DMU Art and Foundation Show 2023 ends on a successful note

by Katie McKenna

The DMU Art and Design Foundation Show 2023 has concluded after a six-day run.

The annual show, which ran from May 19 to May 25, was described on the official event website as a “celebration and exhibition of outstanding student work produced on the Art and Design Foundation course” and was staged in the Vijay Patel Building on the DMU campus. 

Multiple students who had their artwork displayed as part of the show agreed they felt the event was overall a success. One such student, Savannah Irving, believed that the event was “more than a success” in her eyes. 

Savannah’s piece (pictured) is titled “Primordial Soup” and was produced as her final major project over the course of eight weeks.  

The project had students produce a piece in response to a theme of their own personal choosing. “I wanted to explore themes of interconnection,” Savannah said. 

“A lot of primary research was involved. I studied the physical body and the interconnections between the parts that make it up, which then led to me leaning further into aspects of nature and biology.” 

Savannah fondly discussed the time she was able to visit a microbiology lab for research purposes and was grateful for the opportunities that working on the project was able to provide. 

When talking about the then-approaching end of the exhibition, she stated that it “went by so quickly” and that she “didn’t want it to end.” 

She also praised all her peers who also got to display their art in the show, stating that “everyone did so well.

“It takes a lot of courage; a lot of people end up exploring intimate subjects and themes in their projects.

“I’m proud of everyone.” 

Leicester celebrates Chinese New Year with spectacular shows

By Azim Saiyed

People of Leicester flocked to the New Walk Museum to celebrate Chinese New Year last weekend(Sat 5-Sun 6FEB), as Cosmopolitan Arts organised a string of dazzling events including a procession through the city.

A roaring good time: Large crowd pictured at the finale light show at the Green Dragon Square.

The procession travelled from De Montfort University (DMU) to the clocktower with the beautiful and vibrant finale performance taking place in Green Dragon Square.

Amanda Leandro, founder of the organisation, said: “Considering this year’s Covid-19 issues, we had a massive turnout.

“Everyone was very happy even though the heavens opened up.

“We want to use arts to transcend language barriers by exposing people to other cultures.

“We also hope to promote cultural integration within the community.

“We live in a multicultural society and it is important to build bridges between different cultural communities.”

There were roughly 2,000 people who paraded through the streets of Leicester and the traditional Chinese dragon led the procession from the front.

Students from DMU and University of Leicester turned up in their numbers to take part in the occasion.

Saturday’s exhibition at the New Walk Museum offered a whole range of activities from Chinese calligraphy to live musical performances by Euphoria.

Fire breather: Performers play dragon act in costume at New Walk Museum.

Cosmopolitan Arts has set up Chinese New Year celebrations for the past six years and the Confucius Institute at DMU has also collaborated with it for the last three years.

The wider aim of the organisation is to achieve social harmony and equality.

Alongside these eye-catching performances and successful events, the organisation has been researching Chinese heritage at the same time.

The relationship between Cosmopolitan Arts and Leicester City Council has allowed the team to put on these wonderful events since 2011.

The team is currently working on a documentary screening project involving 15 different culture groups.

Amanda said: “More people should open their eyes and get involved in these events.

“Every single culture should be enjoyed, embraced and experienced.”

Her motive to tackle social inequality has guided her to carry out workshops at the African Caribbean Centre in Leicester to help ethnic minority children.

If you would like to find out more information about future events, then please visit: www.cosmopolitanarts.co.uk.

Transgender activist and model Munroe Bergdorf set to give talk at #DMUpride

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#DMUpride organisers will ensure Rainbow colours will be prominent 

Transgender activist and model Munroe Bergdorf will be talking at De Montfort University (DMU) as part of the #DMUpride events.

Named the first ever University of the Year for Social Inclusion by the Sunday Times, DMU is holding a series of month-long events to celebrate LGBTQ+ history.

A spokesperson for DMU said: “We define ourselves as diverse, international and open to all. Our free-thinking equality, diversity and inclusion charter, DMUFreedom, puts inclusivity at the heart of everything we do.”

#DMUpride will be launched on Monday between midday and 4pm at DMU’s Campus Centre and will include handouts of free rainbow lanyards and #DMUpride T-shirts, alongside refreshments and the details of up-coming events.

A series of workshops, performances and film screenings will be put on throughout the month alongside talks from prominent members of the LGBTQ+ community, including Bergdorf.

Now the face of a new lingerie campaign promoting diversity for all women, Bergdorf was on Good Morning Britain yesterdayTHUJAN31 to discuss diversity in the fashion industry.

She said: “I’m speaking about my experience all the way from before I transitioned and my sexuality to how I view the industry.”

Her #DMUpride talk, ‘In Conversation’, will be held in the university’s Clephan Building from 7 to 8pm on Wednesday, February 27.

It will be one of the final events for #DMUpride but also one of the first for the Cultural eXchanges Festival which celebrates its 18th year.

Cultural eXchanges will run from February 25 to March 1 with a host of creatives from the industry delivering talks in the Clephan building.

For more information on #DMUpride view the online brochure https://www.dmu.ac.uk/documents/events/dmu-pride-brochure.pdf

For more information on Bergdorf’s talk and the Cultural eXchanges Festival visit https://www.dmu.ac.uk/cultural-exchanges-festival/index.aspx

De Montfort musicians preparing for band battle

by Ollie Heppenstall

Student musicians are tuning up for the yearly battle of the bands as part of the Varsity contest between De Montfort University and the University of Leicester.

Dryden street

Theatre of Dreams: Dryden Street Social, the venue for this year’s varsity

The battle, scheduled to take place on Friday, March 9, at the Dryden Street Social, will feature four acts from the DMU Music Society and four acts from UoL’s Band and Gig Society before being closed out by music from both the DMU and UoL DJ societies.

Matt Coll, DMU Music Society Chairman, said: “This year’s battle is the fourth we’ve held, with last year’s being the biggest. Filling out Firebug on a Monday night was a bit special, and this year we’ve been able to double the potential capacity by booking Dryden Street.

“The venue’s been booked since September, so this has been in the pipeline for months.”

Acts from DMU include 5-piece band The Excellent Adventures, of whom Coll is a member, 4-piece indie rock outfit Sweatbox, William Bartholemew and the reason we can’t have nice things, and Brian.

Coll also said: “The format is much the same as last year.

“The bands will alternate, playing 25-minute sets each, before a winner being voted and the DJ societies closing out the show with music all through the night.

“The atmosphere last year was electric, it only got bigger and better as the night went on and led to a decisive De Montfort victory.”

“Hopefully we can pull off the same result this year, we’re definitely taking it as seriously as the sports teams take their own varsity fixtures.”

Pun championships returning to Leicester

The UK pun championships will be bringing the ‘funny’ to De Montfort Hall.

De Montfort Hall will be hosting the UK pun championships 2018, run as part of Leicester Comedy Festival, for the fourth year running.

The championships, taking place on Monday, February 12, and featuring eight comics will take the form of a rap battle.

With the crowd voting for the winner of each round by cheering, the final two will battle it out to be crowned UK pun champion.

Tickets cost between £10 and £20, and can be booked by visiting http://comedy-festival.co.uk/event/the-uk-pun-championships/.