SPACE - Winter/Spring 2017

sPACE

The magazine for Bath Spa University students and staff | Winter/Spring 2017

Plans unveiled for Bath School of Art and Design campus

10 books that have changed the world for the better

Funding announced for budding young musicians in Somerset

winter 2017

Celebrating our successes and valuing your feedback

Kitty’s column

Our graduation ceremonies are a highpoint in the academic year and I was proud to attend the winter ceremonies which took place in the Bath Assembly Rooms in February.

For graduands it is the culmination of one or more years of study and is a moment of celebration for us all. The two ceremonies were great successes with Bath Spa University’s new Chancellor, Jeremy Irons, greeting each graduate individually. Thank you to everyone who helped to make the day a success.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind all final year undergraduate students that the National Student Survey is now open. This survey is a vital source of invaluable feedback for the University which will be used to drive improvements to the student experience. If you are passionate about improving the experience of your fellow students then I would encourage you to participate. You can fill it in until the end of April.

I look forward to the successes that spring will undoubtedly bring.

I think many people would agree that there seems to be a sense of relief at 2016 being over. How strange that a calendar year could be blamed for so much disquiet, but what a calendar year it was; from a spate of celebrity deaths, to shocking political decisions to Leo finally winning his Oscar.

Amongst my own circles, and the student circles I’m privy to, the sense of political awareness has been heightened. People are taking much more of an active interest in what’s going on in the world and this is something that should be celebrated. Often there’s a sense that everybody and their mother is a politician nowadays in a tone of aversion. With the Brexit outcome followed by the election of Trump, an interest in politics is becoming more and more important, especially amongst the younger generation. These two results seem selfish; with nations and individuals becoming more focused on themselves rather than moving towards a globalised state and proactively being interested in helping others.

Who knows what the future may hold and what the implementation of Brexit and inauguration of Trump might bring for us, but I feel we all have a duty to try and spread inclusion and solidarity in the face of struggles ahead.

This seems to be a trifle darker than my previous columns, but with a New Year, new hope is born. If we remember the struggles we’ve been through and the lessons learnt we can improve the future for everyone… not just ourselves.

Professor Christina Slade Vice-Chancellor

Kitty Hilton is Bath Spa’s Students’ Union President. In this issue she celebrates taking an interest in the wider world and standing up for inclusion and solidarity.

Kitty Hilton SU President

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in this issue

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on the cover

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SPACE magazine is published seasonally for Bath Spa University students and staff.

P. 6 Plans unveiled for new Bath School of Art and Design campus P. 7 10 books that have changed the world for the better P. 19 Funding announced for budding young musicians in Somerset

Want to get involved?

Email spacemag@bathspa.ac.uk Editor Jennifer Davies

regulars

Features Jane Wakefield

P. 4 Success at Spa Stories from Bath Spa’s talented students and staff P. 10 Winter in Pictures P. 18 Five minutes with Mary Stakelum, Head of Postgraduate Programmes at Bath Spa’s Institute for Education, answers our five probing questions P. 16 SPACE to Shout!

Money advice, parking help, and a look at our brand new website

Alexandra Snell Design Rosie Maynard Contributors Rebecca McGuire-Snieckus Neil Glen Guy Hobley Kitty Hilton

FEATURES P. 19 SPACE to Chat Jazz student is over the moon with new Saxophone Guy Hobley, who is studying for a Masters in Music Performance at Bath Spa was awarded £3,500 to purchase a new Saxophone. He tells us why bursaries are so important to students like himself

PJ Livingstone Photography Neil Glen (neilglen.com) Front cover Xavier Belinha, third year, BA (Hons) Dance. Xavier performed a duet with Becca Kemp at Bath Abbey

P. 14 SPACE to Talk A global liberal arts network founded by Bath Spa is flourishing Dr Rebecca McGuire-Snieckus, Associate Academic Director of the Global Academy of Liberal Arts (GALA), talks us through the network P. 12 Without boundaries. Your Space. Your MediaWall The impressive MediaWall is one of only a handful of similar size in Europe. Since its launch it has played host to 50 projects including incredible works of art, immersive and educational programmes

for the installation of Bath Spa University’s new Chancellor, Jeremy Irons. The work was inspired by the idea of how we absorb knowledge through our senses.

