comics, illustration, paintings, collage, photography (including photographs of 3D art forms such as sculpture, embroidery, textile art, ect.). Deadline is the 13th of October! You can send your submissions to us at peachmagazine@qmsu.org.
We are very much looking forward to seeing your submissions! 🍑
Maya and Alexandra, Editor in Chief & Deputy Editor
We’re excited for everyone’s idea, no matter how extraterrestrial! 👾
Reach! Workshops
Studying at university is quite different from school. Reach! will equip you with the tips and skills you’ll need to succeed with your studies. You’ll learn about UK academic culture, effective study techniques, essay writing, data visualisation, how to recognise disinformation and more. Reach! workshops are organised by the Queen Mary Academic Skills team.
In the session taking place on Wednesday 6 October [at 1pm or 4pm] will focus on Effective Reading & Note-Making, The session runs both in person and online. Visit our Eventbrite page to sign-up.
To find out more about future sessions, take a look at our website.
Outside QMUL
The Apocalypse Reading Room – Ama Josephine Budge
An installation of books for all ages, exploring ways to reimagine our futures
The Apocalypse Reading Room at Toynbee Studios, curated by speculative writer and artist Ama Josephine Budge (centre) and two residency Lateisha Davine Lovelace-Hanson (left) and Mohammed Z Rahman (right). Photo by Bettina Adela
The Apocalypse Reading Room is an installation by speculative writer and artist Ama Josephine Budge: an on-site library, a world of talking stories in the face of environmental and social transformation, a gathering of all the books we might need to change the end of the world…
Explore the The Apocalypse Reading Room in person at Toynbee Studios in the Arts Bar & Café. This post-apocalyptic library installation is filled with books for all ages and you’re invited to come and read books exploring ways to build, transform, rethink, rewrite and reimagine our futures.
The Apocalypse Reading Room is activated by two artists, Lateisha Davine Lovelace-Hanson and Mohammed Z Rahman, who are taking part in a three-month long residency programme, a series of public events and writing blogs:
Ama is in the Reading Room and access support is offered on 18 September and 25 September and 12-6pm.
Digital Cities Virtual returns on 12 October 2021 for another fantastic lineup of ONLINE events for people working in or interested in TV and related creative industries. We’ve teamed up with top UK media organisations to deliver a varied schedule of amazing FREE events for people who work in, or want to work in, the creative industries. Here’s some sections:
Launch of 2021 Benjamin Franklin House Literary Prize
‘Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech.’ Silence Dogood, No.8, The New-England Courant (1722). Each year a question or quote exploring Benjamin Franklin’s relevance in our time is open for interpretation in 1000-1500 words. The competition is open exclusively for young writers, aged 18-25, with a first prize of £750, and a second prize of £500. Winning entries will be posted online at www.BenjaminFranklinHouse.org.
The Franklin quote for interpretation in 2021 is: ‘Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech.’ Silence Dogood, No.8, The New-England Courant (1722). Entrants should interpret this quote for its significance today. All entries must be received by 31 October 2021.
Franklin is one of history’s great figures. While he made lasting contributions in many fields, his first passion was writing. He believed in the power of the written word as the bedrock of a democratic society to inform and stimulate debate.
Submissions *Entrants must be aged 18-25 years and living in the UK.
Entries of 1000-1500 words must be sent by 31 October 2021 to education@benjaminfranklinhouse.org. Each entrant is asked to provide their name, preferred email, postal address, and phone number within the email with the entry attached as a word document. In addition, entrants should provide their age and place of study (if applicable; if they are not in education, they should provide a biographical note explaining their current acurrent activities). Entrants may submit only one entry; fiction or non-fiction.
OverCome – Autumn 2021 at Battersea Arts Centre
The Battersea Arts Centre autumn 2021 season of live theatre, dance and digital shows celebrates our unique ability to come together, learn and grow. All tickets Pay What You Can.
Roundhouse Rising Festival 2021 announces full programme including headline sets from Shay D, Grove, Jerkcurb + Natanya, 19th – 23rd October 2021.
