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University of Kent / ARTS STUDIO
ARTS AT MEDWAY
The University’s Medway campus is shared with
three other higher education institutions and
offers a lively and modern campus, with
purpose-built, innovative buildings alongside
the original historic structures. Facilities on
campus include the Drill Hall Library, cafés,
a shop which is also a mini off-licence, and
Coopers, a bar serving good pub food at
student-friendly prices. High-quality student
accommodation is available adjacent to the
Medway campus.
The School of Arts is located within
Chatham Historic Dockyard, a riverfront
complex adjacent to the Medway campus.
This 20-acre site has lots of small businesses
including design, film, photography and
gaming companies. The Dockyard has a range
of historic buildings, the sheer scale of which –
including the immense Slip 1, 2, and 3 – makes
them uniquely suited to the creation of large
scale public art projects and exhibitions.
The University is investing over £5 million
in its Arts at Medway initiative to provide its
Fine Art, Music and Audio, and Event and
Experience Design students with the best
possible study environment. This investment
will see the insides of the historic buildings
transformed over the next two academic
years to create inspiring environments for
our students to work and study in.
The names of the buildings reflect their
former use and give a sense of the working
history of the area. Buildings such as the old
Smitheries, the Galvanising Shop, the Boiler
Shop and The Fire Station will be adapted to
become flexible spaces for painting, sculpture,
printmaking, film and photographic studies, as
well as new music and audio studios and
performance areas.
The Galvanising Shop will be the focus of
our Fine Art and Event and Experience Design
programmes providing work spaces and
including bookable project spaces, an AV suite,
a darkroom and a digital editing suite.
The Boiler Shop will incorporate a workshop
for use by Event and Experience Design,
Performing Arts and Fine Arts students, and the
Engineering Workshop will become a set of
performance spaces and studios with a sprung
floor and lighting rig that can be used for dance,
theatre or performance art.
The Fire Station is being converted to
enhance our current music facilities, which
include purpose-built studios and practice
rooms, and will feature a listening room, foley
studio, ensemble rehearsal space with grand
piano and vibraphone, and an Electronica studio
featuring vintage equipment. The Foundry will
house our flagship recording studio.
In the neighbourhood
Medway is a bustling area with lots to see and
do. Kent students are eligible for concessions at
many of Medway Council’s sports centres,
attractions and entertainment venues. There are
exciting arts programmes at The Brook and The
Central entertainment venues, which are less
than ten minutes from campus. An annual arts
festival and a variety of other festivals are held
throughout the year.
Getting around
Medway has excellent road and rail links and
is well served by the M2, M20 and M25
motorways. Heathrow and Gatwick airports,
the Channel ports of Dover and Ramsgate
and the Channel Tunnel are all about an hour’s
drive from the campus. There are direct rail
links to London Victoria and Charing Cross –
approximately 45 minutes’ journey time, and
from Ebbsfleet station, just 30 minutes from
campus, there is a 17-minute service from
Ebbsfleet to London St Pancras. From
Ebbsfleet, you can also take the Eurostar
and be in Paris in just over two hours.
GRADUATE STUDY
Our community of graduate students follow a
wide variety of taught and research
programmes at our two campuses. They have
access to a dedicated postgraduate room plus
state-of-the-art facilities at our two campuses,
and all the support and learning resources of
a major, research-led university.
School of Arts staff teach or supervise
graduate students in areas close to their own
research. All postgraduates are invited to
participate in the School’s lively programme
of research events, including international
exchanges, conferences, seminars and
symposia. For postgraduate students in Film
Studies, there is an opportunity to spend their
spring term in Paris.
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