In 2019 the School of the Arts celebrates its tenth anniversary. Since its founding in 2009, it has grown substantially, and is now home to over 2500 students and almost 300 professional services and academic staff. In this time, the School has developed into new areas such as TESOL and Music Technology, established a presence on our London campus with the thriving MSc Strategic Communications and Year in Design, and pioneered work-based learning with our placement module SOTA300 and the Year in Industry option. Each year we welcome into the second year of our programmes over 100 students from XJTLU, our partner institution in Suzhou, China, and this past year no fewer than 10 Philosophy students travelled for the Year in China programme.
This Anthology collects together some of the best work from the School in 2018-19, produced by undergraduate students across the School's five disciplines. In it, among many excellent contributions, you will find Ellie Houghton's account of her research internship on the vital #Speakout project on online harassment; Qinyu Wu's analysis of 'drosscapes' and the transformation of industrial wasteland in the UK; Harriet Barton on the 'anthropocene' and environmental catastrophe in contemporary writing; George Wilson on Nietzsche, suffering, and the utility of art; and Natasha Covill on Adorno, Schoenberg, and music that is 'resistant to the world'. In addition to students grappling with big ideas and engaging with urgent contemporary issues, you will find some fine short fiction and high-quality illustration work.
If you are reading online, you will be able to link through to a recording of a performance by Music students in the Leggate Theatre, alongside the Solem Quartet. This is an important reminder that not all student work in the School is text based. For example, next year will see the launch of a student record label in the Music Department, and in June every year, Architecture hosts its Annual Degree Show where you can see the fruits of the year's work in the studios. If you are in Liverpool, I encourage you to attend this inspiring showcase of student talent and thinking.
Professor Peter Buse, Dean of the School of the Arts
Read the School of the Arts Anthology 2018-19
Click on
to view previous issues.