Over 200 delegates joined us from across the county and beyond for the first Kent Digital Accessibility Conference, which was held on Thursday 6 June at the University of Kent’s Canterbury campus.

The conference celebrated the partnership between the University of Kent and Kent Connects (an IT partnership of public sector organisations in Kent), who have been working together to improve digital inclusion and accessibility. The conference was organised as an opportunity to share information and resources with the wider community in the field of digital accessibility.

The conference consisted of talks from industry experts such as Microsoft, Government Digital Service, Kent County Council and University of Kent staff and students. The talks focused on their experience and advice to organisations in the region who need to meet their obligations under new Public Sector Digital Accessibility Regulations.

Many speakers highlighted the positive impact for all users when digital content is made truly accessible, whether they currently have a disability or not. The afternoon was dedicated to practical workshops to upskill attendees on Accessibility in Microsoft; Auditing for Accessibility; Legislation; Writing in plain English and describing visual content; and Tools for productivity.

Attendees commented that it was a pioneering event, and that the information shared addressed a real knowledge gap in the public sector, inspiring them to return to their institutions and put into practice improvements in their digital offering for greater inclusion.

For further information please see the accessibility webpages

On 10 June 1969, Gulbenkian opened its doors to the public.

50 years later, we remain a busy cultural venue for staff and students, and for the local community. Over 100,000 people attend live performances and film screenings each year, and our Creative Learning team provide amazing creative opportunities for over 8,000 children and young people across Kent.

So, we are celebrating with a 50 Years Festival! There are free events, including the Radical Roots festival day on Saturday 15 June packed with activities and performances, and ticketed events like the New Canterbury Sound (Nelson Parade, The Selkies & Evil Usses) on Friday 21 June and THE Canterbury Sound (Caravan & Soft Machine) on Saturday 22 June.

Please join us if you can. You can find out more on Gulbenkian webpages.

Following another hugely successful and sold out Pint of Science Festival last month, the Kent Pint of Science Team are now hosting a talk by astronaut Tony Antonelli at 7.30pm on Wednesday 3rd July in the Sibson building on the Canterbury Campus.

Book your ticket now, and share Tony’s experiences of ‘piloting a NASA Space Shuttle into space’!

And of course do tell your friends, family and any partner organisations whose members might be interested.

Advance tickets only from pintofscience.co.uk

See you there!

Students from the MA in Curating, run by the Department of Art History, will open a new exhibition entitled ‘Catching Flies’, on Friday 7 June 2019 at the Studio 3 Gallery at the University of Kent.

‘Catching Flies’ will be an immersive exhibition exploring the theme of distractions. It will raise the questions; what are the consequences of being constantly distracted?  Can we function efficiently whilst simultaneously being distracted? How much does the omnipresent internet have to do with this and is a lot of what we see on the subject scaremongering? How great of an escape do distractions provide? And, is it even possible to find respite in such frenzy?

Each artwork in the exhibition explores different narratives surrounding the theme of distractions, whether it is in regards to the distractions we face through social media, the use of art as a distraction from reality or simply a musician being distracted from his practice.

Vanessa Giorgo, who is studying on the MA in Curating, explained the background: ‘This exhibition is the result of the collaborative and team effort of four Curating students, each one coming from completely different backgrounds, who managed to raise the issues regarding technology and aesthetics, and how habitual these have become within our collective consciousness.’

Elaborating on the theme of the exhibition, she said: ‘The invention of the Internet has been the one of the epochal shifts of late modernity. Its social, cultural and economic advantages? Immense. Children born after the new millennium cannot even imagine their life without it. Everything is made so easy, just with the touch of a keyboard and the hidden search algorithm. However, the Internet can also be something frustrating, distracting, something dark. Being part of the last generation which experienced the initial stages of our lives without the Internet, all four of us as a group have observed the differences of lives lived before and after.’

The artists featured in the exhibition will include: Alexander Benjamin, Maria Bogatyreva, Megan Boyle, Flora Bradwell, Benedict Drew, Martyna Pisorkz, Cristián Fernández Ocampo, Michal Raz, Connor Sansby, Ross Sinclair, Orfeo Taguiri and Magdalena Zoledz. The resulting collection will include an array of artworks from historic prints to video art, mixed media canvases and Social Media art.

‘This exhibition would not have been possible without the invaluable contribution of our artists,’ said Vanessa.

The exhibition will be open on Mondays-Fridays, 9am to 5pm, and will run until 31 July 2019.