Photograph by Chris Wakefield. Crescent Photography.

Back cover Pretty Abstract by Paul Minott shown on the MediaWall in Commons, Newton Park, in October. The piece is an exploration of abstraction that sits at the crossover of art and design, and is influenced by 20th century abstract painting and Modernist design. Photography

by Chris Wakefield. Crescent Photography.

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success at spa

Large scale sculpture in Bath Abbey Last summer saw Bath Abbey filled temporarily with hundreds of colourful paper butterflies as part of the city-wide Forest of the Imagination festival. The Abbey will see the return of these exotic creations in a year-long installation by Bath-based artist and Senior Lecturer at Bath School of Art and Design, Anthony Head. iMigration 2 is a large-scale sculpture, a swarm of colourful paper butterflies, spanning five metres and suspended ten metres up in the air in the Abbey’s South Transept.

Anthony said: “iMigration 2 explores the themes of migration, diversity and individuality. In the swarm, each butterfly is unique, created with a variety of technologies and featuring colour and patterns designed using computer coding,

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influenced by the mathematics of nature.

The butterflies will move gently in the air currents that fill the Abbey as if travelling on a migration.

“In today’s world of human migration and its reporting, it’s easy to forget how unique each person is, to reduce people to anonymous groups, stereotypes, or just numbers.

The artwork is a provocation to not be satisfied by our world saturated by ‘mass’ media reporting, statistics and the digital consumption of news. It asks you to seek and listen to individual stories

by human beings who are affected by migration. Hence iMigration.”

The sculpture will remain in the Abbey for a year, from February 2017 to February 2018.

Advert

success at spa

New Year Honours celebrations for Bath Spa Bath Spa University’s Professor of Creative Writing, Aminatta Forna, and honorary graduate Sir Don McCullin were recognised in the New Year Honours 2017 list. They are awarded an OBE and knighthood respectively.

Professor Forna, who joined Bath Spa in 2013, was awarded the OBE for services to literature. She has published four novels, including The Hired Man and The Devil That Danced on the Water and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her TV credits include The Lost Libraries of Timbuktu (BBC Television, 2009) and she is Fellow and Council member of the Royal Society of Literature and sits on the Board of the national Theatre of Great Britain, the General Committee of the Royal Literary Fund and the Council of the Caine Prize for African Writing.

Sir Don McCullin was knighted for his inspirational and significant services to photography. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Bath Spa University in 2015 for his outstanding contribution to journalism.

He is recognised as one of history’s greatest war photographers is also the author of more than a dozen books, including his highly-acclaimed autobiography Unreasonable Behaviour. He was awarded a CBE for photojournalism in 1993.

New topography of ITT from the Institute for Education A new topography of initial teacher training in England challenges the claim that teacher preparation can be neatly packaged and that there are two simple options: university (HEI) or school based training. Instead, the paper identifies and maps the multiple new routes to qualified teacher status (QTS).

Towards a new topography of ITT: A profile of initial teacher training in England 2015-15 has been written by researchers in Bath Spa University’s Institute for Education. It shows how contemporary routes into ITT differ from earlier ones and how trainees are distributed across them.

The key message emerging from this research is the complexity of ITT provision and the failure of published data to articulate this. The research also identified as many as thirteen different routes to QTS. Further analysis shows that

over 8,000 different course options were allocated places for trainees with over half of the courses accounting for just one or two registrations.

One of the authors of the paper, Dr Caroline Whiting, said: “For some time the government has promoted the ideal of a ‘school led’ system leading to several thousand discrete teacher training pathways. This has made it difficult to map ITT as a whole, or to make conclusions about the benefits and outcomes of the different routes to qualified teacher status.

“Our work is the start of trying to bring some clarity to an extremely complex and confusing landscape.”

The full report is available on ResearchSpace: reserachspace.bathspa. ac.uk

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success at spa

Leading the way in your local area

New campus

New building plans unveiled to local residents, staff and students The University purchased the former Herman Miller factory on Locksbrook Road in 2016, and over the next few years will transform it into a fantastic new campus for our Bath School of Art and Design.