The London festival returns to fully celebrate 11 years of championing new music, in association with BBC Music Introducing, Route, Saffron and Daytimers
More panels, masterclasses + workshops launched this year to open up access to the music industry.
Tickets on sale for members on Tuesday 28th September with general on sale Thursday 30th September from roundhouse.org.uk
Do you want to secure a job in the music industry? Participate in this workshop to learn how to get your foot in the door, make connections and launch your career.
Find out what it takes to create events and festivals in this informative and engaging panel. Gain tips on booking live shows, signing acts, routing tours and more!
Further sources of interesting events, opportunities and jobs are…
Whether you’re a Londoner, taking a day trip before moving here or a new resident here’s our arty list of exciting ways to spend your summer in the city.
Free activities all week in Victoria Park near our Mile End campus including live music, free outdoor cinema, live music, live performances from Pan-Asian cabaret collective BITTEN PEACH and much more.
PLUS: We’ll be there at 2pm on Thursday 2nd September for a pop-up podcast recording with a surprise author guest.
A feast of (mainly) free performance across east and south London including this spectacular ‘northern lights’ installation called Borealis and a promenade show at the Tudor surroundings of Charlton House by our very own Mojisola Adebayo. Be sure to book in advance for free and paid events.
The doors are thrown open to London’s gorgeous, unusual and secret buildings at Open House London. Booking opens on 11 August at 12pm (midday) and it’s the perfect chance for locals to discover something new in your area or if you’re new to explore London.
Free summer weekenders curated by some cult icons including Shingai (pictured above) who’s showcasing Black talent, dance battles from Zoonation and bank holiday carnival vibes from Dennis Bovell’s Sound System Experience.
MISERY, Sad Girl Summer event 2020. Photo by Ella J Frost
What Shall We Build Here is a festival of art, climate and community at Artsadmin’s Toynbee Studios in Aldgate East, in parks and in your local supermarket.
Conducting conversation / Connecting Creatively / Creating Courageously / Courageously Carrying On / and Cabaret! / Come on and join us!
Peopling the Palace is a yearly festival of performance, workshops and events that showcases the work of Queen Mary academics, artists, current students and alumni.
This year’s theme is care and features over 25 events from outrageous cabaret nights to a day exploring the rituals of care. In times of global unrest and pandemic, Peopling the Palace Festival, creates a space to explore how important caring about each other is. The festival tackles important contemporary issues of racial inequality, mental health, care provision, neurodivergence, art in a crisis, climate justice and aging.
All events are free to attend and open to all. Advanced booking required for all events.
I am Leah (13 June) A vital new play inspired by the stories of survivors of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
Dadders (19 June): Escape to the Meadowdrome with acclaimed artists Daniel Oliver and Frauke Requardt (The Place, Latitude Festival) to delve into their experiences of neurodivergent parent.
Last Gasp WFH (19 June):Playing with the fragility of technology, particularly the unpredictability of Zoom, the team found new avenues to the classic Split Britches (Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw) aesthetic of broken down theatrical conventions, exposing the self on stage.
The Tempest in English and Spanish (17 June):This interactive experience explores how the arts can break the stigma around autism.
The Possibility of Colour (12 June):Dystopian play about a new miracle cure and explores themes around mental health voice hearing, synaesthesia, neuro-diversity, Artificial Intelligence, privatised health and the illusion of choice.
Cabaret & Showcases
Alumni and Current Student Performance Showcase Nights (10,15 & 17 June): Be shocked, surprised and inspired when you support new artists and performers as they show their latest works.
Her-Pees (9 June) a comfortable, inclusive, and questioning performance night ahead of their Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club Debut.
Friday Night In (Film Night) (11 June): A small screen celebration of work from QMUL students, alumni, staff and other exciting filmmakers.
Cossy Fanny Tooty Cabaret (16 June): A cheeky performance cabaret curated by Vivian Harris.
Workshops, Conferences & Conversations
A Queer Climate Justice Workshop (16 June)by Queen Mary Theatre Company in the lead up to a new show, The Cabaret at the End of the World.