There is an Instagram page for the exhibition here

We are delighted to announce the Gulbenkian Picks from our Drama and Theatre students’ summer festival of student work, to be performed in the Gulbenkian theatre on Tuesday 4 June 2019.

Two performances have been chosen, one representing the Stage 1 students taking DR339: Making Performance 2, and one from the Stage 3 students as the culmination of the module DR678: Creative Project.

Adam’s Birthday Party, by The Bald Sopranos, is the first chosen performance from our Stage 1 students. The ensemble have been experimenting with various performance practices and plays chosen from different moments in the 20th Century (including Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, Susan Glaspell’s The Verge, Eugene Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano and Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine).

From Stage 3, the Gulbenkian has chosen the show Toxxicc, by ensemble Britney’s Peers. Having graduated from University, Ally, Em, Shan and Josie reunite in their hometown. After getting kicked out of a party for drunken behaviour, the girls plonk themselves on a bus stop bench. In 40 minutes, the girls tackle sex, body image, infidelity, and last, and definitely least, BOYS!

The Gulbenkian is open to the public and seats 340. The show will be free, beginning at 7.30pm. For further details, please see the page here.

Lawrence Jackson, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Film and Head of Film Practice, has curated a season of films, ‘The Future is X-Rated’, to be screened in the Gulbenkian, Kent’s on-campus commercial cinema.

The season consists of three mainstream films from 1969 that were originally certificated X for their content. As well as celebrating each film’s fiftieth anniversary, the screenings aim to capture a moment that, culturally, anticipated the greater freedoms of the 1970s and beyond. Just a few years later lay X-rated arthouse and studio smash hits such as Last Tango in Paris and The Exorcist were released. Before that, in 1969, these films blazed a trail and foretold the future.

The series begins on Monday 3 June with The Wild Bunch (dir. Sam Peckinpah). The film is considered a masterpiece by, among others, western expert Ed Buscombe, and demands to be seen on the big screen. Its handling of extreme violence arguably influenced later mainstream American cinema from The Deer Hunter to Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, and it was memorably lampooned by Monty Python as Sam Peckinpah’s Salad Days. The screening will feature an introduction by Professor Peter Stanfield from the School of Arts. For more details, please see the page here.

Monday 10 June sees the screening of Midnight Cowboy (dir. John Schlesinger). Another modern American classic underpinned by a sensitive Oscar-winning screenplay by Waldo Salt and complemented by a great John Barry score and powerful performances from Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman. What’s also astonishing is the trajectory of its British director John Schlesinger, who went from British New Wave hits such as Billy Liar and Far From the Madding Crowd to winning a Best Director Oscar for this New York tale of heartbreak. The film will be introduced by Alaina Schempp, a PhD in Film student from the Department of Film. For more details, please see the page here.

Finally, the final film in the series, Taste the Blood of Dracula (dir. Peter Sasdy), will screen on Thursday 13 June. Fairly late in Hammer’s Dracula cycle, this is nonetheless an impressive entry in the studio’s roster, featuring Christopher Lee returning in his signature role and, in Anthony Hinds’ sophisticated screenplay, a satire of the hypocrisy of Victorian patriarchal society. The film will be will be introduced by Professor Julian Petley, Brunel University, London. For more details, please see the page here.

Tickets cost £8.70 with concessions available. For full details, please see the Gulbenkian’s website.

Is your work digitally inclusive? Make sure it is by attending the first Kent Digital Accessibility Conference, at the University’s Canterbury campus, on Thursday 6 June.

The conference marks an exciting new link-up between the University and Kent Connects, an innovative IT partnership of public sector providers including Kent County Council (KCC).

Working alongside Kent Connects will help us create a high accessibility baseline for the county and meet under our obligations under the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations (2018).

The ‘Creating a Digitally Inclusive County’ conference is being jointly hosted by the University’s Student Support and Wellbeing team and Kent Connects to celebrate our shared vision for the county. It’s also your opportunity to get involved in a countywide network of excellence, and share best practice with the experts.

Plenary topics will include:

• The Government Digital Service on new regulations
• Experts who are affected by these issues every day
• Microsoft Accessibility
• Kent authorities on countywide support
• The University of Kent on tools for enhanced digital experience

And practical workshops will be hosted by:

• Accessibility auditors
• Plain English professionals
• Microsoft accessibility advisors
• Assistive technology experts

The conference takes place in Woolf College from 09.30-16.00 and refreshments, including lunch will be provided. Book your FREE place now on Eventbrite.

Information about arrival, parking and specific agenda timings will be sent after registration.

To find out more, email AccessibilityEvents@kent.ac.uk.