The building is in a central location and close to student accommodation on Lower Bristol Road and Oldfield Park. As a former factory used by Herman Miller, it is part of Bath’s industrial history. The University unveiled plans for the building at an exhibition event last month and had some really positive feedback.

Bath Spa will now play a significant part in revitalising Locksbrook Road, and creating a new history for this iconic Grade II listed building.

Keep up to date with plans www.bathspa.ac.uk/locksbrookroad

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The Student Community Partnership is a collaboration between Bath & North East Somerset Council (B&NES), and student and staff representatives from Bath Spa and the University of Bath.

The Partnership exists to form a liaison between the universities, their Students’ Unions and the local community on issues such as accommodation, transport, welfare, community safety and environmental issues.

Getting to know neighbours In October last year a door-knocking campaign was launched to introduce students to their neighbours who live in areas of student housing. By talking to neighbours, students can find out important information about the area, such as recycling days and community events. Meeting local people breaks down the barriers between residents and students to strengthen relationships.

Community Litter Picks Regular litter picks are held with the community to ensure the streets of Bath are kept clean and tidy. Members of the community thoroughly enjoy these litter picks as they are often introduced to likeminded students who are environmentally conscious.

If you are interested in helping out in the next litter pick keep an eye out for an announcement in the bi-weekly newsletter ‘Your Uni News.’

Moving out campaign Last summer a British Heart Foundation donation bank was installed in key areas around Oldfield Park and on campus to help students recycle and donate items. This was a great success and helped to massively reduce the waste in Oldfield Park.

In the summer of 2015, this initiative resulted in 3,238 bags being donated and raised a fantastic £45,332 for the British Heart Foundation.

Neighbour issues While the Partnership listens to the concerns residents have about their student neighbours, they are also there to listen to any concerns students may have too. The advice they give is confidential and even if you don’t want to make a formal complaint about your neighbours, especially if they are friends, they can give you advice about steps you can take to ensure any issues are resolved.

Committee meetings Members of the Partnership often sit in on Council committee meetings to discuss issues such as river safety, to ensure that students and residents’ concerns are being heard. The Partnership works closely with the Council to ensure that you are given the same message about initiatives, safety and concerns from all points of contact.

Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/SCPBath

success at spa

10 books that have changed the world for the better Bath Spa University compiled a list of ten books that have encouraged free thought and positive change in society.

The globe-spanning list looks across the centuries, across genres and styles, to deliver a selection which encompasses humanity at its most diverse and compassionate; including modern entries like the young adult novel Two Boys Kissing, to classics such as Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and Virginia Woolf’s Orlando.

Students, academics, authors, and librarians all helped compile the list as part of Bath Spa University Library’s ‘Reads and Rights’ campaign; a yearlong project intended to celebrate diversity and equality across history and in the literary sphere, highlighting the authors and books which have inspired debate and change around the world.

Full list: 1. Two Boys Kissing, David Levithan 2. Nevada, Imogen Binnie

“The worlds that we glimpse and share through books and reading have the power to shape people’s ideas and beliefs, for the good,” stated Alison Baud, Bath Spa University Director of Library and Learning Services. “Through a story we can be inspired to challenge our value system and spark conversation that can lead to a better society for us all.”

“In a fragmented world, where sadly inequalities still occur every day, it is important that we all have access to such powerful tools as books and part of the Reads and Rights campaign was to showcase the incredible value that libraries have in society. It is vital that investment is made in libraries for this very reason and we hope that our project will play an important role in highlighting the benefits of ensuring that the public continue to have free access to books.”

Archbishop of Canterbury visits the SU The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, visited Bath Spa’s Students’ Union at the end of last year. His talk, called ‘Faith In The World Today: Good, Bad or Indifferent’, attracted a large crowd, with the Students’ Union bar packed out with students and staff.

The Archbishop gave a short speech about current affairs in relation to faith, and then there was a short question and answer session. He was asked about religion in relation to the recent election of President Donald Trump, as well as the conflicts in Aleppo.