Free Creative Skills Workshops (14-15 June) to help QMUL students and the community get into the creative industries with Creative Skills Academy.
Workshop on Writing Race (16 June) for sixth-form students with acclaimed artist Vanessa MacAulay.
Enlightening Conversations and Conferences: ‘Women, Theatre, Criminal Justice’ with Clean Break, ‘Making During States of Emergency’, ‘Cults, Conspiracy and Pseudoscience’, ‘Mental Health and the arts’ and ‘How do Universities Care for Students Learning’.
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
Please let us know if you have any suggestions for next edition via sed-web@qmul.ac.uk
From QMUL, Partners & Friends
Peopling the Palace Festival 2021 is coming from 7-20 June 2021 and students get exclusive early access to booking free tickets ahead of the launch via the button below…
Zoom event – Free admission – We welcome interest from the public, link on request via our Twitter account on Twitter account on @QuorumQMUL or our email address queenmaryquorum@hotmail.co.uk.
Performance, Possession & Automation – a collaborative research project led by Nick Ridout and Orlagh Woods, in collaboration with Dhanveer Singh Brar – invites you to two online conversations.
Possession & Modern Acting | Friday 4th June, 6-8pm (BST) | Online | Shonni Enelow, Julia Jarcho and Nicholas Ridout
Possession: an actor seems to have been taken over by someone else.
Automation: an actor is someone whose actions are not their own.
In this public conversation, Shonni Enelow, Julia Jarcho and Nicholas Ridout explore ideas about possession and automation in relation to 20th and 21st century experiences of acting, theatre and the movies. Do they hold clues to the roles that both possession and automation play in contemporary life, and to how we might think and feel about them.
Click here, to book your place and for further information.
I was born a loser | Friday 11 June, 6-8 pm (BST) | Online | Edward George and Dhanveer Singh Brar
What occurs when “lose her” is recast as “loser”, and covered over once more to become “winner”? And why in each reversioning does “pride” persist, but never in the same guise? These are questions which arise from listening to the Jamaican essayist of the song form, Alton Ellis.
By losing ourselves in Alton Ellis’s losses and revisions, Edward George and Dhanveer Singh Brar believe it is possible to begin to open up an auditory dimension to the question of spirit in Jamaica, the Caribbean, the diaspora, and in turn, modernity itself, as it was being rendered towards the end of the twentieth century.
Click here, to book your place and for further information.
Performance, Possession & Automation is a research project exploring automation and possession as two ways of thinking about what happens to human subjects who act in ways that they do not themselves fully control. How can making and thinking about performance contribute to thinking about these ideas?
In partnership with Fierce Festival, performingborders and Transform Festival
This project is supported by:
Collaborations Fund of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), The Centre for Public Engagement, QMUL & Strategic Research Initiative, School of English and Drama, QMUL
Creative Workshop: Calling University Students! What do you think of your hometown? Why do you want to leave? Why do you want to stay?
Join Botch Job for an online creative workshop, focusing on exploring the question of what home means, and how identity can be shaped by the place you grew up in. We want to hear about your love/hate relationships with your hometowns, why you have chosen to stay or leave and what this means for the places left behind. The workshop will be a mixture of group discussion and informal writing tasks based around these themes, and used as research in devising a new piece of theatre about hometowns. No tools or preparation will be required.
Botch Job are an emerging company, formed in January 2019 by Jack Tricker and Tom Chamberlain as part of Camden People’s Theatre’s Starting Block artist development scheme. Botch Job have an interdisciplinary approach to theatre making, involving video and live art practices and create entertaining work engaging in wider social and political discussions. They make theatre driven by questions about the world that they have yet to answer.
If you’re interested in supporting Botch Job, then please register here https://forms.gle/H3vUTPVEJuw4XNCR8 . Attendees will receive a £10 Dominos Voucher or £10 Book token voucher. Please respond by 23rd May at 5pm.
