The University’s annual Teaching Prizes recognise the standard and levels of teaching for which it has an outstanding reputation. And for 2015 Staff from the faculties of Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences received their prizes from Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow. The ceremony in October was hosted by Professor John Baldock, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Teaching and Learning.
The recipients of the 2015Barbara Morris Prize for learning support, includeLauraGarcía RodríguezBlancas(Centre for Journalism)who was recognised for her outstanding work as a Graduate Teaching Assistant, particularly in relation to the provision of opportunities for students to experience authentic journalistic practice. The Medway-based interprofessional team consisting of Louise Frith (School of Music & Fine Art/SLAS), Frank Walker and MosesMalekia (School of Music & Fine Art), Gerard McGill and the Wellbeing Team, and Sally Apokis (Medway Chaplain) received the award for their collaborative project developing meditation resources and participative events to help students combat stress.
On Friday the 13th November the School of Music & Fine Art welcomes the Israeli composer, performer and improviser Guy Harries who will lead a two-hour masterclass from 3-5pm demonstrating his method and techniques in utilising technology in live performance.
Guy is involved in a number of projects ranging from garage rock to chamber opera, from sound art to electro art pop to multimedia musicals. His compositions have been performed by contemporary ensembles such as: The Tate Ensemble, SOIL, The Roentgen Connection, Vocal Lab and LOOS, and have been broadcast and performed internationally. With over Guy is also a researcher, looking into the live performance aspects of electronic music. He completed his PhD in Electroacoustic Performance at City University, London and is a senior lecturer in music at the University of East London as well as Trinity Laban Conservatoire. For info on Guy go to www.guyharries.com
Tuesday 10th November, 2015 (6.15pm-8pm) Venue: The Church, The Historic Dockyard Chatham
TIFF Kaput Exhibition at QUAD July 2015, Photo Charlotte Jopling
The School of Music and Fine Art is proud to announce a programme of visiting artists, writers, filmmakers, curators and performers, each speaker renowned in their own field, who will pose distinct and searching questions to address the urgent concerns of our age. Our guests will provide a detailed presentation of their work, sharing their experiences of navigating the complex multifaceted art world. Previous speakers have included: Jananne Al-Ani, Sonia Boyce, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, David Burrows, Ami Clark, Matthew Darbyshire, Jeremy Deller, Ruth Ewan, Kirsten Glass, Ope Lori, Goshka Macuga, Jeremy Millar, Hayley Newman, Sally O’Reilly, Hannah Rickards, Trish Scott, Lindsay Seers, Sally Tallant, Anne Tallentire and Carey Young.
Launching the programme is international Kent-based artist Benedict Drew, who works across video, sculpture, music and their associated technologies. Born in 1977, he graduated from Slade School of Fine Art in 2011 and was a LUX Associate Artist (2011/12). Drew’s often chaotic environments and installations feature screens, cables and small-scale anthropomorphised sculptures made from lo-fi materials such as tin foil and, occasionally, mud. Intended as a response to our ‘over-saturated digital realm’. Drew’s installations are attempts to ‘articulate the horror of the modern world.’
The artist says: ‘I make videos and music and exhibitions and picture and sculptures. I am interested in the potential of these combinations to create an ecstatic and sometimes abject alternative universe.’ A review from the current British Art Show observes: http://afternoondust.co.uk/blog/british-art-show-8#.VilIkxCrRR0
…Benedict Drew’s “Sequencer” is all about stuff: sticky, splodgy, gooey stuff, material through and through. His film presented across multiple screens is full of rough, ready landscapes of dirt and rock juxtaposed with paint erupting like volcanoes or oil burps. It’s also full of holes: holes that gape like ears, squish and stretch like mouths, or wobble like the cones of the speakers scattered prominently in front of the screens, spewing out squelchy psychedelic goop. Yep, it’s all about stuff, and that stuff is sound: gleefully trashing the painstaking refinement and posed ephemerality of much of contemporary sound art, Drew gives us an earful of messy, splurging sonic substance that injects the silent, airtight contemporary landscape with a gelatinous, technologically-mediated roar. The horror of the Real — the material encounter with a thingy world beyond the control of language — becomes the bass pulse you can feel.