When asked about his relationship with Pope Francis, the Archbishop said: “Meeting Pope Francis was extraordinary. He is a wonderful, humorous and profound man and we get on extremely well. I respect him as the principal Christian leader as the one who speaks most clearly and with the most courage to the Global Church.”

Follow the Archbishop on Twitter @ JustinWelby

3. The Reason I Jump, Naoki Higashida Advert 4. The Story of My Life, Helen Keller 5. I am Malala, Malala Yousafzai 6. Orlando, Virginia Woolf 7. Elizabeth is Missing, Emma Healey 8. The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath 9. If this is a Man, Primo Levi 10. Ain’t I a Woman, bell hooks

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success at spa Success at spa

Tate Exchange project

Bath School of Art and Design becomes a founding associate of Tate Exchange Bath School of Art and Design is now an associate of Tate Exchange.

Tate Exchange is an ambitious ‘open experiment’ which allows other organisations and members of the public to participate in Tate’s creative process, running events and projects on site and using art as a way of addressing wider issues in the world around us.

The Bath School of Art and Design event in January was called No Working Title and was developed by artists and academics Natasha Kidd from Bath School of Art and Design and Jo Addison from Kingston University.

This was the first project with Tate Exchange and involved 40 students from four different UK art schools coming together for a day of dialogue and exchange about artworks they have made in response to instructions they have previously received from one another.

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With their own practice at the centre of the process, the students each received instructions for making artworks from a partner who they have never met. At the event on 27 January, the students met for the first time, revealed the work they made in response to the instructions and engaged in critical debate, alongside academic staff and Ann Coxon, one of Tate’s curatorial team.

Natasha Kidd, Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Bath School of Art and Design said: “It is incredibly exciting for our Fine Art students and the wider University to be an official associate of this ground breaking program by Tate that foregrounds collaboration, exchange and most importantly new ways of reaching audiences.”

Actors outside Main House

success at spa Success at spa

Christmas at Newton Park house In December, third year Acting students had the chance to bring to life a performance in collaboration with SPECIFIQ, a theatre company that specialises in recreating true stories from history.

Christmas at Newton Park House was a sell-out success. The immersive performance invited the audience to tip-toe around the corridors of Main House at Newton Park, and revisit the history of those who once inhabited the beautiful mansion. The grand rooms of Main House were brought to life and audiences saw three centuries of history in one night; from 1760, when the mansion house was built, through two World Wars and right up to 1945 when it was converted into a leading teacher training college.

Mark Langley, Head of Field: Writing and Performance, said: “As the Capability Brown Tricentenary comes to an end and as the University has recently celebrated the appointment of Jeremy Irons as its first Chancellor we were very aware of the history of the University. We also have a PhD student Kate James who has researched and written the history of the Newton Park site and the three things came into alignment.

On top of which the story of the house is filled with brilliant events and some great stories. The chance to put this all together and to open up the campus to the city was irresistible.”

Emily by Bath weir with the Women’s Equality Party

Bath Spa graduate campaigns for equal representation for women Former Bath Spa student Emily Murray, who studied BA Media and Communications with Film and Screen Studies, is working as a social media coordinator at Women’s Equality Party’s branch in Bath. She tells us why she’s passionate about standing up for equal representation for women online, in the media and in politics.

What does the Women’s Equality Party stand for?

Firstly – it is a non-partisan ethos party.

This means that we are not biased towards any particular political party. We believe equality should be everyone’s right. In fact, we are probably the only political party in existence to want to be redundant in the end – we want gender and equality issues to not be a problem in the future!

What are you working on at the moment?

At the moment, we are fighting for the rights of women to be equally represented in the media. As well as this, we launched our e-Quality campaign earlier this year which aims to support women who have been victims of online abuse. We are

calling for improvements to current laws and hope to protect as many young girls as we can. You can find out more about this campaign at www.womensequality.org. uk/e_quality_campagin What are your aims for 2017?

A member of our party is going to give a talk to the Bath Spa Students’ Union Feminist Society, which is brilliant. Our main goal is for gender issues to be taken seriously in parliament – and not just shoved to the back of manifestos, never to be seen again. We would love to have representatives in parliament to raise awareness of this. The Women’s Equality Party are hoping to make misogyny a hate crime in 2017 and are also hoping to get more young people involved in the party, which is kind of my role on social media. We are hoping to create a fun, personal and dedicated presence online so people know who we are and what we stand for. We accept all genders, ages, and political leanings, so please sign up at www.womensequality.org.uk or visit our Facebook page www.facebook.com/ WEPBath to join our movement!

