The arts at Bath: your stories

It began with a barn

“When I arrived at the University in 1972, there was already quite a lot of arts activity taking place, despite it being a very science-based community,” recalls Richard Hall (BSc Economics & Government 1977).

“We hosted live bands each weekend – everyone from Status Quo to jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli – and had a strong student theatre society, as well as a film society with over 700 members during the time I was chair.”

With a lifelong love for live performance, Richard became a key player in championing the arts at Bath as Students’ Union (SU) president in 1974–75. Despite the pockets of creativity popping up around campus, Richard, alongside a group of passionate students, knew there was potential for more.

“We formed an arts society to try to promote greater awareness and interest in the arts across campus,” he explains. “We also encouraged the University to build a strong connection with the city, and for students to be aware of what was going on in the Bath and Bristol events and arts scene.” But the students felt there was another element missing if creativity was to truly flourish at Bath: a venue.

“There was an old, disused barn on the site,” explains Richard. “For the first time, the University developed an arts strategy which included this space becoming more of an arts centre.”

“Up to now we have had nowhere up here where people can paint or do pottery,” then lecturer Frank Brown told the Bath and Wilts Evening Chronicle in 1973. “The Norwood barn should give us a couple of rooms for printing, pottery, construction of stage scenery and so on.”

Architects Alison and Peter Smithson later developed the Arts Lecture Theatre, which is still used today.

Students lead the way

SU societies have played a starring role in building the arts scene on campus.

By the 1980s, the student media community was flourishing. “When I came to Freshers’ Week in autumn 1986, there was one guy with a very old U-matic tape recorder and a camera promoting a society called Channel 4A,” recalls alumnus Hugh Mason (BSc Physics with Physical Electronics 1989).

“He was in his final year, so was very busy, and desperate to hand it over to somebody so it didn’t end.” Hugh took on up the mantle and, after a quick name change to CampusTV (or CTV), was determined to broadcast the news of the refreshed, 24-hour student station around Bath.

“We teased the local media with the idea that we were going to make these shocking programmes,” remembers Hugh. It worked. BBC Points West covered the launch, with the Bath MP in attendance.

Over 35 years later, CampusTV is still going strong, regularly broadcasting major events such as Freshers’ Week, the Summer Ball and Varsity. “We still make the same sort of content – some serious, some funny – but it’s always for the students,” says last year’s station manager, Peter Irvine. “We haven’t really changed from that mission since the 1980s.”

Peter and his fellow CampusTV crew are also proud winners of several National Student Television Association awards – including a recent gold for their documentary on the history of the student station.

Today, the SU hosts 17 arts-related societies with over 3,000 members. This new generation of creative societies range from crochet and ceramics to illustration and animation.

Curtain up

One of the oldest arts societies at the University, Bath Student Theatre Society (BUST), originally known as Bath University Drama Society, has been injecting fun and creative expression into campus for 57 years.

Shows include Jack and the Giant Beanstalk, Wonderland (an adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s famous work) and Little Shop of Horrors. Bath University Student Musicals Society (BUSMS) launched in 1996 for those students with the musical bug.

Emily Peckham (BSc Chemistry 1995) became a member of BUST in the early ’90s. “As I recall, BUST put on one show a year,” she says. “There were always more members in the society than there were parts to go around, and along with people who performed in the show, there were many behind-the-scenes opportunities such as lighting and sound.”

Today, BUST put on five main shows a year – one of which is performed at the city’s Mission Theatre – and three short shows for Bath Fringe Festival.

The dawn of a new era

“I joined the University in 1999 as music coordinator,” says Jo Sercombe. “I was brought in to shake things up a bit.”

During her time here, Jo helped develop the Institute of Contemporary Interdisciplinary Arts (ICIA): a public programme to showcase and nurture artistic talent among students, staff and the local community. She also launched a gospel choir, songwriting workshops, a big band and jazz concert programme, and in 2004 became the head of music.

“A fond memory I have is working on a hip-hop version of West Side Story in 2002 with the student musical society, BUSMS,” Jo recalls. “We worked with a capoeira choreographer on the big fight scene and, as part of our multimedia production, we filmed this outside a block of flats in Bristol. The residents were very surprised to see this happening outside their windows!”

Alongside music and theatre, the visual arts also expanded during this time, with exhibition spaces across campus hosting various artists’ work from sculpture to found art.

A new home for the arts

After many years of hard work, planning and fundraising, the University’s new arts venue, the Edge, opened in 2015.

Today, it’s run by the SU and is the creative heart of campus. With multiple rehearsal, performance and exhibition spaces, students and the wider community now have a home to express their dance, theatre, music and visual art talents.

In 2024, Bath student societies put on 56 performances in the Edge, with over 6,000 tickets sold, and 22,500 hours spent at the venue on rehearsals, performances and workshops.

To nourish artistic talent further, the University launched its arts scholarships programme which, with the help of generous donors, has since supported over 100 students in their artistic endeavours.

“Becoming an Elly Williams Arts Scholar this year has transformed my university experience,” says Elizabeth Ainley (BSc Social Sciences 2024). “It has been amazing to focus and develop my art form [dance] alongside my studies and be given support, resources and guidance to achieve more."

An arts scholarship provides financial support to help a creative student pursue their passions and develop their artistic skills alongside their studies, as well as personal development through workshops and mentoring.

Looking to the future

Alongside the growth of extra-curricular arts activity, the University has also been a driving force for innovation in the creative industries.

The Centre for the Analysis of Motion, Entertainment Research and Applications (CAMERA) is at the heart of this, working with intelligent visual and interactive technology to help solve problems facing a range of industries, including in the creative and entertainment space.

“Through our latest project with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), we’ve been working with theatre professionals to take motion capture technology into ‘chaotic’ environments such as live performance,” explains Rebekah Hole, CAMERA Facility Lead. “We’re modifying traditional motion capture techniques and creating artist-led and driven tools; making a more immersive theatre experience for audiences.”

The future is bright for CAMERA, with the centre having undergone a significant refurbishment. The final piece – a new virtual production set – was installed at the Edge this spring.

"The set will be a facility that researchers from Bath and beyond can access for skills and training, research and development, and commercial work,” says Rebekah. “We’ll use the set to tackle problems around lighting within virtual production, including investigating how the clever use of filters on the screen can create more realistic lighting to a film set.”

To celebrate the new space and the centre's establishment as a core research facility within the University, CAMERA will be hosting a series of launch events open to Bath alumni. Contact camera@bath.ac.uk for more details.