Category Archives: Student Guide

Shakespeare 400 Open Lecture Series: Una McIlvenna

Shakespeare 400 Canterbury: Chapter and Verse

The final lecture in a collaborative open lecture series, part of the University of Kent’s celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death Dr Una McIlvenna (Lecturer in Early Modern Literature, University of Kent) ‘Songs and Music in Shakespeare and His Contemporaries’
Tuesday 22 November 2016, 17.00
Templeman Library Lecture Theatre
Hosted by Templeman Library
Drinks reception to follow
All welcome

Abstract
Early modern plays are filled with songs and singing, although this ubiquity of songs has been an aspect that until recently was either overlooked or seen as an obstacle to be overcome. This lecture will discuss how much we know about the songs and music in Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and what role these play in the dramas. Songs are a rich resource that can teach us a lot about daily life in the early modern period, and allow us fresh insight into many well-known plays.

https://www.kent.ac.uk/english/shakespeare400/index.html

Canterbury Varsity 2017

To celebrate the countdown to Varsity 2017, Team Kent and Team Christchurch held their annual photoshoot at Canterbury Cathedral on the 15 November.

This year, the Vice-President (Sports) of both unions, Elliott Shell and Biba Chuta have set each other a series of challenges – the first of those was the viral phenomenon that is sweeping the internet, the Mannequin Challenge! https://www.facebook.com/canterburyvarsity/videos/406499793073383/

The sporting spectacle of Canterbury Varsity was created to showcase the best of university sport within the community and this year the event will be supporting LGBT History Month. Both Universities believe that everyone should have a safe space in sport and Varsity celebrates how inclusive sport can be.

Sport has the power to unify people while also celebrating the individual regardless of age, gender, sexuality and race. It is for that reason that both Universities are standing together with its LGBT members and allies to ensure everyone has a place to play.

This year, Team Kent, at the University of Kent, will be looking to make it 20 wins in a row. Team Christchurch will be valiantly competing to stop this from happening. Only one will win…

All students, staff and members of the public are invited to attend the matches, take in the atmosphere, support the players, and see the sporting talent that Canterbury has to offer. Varsity will take place from 8-15 February 2017.

To stay up to date with everything Varsity related, like our Facebook page – Who will you be supporting – #TeamKent or #TeamChristchurch?

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/canterburyvarsity/?fref=nf

Being Human: a festival of the humanities 17-25 November

As in previous years, researchers at Kent and their collaborators are holding a fantastic range of thought-provoking interactive activities in Canterbury, showcasing their expertise and the value of the humanities.

These free events will open the doors to inspiring locations in Canterbury; Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Canterbury Roman Museum, and the Beaney House of Art and Knowledge.

The final event which takes place in the Grimond Lecture Theatre on the Canterbury campus on Tuesday 22 November from 18.00-19.00, promises to be a lively session. Bring your opinions to this participatory debate about the role of humanities and the hopes and fears of researchers in the 21st Century.

Throughout the festival, a team led by Ray Laurence, Professor of Roman History and Archaeology at Kent, will engage the public in their research over a number of events and through a variety of mediums; poetry, walking in the footsteps of medieval pilgrims, smells and sounds, and lively debate on hopes and fears for the humanities into the future.

See the whole programme of events on the Being Human website.

Feminine Vessels at Historic Dockyard Chatham

Preparations for the Interim Degree Show from 3rd Year BA (Hons) Fine Art students in the School of Music and Fine Art are literally in full swing. On Thursday morning, should you have ventured onto Chatham Historic Dockyard, you would have encountered a strong female presence, floating high above your head, suspended from a large industrial crane. Just outside the School of Music and Fine Art studios, artist Luiza Jordan installed her delicate yet immersive artwork Feminine Vessels. The work is the result of extensive research and discovery into the history of the Dockyard.

Artist Megan Boyle observes, ‘Jordan’s work is an exploration into materiality, which often manifests itself through sculpture and installation work. She attempts to represent the presence of the female, omitting images of the female nude and without explicitly making reference to the female body. Rather, she uses materials associated with feminine identity and domesticity, engaging with organic bodily textures and shapes. In terms of the site in which these pieces can be found, Jordan aims to construct particular juxtaposition between the organic, fragility and fluidity of her invented forms, and the virile, masculine and industrial nature of her surroundings, which at the moment, is that of the Historic Dockyard, where the School of Music and Fine Art is located.’

Jordan is now continuing to experiment with size, scale and material to prepare her work for the upcoming BA (Hons) Fine Art interim Degree Show Loading but this time within the beautiful historic Georgian building that is Chatham House in Rochester High Street.

The show, which features work by 30 artists, will be open Saturday 10 December – Wednesday 14 December, 11.00-16.00 (closed Tuesday). The Private View is Friday 9 December, 18.00-21.00. Go to http://bit.ly/2gbFa1U

The Cuba Scholarship

This is a fantastic opportunity for three to four postgraduate students to travel to Cuba and experience the life and culture of this vibrant island. The award includes flights and a maintenance grant towards accommodation and subsistence while in Cuba between April and May 2017 (final dates to be determined).

The visit will encompass a series of cultural activities in Cuba including visits to Havana and the nearby village of Viñales. The students will work with University staff to build their own itinerary and will be involved in selecting their own accommodation, and will potentially be accompanied by a University donor.