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WINTER IN PICTURES

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1 Professor Salima Hashmi, artist and antinuclear weapon activist, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Bath Spa University in November for her significant contribution within contemporary art, education, politics, and society.

2 Business woman and Bath Spa Honorary Graduate, Deborah Meaden, visited the University last term to speak to students and alumni about going freelance in the business world.

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3, 4 & 5 Huge congratulations to Sarah Carter, third year Fashion Design student at Bath Spa, who was a runner up in the Fashion Awareness Direct (FAD) competition.

6 Congratulations to former student Susan Beale who was shortlisted in the high profile Costa Book awards for her debut novel, The Good Guy. 7 Photo of the Month competition winner Chantal Gibbs-Jones, Principles of Applied Neuropsychology, with amazing red tones.

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winter in pictures

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feature: mediawall

Without boundaries.

Your Space.

Your MediaWall.

At 30 feet high, rising over two floors, with 30 digital screens, Bath Spa University’s impressive MediaWall, is one of only a handful of similar size in the world. It has played host to 50 projects including incredible works of art, immersive and educational programmes and been part of the architecture of Commons since it opened in 2014.

Since its inception the wall has been a playful tool and space of intrigue taken over by a huge number of creatives, from international accredited artists, Bath Spa University staff and students, right through to local eight-year-old primary school children.

The origin of MediaWall came from across the pond in California. Passing through the large-scale media and interactive experiences created by Montreal based Moment Factory for Los Angeles Tom Bradley International airport, Neil Glen, Designer and Bath School of Art and Design Learning Technologist saw an opportunity to create a space for experimentation with large scale digital media. The space is a gift for the university community.

A place where work can be created in a safe environment, boundaries can be pushed, and feedback can be sought.

International artist Julian Opie was one of the first to explore MediaWall’s vast opportunities. He took his Collected Works, a successful exhibition at the Holburne Museum, and extended it onto MediaWall. His computer animated work called Lily on the wall and caused quite a stir with her fluttering eyelashes.

Projects on the wall continue to keep staff and students on their toes. The Commons building was described by Academy Award winning film producer Lord Putnam as “the sort of facility that any university anywhere in the world would envy,” and MediaWall is undoubtedly part of this unique space, and an exciting arena for the creation of large scale works.

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Lily by Julian Opie

And it’s not just visual pieces - a number of projects have leapt out of the wall and into the audience. One such project involving second year Dance, Music and Photography students titled Victor Explains the Mysteries included a performance incorporating live video feed to MediaWall along with live music, and dance. It was an opportunity for students to work alongside the award winning professional dance company Earthfall, and proved popular with visitors.

Works typically take at least three to six months to create.

From initial concept through to display. All proposals are welcome, and will be passed through a committee. Not everything gets through, but a full well rounded project idea is the best way to ensure your idea is taken forward.

Neil Glen, one of the curators of MediaWall, is keen to encourage collaboration on projects. He says: “You have this immersive space where you can play, create and make content.

MediaWall is limitless in terms of what can be created and we’ve already shown the depths and breadth of what can be achieved, but there’s still so much more we could be doing.

@MediaWallBSU

“MediaWall is for everyone. To exhibit works where international artists have done so before. We want our wonderful creative students to work together, with other students in different courses, and with teachers and technical staff to create unique works to test the boundaries and to be displayed to the public without fear.

People are encouraged to take over the space. To use it how they want. The MediaWall team are happy to look over proposals and suggest ideas, but once the project gets going it is owned by the project team. Anyone wanting to exhibit is encouraged to collaborate as much as possible, and that way something wonderful can be achieved.

Sometimes MediaWall can suffer from an identity crisis. Is it an advertising notice board? No. Is it a digital gallery? Not really.