Dates/Times:
Monday 24th May, 6pm-7pm
Tuesday 25th May 6.30pm-7.30pm
Wednesday 26th May 7pm-8pm
Outside QMUL
Creative Youth Worker Job at Spotlight “We are seeking amazing, creative, inspiring people to join our team at Spotlight. The role will support our young people to access and thrive within our creative programme and support our teams of expert facilitators and delivery partners. This is a perfect opportunity for freelance artists; people wanting to gain experience in the arts and youth work; anyone passionate about the arts looking for a rewarding and exciting experience! We are looking to expand our pool of agency staff so this is a flexible role that will be managed by Hays agency.”
To apply email a short cover letter (addressing shortlisting criteria) and CV to hello@wearespotlight.com by Sunday 23rd May
The Rt Hon The Lord Mayor of the City of London and the Genesis Foundation invite you to join them for the fourth in the series of Cultural Conversations: ‘Culture, Technology and Innovation’ taking place online at 5-6:30pm on 24 May 2021. The Cultural Conversations series is a sequence of focused debates around Arts and Culture in the City of London. This fourth Conversation, the first of our renewed 2021 season, will be a conversation between: Javaad Alipoor, Artistic Director, Javaad Alipoor Company; Daniel Birnbaum, Artistic Director, Acute Art; Sarah Ellis, Director Digital Development, Royal Shakespeare Company; Suhair Khan, Strategic Projects, Google; Rich Waterworth, General Manager UK & EU, TikTok.
Season for Ex-Change returns with free events addressing the climate crisis
Ahead of COP26 this November, Season for Change aims to showcase the leadership of the cultural sector on the biggest issue of our time, through 15 artistic commissions and an open programme calling on artists and arts organisations to host events, artworks and actions across the UK to declare their commitment to the climate crisis.
After a successful programme in 2020, Season for Ex-Change is back with an 8-week online programme of free talks, events and workshops every Thursday about artists, activism and the arts sector’s role in the climate movement. Find out what’s up next, with more to be announced shortly.
Season for Change is led by Artsadmin and Julie’s Bicycle, supported by Arts Council England and Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
Thawra (online publication started by our English with Creative Writing graduate Asia Khatun) is open for submissions! Are you interested in writing about politics, society, culture, identity etc. or want to showcase your work? Open to the BAME community only. We publish:
You are warmly invited to our next Quorum seminar with David Atencio entitled ‘Abstraction and Repetition: Procedures to Observe Reality’ which will take place on Thursday 6th May. We are really looking forward to (virtually) seeing you there.
Please feel free to join the event from 7:30pm, where we can hang out, chat, and introduce each other and our speaker before David’s presentation at 8pm. After David’s presentation there will be a Q&A facilitated by one of the members of the Quorum committee, before opening up to questions from everyone else.
A week of workshops, conversations, and readings on writing as remembrance, catharsis, and renewal. All events are free to attend.
In December 2020, Wasafiri launched issue 104: Human Rights Cultures. This special issue explored writing in the wake of political crisis and opened up conversations and connections between literatures, writers, and creatives from four countries: Rwanda, Kenya, Colombia, and Argentina.
Transformative Testimonies will build on this special issue with a multi-country, multilingual, digital programme this May. It will unite writers from South America and East Africa in eight events that affirm the power of writing for those responding to, remembering, and healing from collective catastrophe.
The Raphael Samuel Memorial Lecture 2021- ‘Imperial Sexual Economies’ – Hazel Carby
Hazel Carby, Charles C. And Dorathea S. Dilley Professor Emeritus of African American Studies, Professor Emeritus of American Studies, Yale University
Wednesday 16th June 2021, 6.00 – 7.30pm BST | Online | Places are free but booking is essential
Drawn from her new book Imperial Intimacies: A Tale of Two Islands the lecture will examine the workings of patriarchal, racialized and gendered power through the entangled lives of free women of colour and enslaved women on a Jamaican coffee plantation. For information contact Katy (k.pettit@bbk.ac.uk)
Paid artist development opportunity called Stuck In The Lift . Our goal is to create a playground for artists using any performance practice – theatre, live art, spoken word, multidisciplinary work (and beyond!) who have experiments, ideas or material to test and play.
