Student Event Support: Fringe Festival to Solar panels
Two theatre groups, Clown Funeral and The Human Animal, and Engineering Society, Engineers Without Borders, are just some of the student societies who have succesfully received funding to support their initiatives and widen the Warwick community.
Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Clown Funeral and The Human Animal have used the support to help take their shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year and are pulling in the crowds.
The Human Animal are a theatre collective formed at Warwick in 2012. Their new production 'Souvenirs' premiered at the Warwick Arts Centre and the same core team is taking the project to Edinburgh. The group have six ensemble members, four writers, and two musicians. The rest of the team consists of a director, an assistant director, two producers, a set designer and a marketing representative, who are all studying at Warwick.
Clown Funeral is a new company, formed from the Codpiece Theatre Society at Warwick, they have taken ‘Mr Poes Legendarium’, their first official show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Samuel Thorogood, Producer of the Clown Funeral theatre group said:
We’ve now been in Edinburgh for one week. In that time we’ve completed our tech and dress rehearsals, two previews, two performances and many, many hours of flyering. We’ve been having a lot of fun. It’s so lovely to finally get the show out there after so much time in the rehearsal room devising, tweaking, fixing and refining. Edinburgh is such an amazing place to be in August, there’s seemingly something happening on every street corner.
We’ve found the whole process incredibly exciting and formative; it’s been a real baptism by fire for us as performers, dramaturg, director, company and marketing manager, designer and producer. We’re so grateful for the University for providing so much support.”
Student event support from the Vice-Chancellor and Registrar’s Office help the theatre groups to showcase the hard work they have put in throughout the year to a much wider audience.
Engineers Without Borders
Engineers Without Borders is a student run society, who for the past two years have made a month long trip to Tanzania to provide support for a rural village, Kemgesi. With Student event support, this September they will be continuing the project with the aim of providing and installing solar panels in Kemgesi as a source of sustainable energy.
In addition to installing and maintaining the sustainable technologies the team, comprising two 1st year students, Sama Zahir and Jc Randall, and two 2nd years, Zoe Rogers and Tom Pearson, will provide interactive workshops on building business and how to construct rocket stoves: a safer, more efficient cooking solution.
Speaking ahead of their travelling to Tanzania in September, Tom Pearson, the team’s MLP Coordinator, said:
Development projects such as ours are significant because, as students in the UK, we have the ability to make a positive impact on less fortunate communities. However, I think it is important that the true needs of any target community are identified before aid is offered or given.”
This initiative is of a huge benefit to the student society, as it gives the members an opportunity to have hands-on experience and give back to those in need. They have forged strong links with the community in Kemgesi, and the continuation of this project benefits both the villagers and the students.
Student Event Support
Each year £30,000 is set aside by the Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar to support student events and initiatives.
I’m so pleased to support our student groups and societies with their achievements. It’s fantastic that the Student Event Support is being used in exactly the way it is intended, to benefit students at the University of Warwick, giving them the opportunity to develop key skills and contribute to the broader Warwick community.”
Professor Sir Nigel Thrift, Vice-Chancellor
Find out more about the scheme.