Is it an impossibly brilliant, non-restrictive, flexible and immersive space to generate ideas, encourage collaboration and display work in a safe public domain? Yes. Neil continues: “It has been used successfully to support several conferences hosted here at Bath Spa University, such as Seeing Sounds and Performance Studies Network. An amazing live data driven artwork by Seattlle based artist James Coupe opened MIX Digital in 2015 and we’re excited to be working with the MIX team again for 2017. MediaWall is used to play host to content for open days too, and also supports staff research, the Vice-Chancellor’s MasterClass, as well as artists from other universities from our GALA partners.”

The future for MediaWall is exciting. Projects for this year are already in full flow, with an exciting collaboration in the pipeline with a well-known animator not so far away.

If you are in Commons and passing MediaWall, take a quick look at the exciting work that is on display, and think of the impressive effort going on behind the scenes. Perhaps you should be getting involved?

Earthfall performance.

Picture by Neil Glen

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sPACE TO

“ Talk ”

A global liberal arts network founded

by Bath Spa is flourishing

Dr Rebecca McGuire-Snieckus, Associate Academic Director of the Global Academy of Liberal Arts (GALA) talks us through this inspirational network which was founded by Bath Spa University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Christina Slade in 2014.

What is the Global Academy of Liberal Arts (GALA)?

GALA is a select international network of liberal arts institutions, faculties and programmes that facilitates meaningful collaboration in teaching and research, supports student and staff mobility, and promotes liberal arts education in a transnational context. The network continues to expand and currently has 18 partners from 12 countries including the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Poland, Russia, China, Taiwan, Australia, Mexico, USA, and Canada.

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When is the next annual conference?

The partners from around the globe collect annually to present collaborative research, to discuss strategy, and to provide students with opportunities for international engagement. In 2015 Communication University of China hosted the second annual conference in Beijing, on the theme of Communication Without Borders. Students at this conference were inspired to create a transnational magazine app, which they built over the course of the year, and then launched at the 2016 GALA conference hosted by Tec de Monterrey in Mexico, on the theme of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovative Spirit. The 2017 conference will be hosted by the University of Parma in Italy in July and will have discuss topics around the theme of Curating The Future.

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“ Talk ” Tell us about the benefits of being a partner in terms of teaching collaborations Creative collaborations across the network in different subjects are flourishing. A great example was the Heritage and Arts Management postgraduate student exchange between Bath Spa and Claremont Graduate University. This enabled our students to benefit from visiting heritage sites in California.

What research collaborations are underway?

GALA supports, celebrates, and facilitates research collaborations across the network. Researchers at Bath Spa are currently engaged with partners in areas including fiction writing, transnational creatives, global citizenship, and forest school provision to name but a few.

We are currently mapping the network to identify research interests so that when funding opportunities arise they can be responded to rapidly. Much of the time research funding opportunities are international and interdisciplinary, and having access to a friendly and dedicated network of partners with aligned interests and a readiness to engage will be instrumental in successfully competing for these bids.

Tell us about the events you are involved with.

GALA partners engage in, support, promote, and host a variety of international, interdisciplinary, public and creative events. In 2016 the network hosted a Liberal Arts Roundtable at Bath Spa University, moderated by Professor John Strachan, to discuss the role of liberal arts in the modern university.

We plan to host a panel discussion at Bath Literature Festival next year to bring together artists, writers, and academics from across the world to explore the meaning of the ‘liberal arts’ in a global context.

What international mobility options are there?

GALA facilitates both staff and student mobility across the network in a variety of forms. Some of these experiences include placement opportunities for students, such as the collaboration between Bath Spa University and the University of Parma.

These universities teamed up to celebrate the fantastic collection in the Centro studi e archivio della comunicazione (CSAS) archive, to publish a series of books, led by Katharine Reeve, Publishing Subject Leader at Bath Spa, providing students with the opportunity to work at the archive to develop a new series of illustrated art and design books.

Another example of mobility includes the benefit of showcasing work. Bath Spa Masters student, Trevor Turpin, benefited by displaying an exhibit based on his thesis, tracing the lost rivers of London through literature, delivering a talk, and meeting with both academics and relevant industry leaders to discuss conservation issues. There is evidence of the benefits of international mobility on student success and progression, and we have started to collect data at Bath Spa University to contribute to these findings.

www.gala.network @gala_network

The GALA team

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! SHOUT ! sPACE TO Have your say – We’re looking for letters, feedback, and general social media musings, so please send in what you like about Bath Spa and the city of Bath via spacemag@bathspa.ac.uk

Driving to Newton Park campus?