Represented by Matts Gallery, London, Drew’s recent solo exhibitions include: Heads May Roll, Matt’s Gallery, London; The Persuaders, Adelaide Festival, SASA Gallery Adelaide, Australia; Zero Hour Petrified, Ilam Campus Gallery, School of Fine Arts University of Canterbury, New Zealand (all 2014); The Onesie Cycle, Rhubarba, Edinburgh; Now Thing, Whitstable Biennale; This Is Feedback, Outpost, Norwich; Gliss, Cell Project Space; and The Persuaders, Circa Site / AV Festival, Newcastle (2013).
“ They left behind monoliths as remote observers that were also capable of taking a variety of actions according to the wishes of their creators…. who had abandoned physical form, but their creations, the monoliths remained, and these continued to carry out their original assignments…” 2001 A Space Odyssey.
On loan to the School of Music and Fine Art until June 2016, ROOM is a converted 20ft shipping container designed by architect Simon Barker. Painted bright blue and fully fitted with power and light, ROOM functions as studio, gallery and public engagement space. Located outside the Pilkington Building on the University of Kent Medway campus at Pembroke, with the aim of extending student activities beyond the studio to encourage cross-disciplinary dialogue and exchange.
The shipping container or TEU (Twenty foot equivalent unit) with its promise of plenty has become a powerful symbol of standardisation and globalised trade. Sixty percent of the goods arriving in containers at the port of Naples escape official customs inspection and go unchecked, begging the question; what is really inside?
To keep ROOM activated, and to shape its new ‘assignment’ The School of Music and Fine Art invites any department in the Universities of Kent, Greenwich or Canterbury Christ Church to contribute artworks, ideas, knowledge or processes to ROOM.
ROOM is ideal for experimental use of sound and video projection and performance but also includes wall space and vitrine space for 2D and 3D objects.
ROOM can be booked for a maximum of 5 days. Whilst its use can be for wondering, experimentation and research, rather than exhibition, it is essential that you allow an open door policy for the passerby; ROOM is a transmitter of new and developing forms of knowledge so it is important that this signal is maintained. You will need to produce a brief proposal and sign a ROOM use agreement which includes health and safety guidance and a risk assessment.
To book ROOM please first contact ROOM’s curatorial team made up of SMFA students and staff, who will help facilitate, promote and archive your project, via Emma Murton; E.V.Murton@kent.ac.uk
For information on upcoming events at ROOM please see the news-feed on the SMFA webpage and Facebook page.
Nadia Perotta and Georgina Wilcox – Wetlands Project, 2015 Medway Culture Design & Tourism Awards. Photo by Dave Thomas
Wetlands, an innovative participatory community arts project from 2015 School of Music & Fine Art graduates Ben Crawford, Clarinda Tse, Nadia Perotta, Aggela Ioannidou and Georgia Wilcox was shortlisted for the 2015 Medway Culture, Design and Tourism Awards.
The awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of groups, individuals, projects and people and their contributions to the area’s cultural vitality, in arts, design, heritage and tourism. Wetlands was shortlisted for the highly competitive Visual Arts category along with artist and SMFA lecturer Adam Chodzka’s work Great Expectations; Rochester Kino; Nucleus Arts and the winner, The IN-SITE project – a series of public realm art works at changing regeneration sites in Rochester and Chatham aimed at supporting local artists and increasing participation in the arts.
SMFA Delta Project Officer Alan Mash was shortlisted in the Music category and SMFA Music Technician Charlie Fleming was nominated as part of the Fort Amherst team who put together a visitor audio app.
The 14 winners of the 2015 awards were announced at a gala presentation evening on Thursday, 22 October at MidKent College, Gillingham.
