VC Student Blog: Experience the best of student life with campus and city festivals

Hi everyone,

I hope you’ve had a productive and enjoyable start to 2023. It’s been lovely to see the buzz on campus – despite some very frosty weather at times! This month, I wanted to let you know about some of the festivals and events on campus and in the city in the coming weeks. Student life is all about embracing new opportunities and experiences and so I hope you’ll see something that captures your interest.

This month sees the ninth annual DMU Pride take place, which includes a variety of vibrant and diverse events to mark LGBTQ+ History Month. This year’s theme is ‘Behind the Lens’ and celebrates the LGBTQ+ community’s contributions to cinema and film. Throughout this month there will be lots to get involved in, including an interactive Pride artwork project in the Campus Centre and Strictly Come Pride dancing where you can learn the waltz and cha cha cha.

Take a look at the dedicated DMU Pride microsite, which includes full event listings, recommended films, TV shows and books and interesting interviews with alumni.

As Pride ends, Cultural eXchanges 2023 begins, with a week-long celebration of arts and culture on campus from Monday 27 February to Friday 3 March. Organised by final-year Arts and Festivals Management students and in its 22nd year, the festival features an exciting range of free events from talks delivered by leading sector figures to interactive workshops.

February also sees the return of the Leicester Comedy Festival, which DMU proudly sponsors. We have always enjoyed a close relationship with the festival as it had its beginnings on campus thanks to our alumnus, Geoff Rowe. Our students have also played a vital role in supporting and promoting it throughout the past 30 years. Take a look at the line-up and visit the festival website to buy tickets.

Last, but certainly not least, I am very much looking forward to our Graduation ceremonies from 13 to 16 February at Curve theatre. Being able to celebrate you and your achievements is one of the most rewarding parts of my role and I always feel such a sense of pride in our graduates as they get ready to embark on the next stage of their journey.

Before I say goodbye, I also wanted to take this opportunity to encourage you to share your feedback during our ‘survey season’. Students in years one and two have been contacted by the university, and final-year students by Ipsos, who are running the annual National Student Survey.

These quick surveys shouldn’t take much time to complete and play a really important role in shaping the student experience so I hope you will make sure your voice is heard. If you can, please take a moment today to share your opinions.

Students who complete the surveys will be entered into the draw to win one of six prizes this week, including Love2Shop, Tesco and LNER rail vouchers.

Katie Normington, Vice-Chancellor, DMU