ELEVATE EAST ARE OFFERING:
£100 fee, contributing to your creative practice
1-1 in depth conversation + consultation to gauge your needs and wants as an artist
Access to a robust and ever growing east London based and focussed artist network
Opportunities to test work or share ideas and feedback in the form of our ‘Basement Chatter’ sessions (Fri 4 June, Fri 30 July)
Access to three days of free rehearsal space at Rich Mix (June + start of July)
Opportunity to perform 15 minute of your work-in-progress at the Stuck In The Lift scratch night at Rich Mix on Fri 23 July.
WORK FOR ART NIGHT 2021 – Paid opportunities: apply to be an Art Night Guide or Production Assistant We’ve partnered with Art Night 2021 to bring you the chance to apply for two paid roles working with the festival team this summer. As an Art Night Guide you’ll receive training to engage visitors with works of art and performances in selected locations across the UK. Or, if you prefer being behind the scenes, apply for a Production Assistant role – you’ll support the London-based curatorial team on tasks ranging from film shoots to rehearsals. If you have a passion for contemporary art, are looking to develop new skills and would love to gain experience supporting a large-scale event – apply today.
POPLARISM – A DIGITAL ARTS FESTIVAL CELEBRATING THE CENTENARY OF THE POPLAR RATES REBELLION OF 1921 This weekend we launch the debut Poplarism! Digital Arts Festival with Finborough Theatre! 10 submissions have been selected from an open call which will be streamed on our YouTube channels over the 1-2 May, followed by a live online Q&A at 7pm with the contributing artists from each day (both will be BSL interpreted and all videos will be captioned). This is the perfect injection of culture into your bank holiday weekend, and of particular interest to anyone keen on local history. All commissioned digital performances respond to the historical milestone of the Poplar Rates Rebellion of 1921. Never heard of it? Learn more about it here.
Adeola, When We Speak participant and founder of @uplifttng has launched the Your Career Development online course that was developed whilst a part of the programme!
Up Lift The Next Generation have been working behind the scenes since 2019 and it’s finally here! For young people aged 13+ who want to development themselves in every way! Learn how to develop your leadership skills, boost your self-confidence, master the art of communication, learn about financing and meet the professionals!
Birkbeck Arts Weeks, 3-21 May 2021: Join us online for this extraordinary range of events, including the theatre programming listed below. Events are free and open to all but require booking.
11 May: Building Back Better On the eve of the re-opening of the nation’s theatres, leading freelance theatre makers from Freelancers Make Theatre Work discuss the challenges faced by the theatre’s workforce and the future of our theatre ecology.
17 May: Theatre Scratch Night A rich collection of new short-form sound and video works from students in Birkbeck’s School of Arts, encompassing terrific solo pieces, poetry, rehearsed readings, adaptations, and audio performances.
17 May: Invisible Ink Interactive online life drawing event and panel discussion responding to Invisible Ink, a theatre project exploring isolation and alienation, inspired by film noir.
18 May: Circles of Hell Live streamed from Sitges, Barcelona, in association with Museus de Sitges, Theatre North presents a new solo performance piece based on Salvador Dali’s paintings of Dante’s Inferno.
19 May: Burning Light Into That Good Night A single-screen moving image based on a memory session recorded in the summer of 2019 by artist Alda Terracciano with her father, a few weeks before his death.
20 May: Belarus Free Theatre’s Burning Doors A screening and Q&A about Belarus Free Theatre’s film Burning Doors, drawn from the real-life stories of iconoclastic Russian performance artist Petr Pavlensky, Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokhina. ——- GRiT is our termly research seminar, featuring presentations by visiting scholars, faculty and graduate students.