NEW for 2015, this is the first in a series of masterclasses, starting with multi-award winning vocalist, violinist, songwriter/composer and improviser, Alice Zawadzki is a distinctive presence on the creative music scene in London, nationally and internationally. Her music has been featured on Jazz FM and BBC Radio 3, and draws together influences from her early exposure to New Orleans soul and gospel, a classical training and an exploration of world and improvised music. Alice’s diverse background and striking ability to perform across genres while retaining her own expressive musical style give her a unique accessibility. Her widely acclaimed debut album China Lane was released in 2014. http://alicezmusic.com/
The masterclasses run from 9am-10.30am and 12 noon 1.30pm
Further to the announcement that The School of Music and Fine Art has joined the Academic Supporters Programme of the British Association of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) there will be a presentation by Cindy Truong, BASCA Member Events & Relations Coordinator, under the educational partner programme, on Monday 2 Nov at 11am, followed by a Q & A session, networking – and pizza! The venue is the atmospheric Chatham Historic Dockyard, Room CT102. FREE to attend, this is a fantastic opportunity for musicians and songwriters. Places are limited, so booking is essential. Please confirm your attendance with mfareception@kent.ac.uk by 28 October.
About BASCA
The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) is the voice for music writers; the independent professional association representing music writers in all genres, from songwriting, through to media, contemporary classical and jazz and can trace our history back over 70 years. Whilst we are well known for putting on the British Composer Awards, the Gold Badge Awards and The Ivors every year, there is far more to us than these events. BASCA campaigns in the UK, Europe and throughout the world in order to protect the professional interests of our members. We count on the best songwriting and composing talent in order to do this important work and are entirely self-funding, relying on the continuing support of our members, who include Sir Paul McCartney, Dizzee Rascal, Michael Nyman, Gary Barlow, David Arnold, Sir Elton John, Imogen Heap, Howard Goodall, John Powell, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Kate Bush, Chris Martin, and many more.
Cindy Truong- Member Events & Relations Coordinator
Cindy is Member Events & Relations Coordinator at the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers & Authors (BASCA). BASCA exists to support & protect the professional interests of songwriters and composers of all genres and to celebrate & encourage excellence in British music writing. BASCA own and organises The Ivor Novello Awards, British Composer Awards and Gold Badge Awards. Her role at BASCA involves organising over 30 events a year for members and looking after BASCA’s Academic Supporters (of which University of Kent is one).
Prior to BASCA, Cindy spent five years working at Making Music, a charity which supports amateur music groups across the UK, where she organised their annual conferences. She is a classically trained pianist with an undergraduate degree in Music & History from Oxford Brookes University but doesn’t, unfortunately, make time for piano playing nowadays. (Although she did recently take up a grade-one-athon challenge which was to learn and pass Grade 1 Flute in 3 months – which she did and proudly displays her certificate on top of her dusty piano…)
Saturday 21st November 2015, 10am-3pm – Clocktower Building, School of Music & Fine Art, University of Kent, Chatham Historic Dockyard.
The School of Music and Fine Art at the University of Kent are holding taster sessions for all of our undergraduate degree programmes on Saturday 21 November 2015, 10am 3pm. These sessions are free of charge and are aimed at Year 12 and 13 students (or mature applicants) who are considering applying to university to study in a related area.
The sessions provide a great opportunity to see and use our award winning facilities on the Historic Dockyard, to meet and work with some of our academic staff and students, and to gain first-hand experience of the courses and opportunities we offer.
There will also be seminars, workshops, subject talks and guidance on writing your personal statement and what to prepare for interview/audition.
We are offering taster sessions in the following subject areas:
Book Online
If you would like to attend please book a place via the Online Booking Form confirming any accessibility requirements. For any additional enquiries please email MFAadmissions@kent.ac.uk
Connect with us via Social Media
In advance of the day, feel welcome to connect with us on social media to help you find out more about life as a student at Kent:
How to find us
For details of how to travel to the Historic Dockyard, Medway Campus by road, sea, air, channel tunnel, rail, bus and foot, please see Direction for Travel.
