Private View Fri 30th June 18.00 – 20.00

Sat 1st 10.00 – 16.00 Wed 5th 10.00 – 16.00 Thurs 6th 10.00 – 16.00

Fri 7th 10.00 – 16.00 Sat 8th 10.00 – 16.00 Wed 12th 10.00 – 16.00

Thurs 13th 10.00 – 16.00 Fri 14th 10.00 – 16.00 Sat15th 10.00 – 16.00

“This will sadly, be the last time we exhibit a selection of work from our students graduate show. We wanted to celebrate and share what we do and make, as a creative community within Further Education provision. Our department has played a role within the Rochester institution for over 50 years; from when it was Rochester College of Art, then the Kent Institute of Art and Design and finally in its current form as the University for the Creative Arts.

Further Education at Rochester has offered many openings to the creative industries through technical led Extended Diplomas, boundary breaking Foundation Diplomas and opportunity driven Access to HE courses. They have been taught separately and collectively, their similarities stemming from the fact both the academic and technical staff teaching them have centred themselves on a commitment to practice-based learning, using their individual practice to help drive student innovation, creativity, and excitement.

We encourage making mistakes and to learn from mistakes, with an ability to reflect and research both creatively and academically. We aim to push students outside their comfort zone and as such, allow them to take creative risks in a space that builds confidence. We encourage learning through playful experimentation so as to develop lateral-thinking strategies and an understanding of how important approaching problems from new perspectives can be. Our courses gradually move from wide-ranging staff-led projects to a position of independence, culminating in a significant individual project in the final stage which you can see here in the graduation show.

Many of our students have progressed from the Further Education courses onto undergraduate degree, post-graduate degree and, in some cases, doctoral level qualifications. Some return as part of our alumni graduate teaching programme, others as academics or technical staff; their bond with the institution due to the recognition of Further Education as an important time in their creative journeys. There is an ongoing history to what we have taught here that exists outside of the institution and will continue through its many strands by those that carry with them the experience of Further Education. It is an undoubtedly positive feeling to have been part of this, and although its not continuing at UCA, the belief and rationale is very much alive, to be passed on to new generations and therefore to a history not yet made.

Additionally as part of this years student experience we invited applications from Artists and Designers to be part of our community. The 2022-23 Artist & Designer Residency programme at UCA Rochester was borne out of a desire to utilise the space within the Further Education department and the wider resources of UCA Rochester during its last year.

Artist and designer residencies can encompass a wide spectrum of possibilities through the collaboration between artists/designers and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. For the students on Further Education, they have been able to observe and share space with practitioners at a stage in their career they will one day reach, while the programme has also provided a selection of local and global creative practitioners with rent-free space and the time to develop their work.

Each artist/designer has utilised their time at UCA Rochester differently, relevant to their individual needs, while also sharing this desire to explore and uncover something new about their creative practice.”

whose personal conviction that the University for Creative Arts can be used as a tool for social change, has previously established the Jelosimi Art Center and the Sobayo Abolore Art Foundation to engage minors and youths in creative spaces. He has therefore used his time to root himself within the community with a view to developing his agenda further.

has used the opportunity to focus on the facilities at UCA, allowing her freedom to work on different outcomes and utilise a consistent studio location.