Arts and culture

Arts and culture are foundational components of LCCOS, with students at the heart of our lively theatre, museum, exhibition and library programmes.

Case studies

• Partnership between the Bloomsbury Theatre and artsUCL
• Generation UCL exhibition

Partnership between the Bloomsbury Theatre and artsUCL

Over the past 12 months, the Bloomsbury Theatre team has been working closely with artsUCL at Students’ Union UCL. This partnership is a key part of the Student Life Strategy arts strand, aimed at revitalizing cultural offerings in the Bloomsbury Theatre and Studio.

As a result, the new artsUCL season includes an increased programme of student society use of the Bloomsbury Theatre & Studio, moving from 14 to 15 weeks in the Bloomsbury Theatre and adding 11 weeks in the Bloomsbury Studio. This will be underpinned by improved processes and policies to support the success of future student productions.

This partnership is the start of a transformative journey that has already significantly enhanced the cultural life of UCL students. By aligning our goals and working together, we have created a more vibrant and inclusive environment for student productions and contributed to the broader goals of the Student Life Strategy.

“We are thrilled to have developed an excellent collaborative relationship with the Bloomsbury Theatre team over the last year, as we have started to expand our creative offer for all students at UCL in line with the Student Life Strategy.  We're hugely grateful to the theatre team for the progress we have achieved this year, and excited for how the relationship can grow and develop into the future.”

(Brodie Ross, Head of Arts, Students’ Union UCL)

“This closer collaboration with artsUCL has been a truly rewarding experience. By combining our efforts, we have uncovered numerous opportunities to significantly expand the creative prospects for UCL students. This partnership will not only enrich the student cultural experience in the coming year but has also laid a strong foundation for future initiatives.”

(John Maisey, Head of Bloomsbury Theatre, LCCOS)

Student feedback after working with the Bloomsbury Theatre team:

“We were all really grateful to have been so nicely supported by such nice and hardworking people for the show who helped us throughout. It was a great learning experience.”

(Jazz Society.)

“Stage Crew gave me so much confidence, and you really reinforced that. You made me feel like I could be in the theatre and could be a designer and so I appreciated that.”

(Stage Crew member - now studying towards a Masters in ‘Design for Performance’, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama)

Generation UCL exhibition

Running from September 2023 to December 2024, the Generation UCL: 200 Years of Student Life in London exhibition explored student experiences at UCL past and present. Working with Professor Georgina Brewis (IOE), John Dubber (Students’ Union UCL), and Dr Sam Blaxland (Lecturer in Education IOE), the exhibition was about placing students at the heart of UCL’s 200-year history, asserting their vital role in shaping the university that we are a part of today.

The exhibition drew upon archival records of UCL and its merged institutions, objects from UCL Museums, as well as a collection built up over many years by alumnus Mark Curtin and donated to Students' Union UCL in 2023. The Museums and Cultural Programmes Exhibitions Team worked closely with UCL Special Collections team members Colin Penman and Leah Johnston, who were instrumental in enabling archival materials that have never been displayed before, as well as new acquisitions, to be showcased. Archival footage of the university from UCL Film and TV Society also featured.

Staged in the run-up to UCL’s bicentenary, the exhibition was the first major output of Generation UCL, an ongoing research and engagement project exploring UCL’s history through the eyes of its students. As well as archival research, this project draws upon alumni biographies and memoirs and has seen the production of a significant new collection of oral histories, some of which we were able to feature in the exhibition.

It was fantastic for the Exhibitions team to join forces with IOE, Students’ Union and Special Collections colleagues on this Octagon Gallery exhibition, bringing a wealth of archival material to life with people-centred interpretation and 2D design by Polytechnic, and giving audiences direct insights into the diverse and active lives of UCL’s students.

The exhibition has proven a great resource for teaching, having been a part of seminar activities for five different undergraduate modules and two MA courses, with over 350 students reached by these classes. Additional programming has included a large-scale opening event, a one-day workshop on archives of students’ unions, a one-day conference on oral histories, and 10 curatorial tours.

“I was in London today and paid a visit to the Generation UCL exhibition. It was really fantastic, beautifully designed with concise but interesting descriptions of objects. I especially enjoyed the photos of student accommodation; I couldn't believe how opulent student bedrooms were in the nineteenth century!”

(Exhibition visitor)

“Having the photograph of my first-year student room on display as part of the exhibition makes me feel more connected and really part of UCL. It’s been fun to take my friends to see it when they come to visit me in London. I also like the idea that the image will go into the UCL archive along with pictures of student rooms from different periods, and could be studied by people in a hundred years, when UCL is celebrating its tricentenary!”

(Iona Coles, second-year BA Education Studies, whose photograph features in the exhibition)

“Curating Generation UCL was a hugely valuable experience that has benefits for both our ongoing research and teaching. The exhibition has helped raise the profile of our work exploring 200 years of student life across the UCL community of staff, students and alumni, with many visitors getting in touch to share memories of their student life or to ask follow-up questions. The exhibition has been incredibly valuable in teaching on a range of modules across two faculties – we’ve taken several hundred undergraduate and taught masters visiting as part of seminar time, as well as through related programming.”

(Professor Georgina Brewis, Professor of Social History at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society.)