Full details, and how to apply, are available on our Scholarship webpages.

The deadline for applications is Sunday 20 November 2016.

Designing a medicines support service for stroke survivors

Do you care for or know someone with stroke? Have you had a stroke yourself?

Are you interested in learning about research into how stroke survivors manage medicines?

Come to the Medway School of Pharmacy’s open event in the Pilkington Building on the Medway campus on Friday 25 November 14.00 – 16.00 to learn about our research on this and more.

After a stroke, taking medicines reduces the risk of more strokes. But not all people take these medicines as often as they should and there is no long term support to help them with medicines.

Our research explores how pharmacists can help and should be of interest to stroke survivors, their carers and relatives, health professionals who care for stroke survivors and patient groups.

To find out more or to book a free place, contact: r.brown-549@kent.ac.uk

University to observe Remembrance Day

Members of the University are invited to come together to observe a minute’s silence for Remembrance Day on Friday 11 November, when third-year trumpeter and Music Scholarship student Alex Reid will play ‘The Last Post.’

The event will take place on the lawn outside the Registry Building on 11 November at 11am; all are invited, members of the public are also welcome to attend.

This will be followed at 1.10pm by a lunchtime concert focusing on poet and composer Ivor Gurney. Arranged by Dr Kate Kennedy, the event dramatises Gurney’s life as musician, soldier and eventually asylum patient, following his progress in his own words and music, with humour and poignancy. Admission free.

Music 1914-18: An exhibition by Dr Emma Hanna

This exhibition, on music in the period 1914-18, shows how integral music was and is to the history and memory of the First World War. During the conflict music was an important component in recruitment, fund raising and the maintenance of both civilian and military morale.

Music in all its forms was of course an established feature of everyday life, and the importance of music and all kinds of entertainments intensified during the course of the conflict. The elite musical scene in Britain became ever more internationalised, although the rising number of foreign musicians moving into local house orchestras was a cause of some concern to musicians’ unions.

That the fighting fronts were full of music and humour may come as a surprise. While Britain’s modern memory of the First World War is dominated by mud and loss, the history of music 1914-18 shows us that in the midst of so much fear and death there was a great deal of life. Music of all kinds connected servicemen back to the sound worlds of comfort, family and friends. Through music the soldiers were reminded of the homes for which they were fighting.

But it’s not all about bawdy music hall ditties and marching songs. Music and musicians were implicated in espionage plots; after 1915 bugle calls were used to guard civilians’ public safety after Zeppelin raids; orchestras provided cover for prisoners of war to escape from German prison camps. Music would also have therapeutic uses both for wounded servicemen and for the comfort of the bereaved in the war’s aftermath.

This exhibition gives a taste of research in progress by Dr Emma Hanna into the provision of musical entertainments in the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force for a forthcoming monograph Music and Morale in the British Armed Forces, 1914-18. It demonstrates that music of all kinds was omnipresent on the home and fighting fronts during the war years and its aftermath, and the power of music to cajole, console, educate and inspire was unmatched by any other medium.

Music 1914-18 will be on display in the Colyer-Fergusson Gallery at the University of Kent from Tuesday 8 November until Thursday 24 November 2016. It will feature alongside a First World War lunchtime concert organised with the Music Department on Friday 11 November.

Find out more about the Gateways to the First World War project at http://www.gatewaysfww.org.uk/ .

Fine Art student’s work in Drill Hall Library

MA Fine Art student, Val Bolsover, has a new work, One for the Wrens, installed in the silent section of the Drill Hall Library on the Medway Campus. The site specific work is based on the existence of the Wrens in those Medway campus buildings and their lack of a figurehead. It is the centenary of the WRNS in 2017.

Said Val: ‘I grew up around boats, and as a teenager in the 1970s, thought it would be great to join the Navy. For girls there were plenty of career options in the Women’s Royal Naval Service. When I discovered that women were not allowed to serve on ships and go to sea I changed my mind – what’s the point in joining a naval service which is always ashore? The history of our association with the sea, whether naval, merchant, fishing or leisure, has until recent years been dominated by men. Ships and boats are traditionally named after women, and boats referred to as she. Until the late 19th Century naval and merchant ships carried a figurehead, most often a scantily dressed, buxom woman. These carved and painted figures were replaced by badges. Some figureheads lived on as sculptures ashore, where naval premises took the name of a former ship. At times of war, women had been called on to assist with the forces to release trained men for war. There has been much publicity about how the physical labour of women in factories, and in agriculture, influenced opinion in the fight for votes for women following the First World War. Less attention has been given to the skilled tasks undertaken temporarily by women in the forces.’

More info here https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/news.html?view=2338

#EmpFest16 continues

The annual University Employability Festival continues on the Canterbury Campus, Week 2- 31 October to 4 November

Highlights include:

The Careers Fair: Tuesday 1 November, 12.00 – 15.00, Sports Centre, Canterbury campus

Meet with over 100 organisations offering

Graduate vacancies
Internships and Work experience
PG study options
Self-Employment

Plus two Keynes Atrium Mini Fairs!

Teaching Fair Thursday 3 November
Languages Fair Friday 4 November

Check out the exhibitors attending the Fairs and download your EmpFest programme at www.kent.ac.uk/ces/events/empfest