Follow @BathSpaParking for up to date information on spaces

Save some money today Ben Goose, Money Advisor and Student Support Operations Supervisor at Bath Spa gives his top tips.

1. Consider buying a bicycle

2. Tasty meals at budget rates

3. Stop smoking

Sometimes, you have to spend money to save money. A bicycle gives you the freedom to go wherever you want, whenever you want. No annoying bus timetables or steep taxi fares - just complete freedom to roam your local area.

You could also access free bicycles by using Nextbike. If this isn’t working out for you, just check your local classifieds for a cheap second-hand model.

Forget beans on toast. There are so many tasty and healthy meal options available for students on a budget.

A good place to start is your local supermarket. Most main brands offer free in-store magazines, which contain all sorts of delicious recipes to suit every kind of budget.

If you want something especially for students, then visit sites like Student Recipes or Beyond Baked Beans for yummy but cheap eating ideas.

You’ve heard this a thousand times, but smoking is a very expensive habit.

It really is. According to the NHS, giving up smoking could save you around £3K a year.

If you’re finding it too difficult to quit completely, then even reducing the amount you smoke could save you money and improve your health.

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! SHOUT ! sPACE TO

New website launches showcasing fantastic work of students, staff and alumni PJ Livingstone, Head of Web and Digital, talks us through the new site By now you may have seen the new Bath Spa University website. Our focus for the new design has been to reflect the brand personality of the University. As an organisation which fosters creativity, culture and enterprise, we need to be able to showcase the fantastic work of our students, alumni, academics and wider Bath Spa community.

Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive so far and we hope you like the site. You’re welcome to send any feedback to webmaster@bathspa.ac.uk. Thanks to all who contributed.

Key facts about the new website • Our new site has approximately 1,700 pages of content, not including people profiles.

• The vast majority of pages, including all courses, have been completely rewritten. Some of the content on the previous site dated back to 2007; that’s right, it was old enough to attend secondary school.

• The site content has been reorganised to make things much easier to find. For example, the main navigation is geared towards prospective students, while key stakeholder groups can access their relevant content from the secondary navigation menu beneath.

• The site itself is a pleasure to view on all screen sizes, including smart phones.

• Since student recruitment is a key goal for the site, we have emphasised the opportunity to search for courses by focusing attention directly on the ‘find your course’ search box.

• The design is minimal but the images are impactful, designed to inspire.

Did you notice that the home page images are captioned and link off to relevant content?

• We have added a brand new section right up front, ‘Be Bath Spa’, to engage prospective students (and their parents!) with everything we have to offer.

• Images and video are a feature of the new site. And we have a lot more planned, including introductory videos for every course.

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minutes with ...

Mary Stakelum Dr Mary Stakelum is Head of Postgraduate Programmes at Bath Spa’s Institute for Education. She’s also conference director for RIME (Research in Music Exhibition) which will be hosted for the first time at Bath Spa University in April.

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What do you love about Bath Spa University?

One of the major things that attracted me to Bath Spa was its commitment to creativity – and it hasn’t let me down in that respect.

Creativity in all its manifestations forms the backbone of this place. Imagination is always at the forefront at Bath Spa and there is a “can do” approach. I love working with colleagues who really care about what they are doing.

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Tell me something you’re passionate about at the moment?

I’m preparing for an international conference on Research in Music Education that I am organising and will take place at Bath Spa in April. It will bring together researchers, teachers and practitioners who will share and discuss research that is concerned with all aspects of teaching and learning in music. We have some great keynote speakers from the USA, the Netherlands, Finland and Canada. I am passionate about making this conference a huge success.

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And finally, complete this sentence. Not many people know this about me but…

When I was an undergraduate I gate-crashed one of Seamus Heaney’s late night parties.