Monday 24 May 2021, 4-5pm, Andy Smith (Theatre Maker / University of Manchester), ‘Plays by Committee’ This talk will explore Andy’s current project plays for the people. These works are short pieces that are written to be read and discussed by a group meeting for that purpose, rather than performed by actors for an audience. The form is influenced in part by the lehrstücke (learning plays) of Bertolt Brecht, but also (and perhaps more importantly) by the theatrical and socio-political context in which they are emerging. Book your free place here.
For regular news and events, keep an eye on our website or follow us on Twitter @BirkbeckCCT
The BBC is excited to bring you the virtual comedy and writing Upload Festival for a second year running! Upload will be taking place this weekend, Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd of May.
Upload is the front door to the BBC for creators of all kinds across the UK. We want to support you if you’re a new or developing writer or comedian by giving you the chance to join free online workshops with expert advice from successful writers and comedians.
All you need to do is sign-up, it’s as simple as that. Places are limited and given on a first-come, first-served basis, so sign up ASAP! Saturday 1st May 12 noon – 1pmGenerating and Structuring Ideas Plus special Q&A – Insights From a Commissioning Editor Author James Harris, winner of the Hachette Children’s Novel Award, will share tips and advice on how to generate your best creative ideas and bring them to life on the page. Plus insights from James’ Commissioning Editor, Rachel Wade, in a special Q&A.
Saturday 1st May 1.30pm – 2.30pmBBC Writersroom: Who we are and how we can help you Development Executive Simon Nelson from BBC Writersroom will share insight and tips on opportunities and support for new writers in the BBC.
Sign up to the BBC Writers Room workshop Sunday 2nd May 1pm – 2pmWriting Beyond Stereotypes: Developing Complex Characters Yvonne Battle-Felton is the author of Remembered, winner of the Northern Writers Award and a lecturer in Creative Writing. In this session Yvonne will share techniques that you can use to create vivid and compelling characters, to bring your stories alive and to write as advocacy.
Sign up to the Writing Beyond Stereotypes workshopSunday 2nd May 2.30pm – 3.30pm Upload: Getting Your Work on the BBC Fancy hearing or seeing your work on Upload? Our team of BBC Upload presenters from England and Scotland are here to help with insight, tips and advice on easy ways to turn your writing into audio or video, how to get your content ready to upload and giving yourself the best shot of getting it on air.
Each night at 9pm content uploaded from across England, Scotland and Wales will be streamed on the Festival Stage and broadcast on BBC Sounds as well as across all 39 local radio stations in England and the Channel Islands. The shows will also be available to watch afterwards on BBC iPlayer. BBC Radio Scotland will also broadcast an Upload Festival Special in the build-up to the weekend, on Wednesday 28th April.
Further sources of interesting events, opportunities and jobs are…
Please let us know if you have any suggestions for next week via sed-web@qmul.ac.uk
From QMUL
Student Support beyond Semester 2
In addition to regular support from your advisor, module tutors and support staff we are offering Writing Retreats, Writing Support and Resit Support appointments in both English and Drama. Slots will be added and updated regularly from next week. To book an appointment/a place please log in to QMplus and visit this link.
QM’s brilliant gardener - Dimi Sopisz (@dimi_the_gardener) - is currently cultivating a vegetable garden on campus and has invited any students who are around to join him in in transferring seedlings to the grounds. He has other initiatives to involve students in growing our green campus. Students should email Dimi to be added to a rota to ensure a safe, socially distanced experience.
Careers Opportunity
Apply to take part in SCP Sprint and gain experience working on a real-life consultancy project with other QM students. Taking part will strengthen future applications and help build your professional network! Apply here
Two online events from the Women/Theatre/Justice Research Project
Women-Only Organisations – Managing Differently?
