School of English staff and students have benefited from an affiliation with the Institute of Contemporary Arts over the last year. Many students have had the opportunity to visit the ICA’s facilities and have benefited from free membership and additional discounts. The ICA runs a comprehensive programme of events, lectures, exhibitions and performances which are offered to student members at a discounted rate. Many of our students have also taken up the opportunity to be part of the ICA student forum which allows students to shape and develop their programme of events.
Several students have had successful internships at the ICA’s beautiful site in central London. Charlotte Anderson (2nd year BA in English and American Literature and History and Philosophy of Art) has had her three month internship with the events and curatorial team extended over the summer months. Charlotte James (MA in Dickens and Victorian Culture) has been working in the Press Office for the last month and is looking forward to continuing her three month placement over the coming weeks.
Amy Sackville (Lecturer in Creative Writing) took part in the ‘Making Debuts’ panel at a recent event at the ICA which celebrated debut writers and the role of independent publishers and Dr Sarah Wood (Senior Lecturer) will be hosting a symposium in the coming weeks entitled ‘Reading as a Contemporary Art’. The symposium, on July 5, is part of the ICA’s Friday Salon sessions which look to address aspects of contemporary art and culture by bringing together guest speakers and practitioners.
The School of English announced new MA earlier this year which has been developed in conjunction with the School of Arts and the ICA. The MA in the Contemporary, which is open for applications this September, is a unique programme which combines interdisciplinary modules from the School of Arts and the School of English and an internship at the ICA. Each student will work in the ICA studio, supervised by the Associate Curator of Education, and will have access to the ICA programme and archive. The experiences and research undertaken during the internship feeds into their final dissertation whilst providing an unparalleled vocational experience at the ICA.