Campus Maps are also available online to help you find your way to the Clocktower Building.
Artist and Reader in Fine Art at the School of Music and Fine Art, Shona Illingworth is on the Judging Panel for FACT and Channels: The Australian Video Art Festival 2015 Artist Bursary. Her fellow judges are Soda Jerk, an art collective working with video installations and experimental film, currently in residence at FACT, Rory MacBeth, Practicing artist and Head of Fine Art at Liverpool John Moores University and Sarah Tutton, Senior Curator, at Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI).
Channels is an international biennial based in Melbourne, that showcases contemporary video practice from around the world. Provoking curiosities and critical dialogues around video art and its digital future, Channels will present a 10-day festival in September 2015. FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, based in Liverpool, UK) and Channels Festival, as part of an international competition to support video artists and filmmakers, are looking for artists to submit innovative moving image work which explores contemporary issues around Memory, Time, Space and Identity.
The overall winner will have their work showcased simultaneously at the Human Futures Forum – an international symposium on Place hosted at FACT Liverpool in November 2015, and MPavillion, part of the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia. The winner will also receive a bursary of £2,000 to support the production of a new piece of work that will be showcased on National Media Arts Player and UK multi channel network for the arts Canvas and be put forward for exhibition in Hong Kong as part of ISEA 2016 . The winner will also be invited to join the selection panel for the following year’s competition.
Shona’s exhibition Lesions in the Landscape will be on display at FACT during the Human Futures Forum.
British Forum for Ethnomusicology: Annual Conference 2016 14–17 April 2016
The BFE invites proposals for its 2016 conference, which will be hosted by the School of Music and Fine Art in Chatham Historic Dockyard from April 14-17th, 2016. The British Forum for Ethnomusicology (BFE) is an association formerly known as the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM, UK Chapter). As an Affiliate National Committee to the ICTM, the BFE aims to advance the study, practice, documentation, preservation and dissemination of traditional music and dance, including folk, popular, classical, urban, and other genres, of all countries. BFE is a body fiscally autonomous from any other organisation, and membership is open to anyone interested in the study of music and dance from all parts of the world. The BFE, in association with Routledge, publishes the scholarly journal Ethnomusicology Forum (formerly the British Journal of Ethnomusicology).
Proposals on any current research are welcome; papers having a nautical theme would be particularly appropriate, given the surroundings.
Proposals are invited for:
Papers (20 minutes with 5–10 minutes for questions)
Organised sessions (3 or 4 linked papers around a theme, totalling 1.5 or 2 hours)
Round table discussion sessions (3 or 4 shorter presentations, around 15 minutes each, followed by a chaired discussion, totalling 1.5 or 2 hours)
Poster or other material for digital display.
Proposals should be submitted in the following formats to enable them to be reviewed anonymously:
Paper proposals: include the name and email address of the proposer, paper title, and abstract (the latter not exceeding 300 words). The name of the proposer should not appear in the abstract. Organised session proposals: include the names and email addresses of the proposer and the other participants, an overall abstract for the session (not exceeding 300 words), and abstracts for each contributor (no more than 300 words each). Abstracts should not include the names of any of the participants. Roundtable proposals: include the names and email addresses of the proposer and the other participants (the proposer will be assumed to be the chair unless stated otherwise), an overall abstract for roundtable (not exceeding 300 words), and abstracts for each contributor (no more than 300 words each). Abstracts should not include the names of any of the participants. Poster/digital display proposals (digital displays will allow research to be shared using electronic posters as well as videos and other media). Include the name and email address of the researcher, a description of the material to be presented (not exceeding 300 words), and a brief description of your technical requirements. The name of the proposer should not appear in the descriptions.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS 1 NOVEMBER 2015. Successful applicants will be notified in December.
Please note that all presenters must be members of the BFE. Proposals should be submitted by email to: bfeconference2016@outlook.com