Thursday 22 April 11.00-13.00 This online seminar is aimed at practitioners and researchers interested in understanding more how Clean Break works as an organisation, run by women for women, with distinctive organisational practices characterised by learning through listening to the voices of those involved in its work and the implications of these practices for management and leadership more widely. Speakers Erin Gavaghan, Executive Director, Clean Break and Professor Gill Kirton, Queen Mary, University of London. Erin Gavaghan will reflect on the advantages and challenges of how shared leadership has manifest at Clean Break over the past two years. Gill Kirton will respond drawing on her academic expertise and practitioner experience in the field of women-only organising. Register for free by 21st April 2pm at: https://women-only-organisations-managing-differently.eventbrite.co.uk
Clean Break – Working Differently? Thursday 22 April 16.00-18.00This online public-facing in-conversation event is aimed at practitioners and researchers interested in understanding more how Clean Break works in collaboration with its partners in the theatre sector. What is involved in a Clean Break collaboration? Róisín McBrinn, Joint Artistic Director, Clean Break and Phil McCormack, Head of Participation, Donmar Warehouse reflect on the experience of recent co-commissioned work between their two organisations and the impact that Clean Break practices have on the wider theatre sector. Shona Babayemi, Member of Clean Break and cast member of [BLANK] joins the conversation with personal reflections. Register for free by 21st April 2pm at: https://clean-break-working-differently.eventbrite.co.uk
Women/Theatre/Justice. W/T/J is a two-year project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council led by academics in theatre and performance studies (Prof Caoimhe McAvinchey and Dr Sarah Bartley) and work and employment relations (Prof Anne-marie Greene and Dr Deborah Dean) to develop new understandings about the women-only theatre company Clean Break and its forty years working with women with experience of the criminal justice system.
Next Thursday (22nd April) is Earth Day and we at Phakama will be celebrating this day with one of our zoom Creative Get Togethers, which you’re all very welcome to join!
During this relaxed, hour-long, workshop we will explore the Earth through different creative exercises, such as drawing, writing and music. We will reflect on our personal connections, how we ground ourselves coming out of this lockdown, finding new ways to make decisions around our safety, and the roots we have grown to create our place in the world.
The workshop will run from 4:30 – 5:30pm on Thursday the 22nd April, and, of course, it’s free to join! If you’d like to take part please email Bibi.
Outside QMUL
Creative Access & Penguin Books have partnered once again on a mentoring programme for those from underrepresented backgrounds ready to take the next step in their publishing career!📚
Located in Notting Hill, Al Saqi Books is Europe’s largest Middle Eastern specialist bookshop, with the most comprehensive stock of books on the region in English, as well as books on all subjects in Arabic. Since opening in 1978, the bookshop has become a centre of Middle Eastern life in London, catering for Middle Eastern residents in the UK as well as for travellers keen to obtain books banned in their own countries.
Join Live Art Development Agency on Saturday 24 April, 6pm for ‘Playing With Fire’ Live Reading of peer to peer survivor writing organised by Jet Moon and featuring commissioned contributions read by Jet, Dolly Sen, Elinor Rowlands, Ayotomi IF, & Andie Macario.
Free Online Workshops ‘Laughter is the best medicine’ from Jackson’s Lane
Clowning Around, Wednesday 21 April, 7.30pm As we start to pop our heads out of our respective foxholes after the last few months, we need to find ways to reconnect again. This workshop will focus on waking ourselves up to play and just having fun. Nothing is required other than a willingness to have a go. Aimed at everyone and anyone. Sean Kempton is an international clown and has been performing, directing, and teaching for nearly 30 years for companies such as Dragone and Cirque Du Soleil, with productions including Quidam, Varekai, Kooza and Le Reve. Sean’s currently a performance teacher at the National Centre of Circus Arts. www.seankempton.comTo book, please register via this Zoom link
Empower Play, Wednesday 28 April, 7.30pm
