Main Term 2 Updates:

This term was an admin-heavy term, a lot of working behind the scenes! As a team, we did a lot of consultation on UAL’s New Education Strategy. Over many weeks, we’ve given our feedback on how UAL seeks to deliver all aspects of its education to our students. We advocated for better support for students with intersecting identities. Students from lower-income backgrounds, global majority identities and marginalised communities. There's still a long way to go until its ready to be shared and we also have a lot of work to do in making sure our students views are thoroughly represented, but we've been consistent in our feedback: students should be at the heart and centre of all we do!

I've been working on designing our “SANKOFA Programme” to connect our Alumni with current students. The aim is to create a space that deepens our students’ and Alumni’s sense of being part of the UAL Networking community. I seek to ensure that both our students and Alumni feel supported to both live and build their best possible creative ambitions in real time. The key question our students have is "how can I get to where you are now, from where I am now?", and Alumni are coming in clutch with the answers we so desperately need! 

For our Alumni, you are key to helping us inspire our current students to find employment that suits their needs. We invite you to return to UAL this Spring and tell us about where you are in your creative journey! You don't have to be working a "glamorous" job, you can be in a transition period. We just want to reaffirm that even though most creative people's careers are non-linear, every experience gives you skills and they will build you into the person you need to be! If you want to take part, email ccwofficer@su.arts.ac.uk to find out more! The event series launches late April 2026. Keep your eye out for our official program agenda. Special thanks to the Creative Shift Team, CCW’s Professional Practice Team and our CCW Student Journey team for your support thus far!

Other Updates:

I led a workshop on Community Organising and Decolonising our Arts Education for our annual RepCon. We discussed what decolonisation actually means to our staff and student attendees, and us did an amazing job of being open-minded to learn from each other and brainstorm what more we can do to truly decolonise how we develop our communities across UAL.

We worked hard with our campaigns coordinator to launch our “Save the Darkroom” campaign! We’ve gotten over 1100 signatures in less than 3 months. We’ve garnered the support from so many students and staff across UAL. In mid March, we had a meeting with Steve Cross, the LCC Provost in charge of the LLC Building transition, to discuss how the Union and the University can work to a mutually beneficial solution, and 10 students joined our negotiations! Discussions are ongoing, but this is a campaign that’s not going to die soon! I believe this is the tip of the iceberg. UAL Students need more adequate non-academic social spaces. Spaces that we can co-design and support each other in!

Ellie and I were the Lead and Co-lead for our LGBTQIA History Month. We had so many students sign up to join the new LGBTQIA+ society when it starts up. We had a fantastic Drag Queen Bingo Night to close the month at our Darkroom Bar!