He had organised a Yeats field trip to Lissadell House and I tagged along with some friends who were studying English with him. Lissadell is an early 19th century neo-classical house in County Sligo that is steeped in Irish history and was often a holiday retreat for Yeats. Quite late at night Heaney invited everyone to read out some of their own poetry. As a music student, this was something I wasn’t expecting and, naturally, had no poetry to read, so I offered to play the piano instead and was given access to the instrument that lived in the tower of Lissadell.

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Where is your favourite spot on campus?

Newton Park campus has so many glorious spots. If I have to pick one it would be the pathway with the trees on my left and the lake on my right that I take when moving from Main House to my office in Newton. It’s a little oasis for a few moments when I can process the meeting I’ve just had, or get my head around the one about to come.

3

If you went on Mastermind, what would your specialist subject be?

The life and work of James Cooksey Culwick (1845-1907).

I first came across Culwick in 2006 when writing an invited chapter A song to sweeten Ireland’s wrong: music education and Celtic Revival for publication in The Irish Revival Reappraised edited

by E.A.Taylor Fitzsimon and J.H.Murphy. I was amazed to learn of this very proper Englishman who had moved to Dublin from Lichfield at the height of the Celtic Revival.

He made a considerable contribution – particularly around music education for girls at that time.

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“ Chat ” Jazz student is over the moon with new Saxophone Guy Hobley, who is studying for a Masters in Music Performance at Bath Spa, and is originally from Beckington in the Mendip region of Somerset, was awarded £3,500 from the bursary to purchase a new Saxophone. He tells us why bursaries are so important to students like himself.

I came to Bath Spa to study music three years ago and in that time I have been inspired by the wonderful teaching staff here who have gone above and beyond to help me succeed.

After I graduated I was encouraged to continue with my studies, and am now taking a Masters which specifically focusses on Jazz performance. The course is tough - there’s a lot of practice and discipline needed but I am enjoying it a great deal.

I’m also in a Quintet and play at Jazz gigs across the region, as well as doing the odd wedding and function. It’s great fun and all that playing practice helps my performance.

Over the last few years I’ve been struggling with my very old saxophone which was dying a slow death. It kept breaking just before I was due at a practice session, and was costing me

hundreds to keep servicing and fixing. I had to keep driving to a specialist shop over in Wiltshire which was costing me a fortune in time and money and was getting very frustrating.

I am over the moon to have been awarded this money to purchase a new instrument. I went straight out and ordered my dream saxophone – a 1965 Selmer mark VI. I couldn’t wait for it to be delivered. My new instrument has a wonderful sound to it and has really enhanced my performance. I purposely chose a top of the range sax which will now last me the whole of my career. I feel very humbled to have been selected for this bursary; it really is a weight off my mind and now I can fully concentrate on my studies and on taking my performances to the next level.

Eligible students for the bursaries will be aged between 18 and 25 who come from Somerset, North Somerset, and Bath and North East Somerset. They will study BA Music, BA Commercial Music and BA Creative Music Technology, or postgraduate courses; MMus Songwriting, MMus Performance, MMus Composition and MMus Creative Sound and Media Technology, Fashion Design and Textile Design for Fashion and Interiors. If you think you qualify get in touch with the development team. Email: daro@bathspa.ac.uk

New funding announced for students Students studying Music, Textiles and Fashion Design at Bath Spa University have been awarded bursaries to help with their studies.

A total of £200,000 will be given away over the next few years to young people aged between 18 and 25 who come from Somerset, North Somerset, and Bath and North East Somerset.

Students will benefit from two charitable funds set up by Marian Doris Southcott who died in October 2005. Mrs Southcott lived in Taunton, and requested that her estate be equally split between two educational bursaries, specifically for young people living in the region.

The Doris Southcott Bursary is in memory of her late mother who had a great interest in fashion and textiles, and the funds will go towards helping students studying Fashion Design and Textile Design for Fashion and Interiors at Bath Spa University.

The Taunton Maids Bursary is in memory of Mrs Southcott’s domestic cleaning business and in honour of her loyal staff. This bursary is specifically for music students and reflects her interest in music and the pleasure she derived from it.

winter/spring 2017

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Showing on MediaWall ‘Pretty Abstract’ by Paul Minott