Unleash your most playful and wonderfully unique self. In this workshop, you’ll explore the benefits of playing through creative exercises and improvisations, to help you find openness and confidence within yourself, and connection with others. All you need is clothes you can move in, something to write with, and a sense of humour! Ladylikes are a sketch duo formed by actor-comedians, Phoebe Batteson-Brown and Miztli Rose. Through weird and wacky characters, outlandish situations and a pitch of satire, Ladylikes interrogates and plays with gender expectations and female relationships. 2019 Leicester Square Theatre Sketch Off semi-finalists, nominated for Funny Women’s Best Comedy Short for Millennial and an official selection at London Worldwide Short Film Festival 2019, Film Bath Festival 2019, and New Orleans Comedy Film Festival 2020. www.ladylikescomedy.wixsite.comTo book, please register via this Zoom link
#FuckCovidGetMoving, Wednesday 5 May, 7.30pm Covering the topics of community, courage, connection, and care. All you need is a playful attitude. You’ll be working quite physically, so be prepared to sweat and have lots of fun. The PappyShow are a playful, physical, and visual ensemble theatre company who believe that having a space to play, devise and fail improves us as people. Community cohesion and working together is key to the company’s ensemble ethos and are our way of expanding the conversations on diversity. www.thepappyshow.co.ukTo book, please register via this Zoom link
The Way of an Idiot, Wednesday 12 May, 7.30pm Join Told by an Idiot for a practical, physical workshop that will give you a taste of their playful, anarchic approach to making theatre, as well as a chance to connect with other participants in creative and surprising ways, with lots of laughter! To book, please register via this Zoom link
Improve your Public Speaking
Free workshop by Roundhouse: Self-Made Series: Presenting with Confidence Subtle shifts in the way we communicate can effect fundamental changes in the way we are perceived. By learning how to manage the impression we make, we become more influential, more confident, and establish relationships that create greater impact across the board. Facilitated by Imogen Butler-Cole, this session enables participants to power up their performance, increasing personal presence and impact in a variety of communication scenarios. Participants will learn that subtle changes in behaviour can deliver fundamental shifts in the way we are perceived in presentations, meetings and day-to-day communication.
The workshop will cover:
– Clarity: practising precise articulation of thought, word and message – Managing nerves: harnessing and settling the energy that adrenaline can bring – Tools and techniques: body language, breath and voice work – The power of the pause: making space for thought and breath – Entry and exit: transmitting gravitas by learning to hold your ground
The Mansion is recruiting for an Events Assistant This full time entry-level role will be focussed on developing our classes and workshops, whilst assisting the team with larger events. The role is a mix of desk and event-based work, where you will have the opportunity to make your mark. The application deadline is Monday 19th April.
Please find the job description and how to apply here.
The Mansion Bar & Cafe is recruiting Duty Manager
The Mansion Bar & Cafe is looking for a driven and capable manager to help lead the team with gusto in service and help evolve their indoor and outdoor dining operations. As Duty Manager, the right candidate will drive bookings and ensure guest experience is always on point. You will be well versed in social media, leading busy shifts and managing stock. Commis Chef With a brand new food offering and big plans for cosy indoor dining on the horizon, the Mansion Bar & Cafe is looking for an energetic and passionate CDP/Commis Chef. Duties will be far ranging to start with, so we’re looking for someone who loves rolling up their sleeves to pitch in on big shifts as well as provide input on new dishes and service styles. This is an exciting new role in a business with developing opportunities.
Free Theatre Skills Courses for British East and South East Asians 18+
New Earth Theatre are running FREE writers, performers and technical theatre courses. Open to British East and South East Asians, aged 18+ who have an interest in theatre and want to develop new skills. Apply here bit.ly/AcademyNE
BAFTA Scholarships
Applications are open for BAFTA’s UK Scholarship Programme! Open to British citizens in need of financial assistance to take eligible undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the UK. Each BAFTA Scholar receives between £5,000 and £12,000 towards their annual course fees. Info here
In the next event in our Leaders in SHAPE series, bestselling writer and founder of the Everyday Sexism Project Laura Bates joins Professor Conor Gearty FBA to discuss her life and career. BOOK NOW, FREE
Leaders in SHAPE: Tristram Hunt Monday 10 May 2021, 17:00 – 17:45 Online event In the next event in our Leaders in SHAPE series, Director of the V&A and former Labour MP Dr Tristram Hunt joins Professor Conor Gearty FBA to discuss his life and career. BOOK NOW, FREE
Further sources of interesting events, opportunities and jobs are…
