In June 2022 we held our first ever Secret Showcase, celebrating the success of graduating students across the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
Featuring an on-campus exhibition and performances, with two special events over two evenings, as well as film screenings at a local venue, our first Secret Showcase received over 1000 visitors during its two-week runtime.
Colleagues from the creative and cultural industries and beyond came together to join our students at a preview event, to uncover the unexpected, remake old connections and forge new ones.
To find out more about events like the Secret Showcase, complete the sign-up form at the bottom of our homepage.
2022 Secret Showcase Programme intro:
"Welcome to our Secret Showcase. The graduating students from our three schools are delighted to present their work to you. Their work reflects those societal, cultural, and economic issues they care about and is both personal and individual. It is exciting, ambitious, and innovative and expressed through all forms of media from performance, music, writing and creative art and design practice.
"We are immensely proud of every one of our students and their achievements as they prepare for the next stage in their career. All this isn’t possible without the support of our friends and partners beyond ARU. A big thank you to everyone who has sponsored students, set live/industry briefs and competitions or given their time to talk to our students. This is a valuable part of being a student in Arts Humanities and Social Sciences... we are very grateful."
Professor Sally Wade Pro Vice Chancellor/Dean Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Dean of Faculty Sally Wade introduces the Secret Showcase (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Competition winners
Awards ceremonies were also held at the Secret Showcase for the winners of our annual art competitions.
Simona Racheva took away this year's £3000 Supanee Gazeley Fine Art Prize, awarded for the best body of work exhibited at the BA Fine Art Degree Show at ARU. Her major project work consisted of a series of small-scale text works that combine printmaking (Letterpress) and embossing, and canvases with painted areas of text, exploring the presence of duality in society by overlapping texts with opposite meanings.
Simona receiving her prize from BA (Hons) Fine Art Course Leader Benet Spencer, with Head of Cambridge School of Art Joe McCullagh (Photo: Dom Zalys)
The Content Creation Award, judged by Cambridge-based digital marketing agency Sookio, went to BA (Hons) Digital Media Production students Dina Mateus and Rasny Baia Cabral De Magalhaes. The pair won the prize for major project work that focused on marketing for Rasny's fashion house Rey Collection, including social media strategies, rebranding, visual identity, website, photography and video campaigns.
(L-R) Joe McCullagh, Emily Godden (Digital Media Production Lecturer), Dina Mateus with award, Rasny Baia Cabral De Magalhaes , Tina Burton (Digital Media Production Course Leader) (Photo: Dom Zalys)
BA (Hons) Digital Media Production student Cliona Juniper (a.k.a. CJ Faichney) picked up the Creative Tech Award, judged by Cambridge-based arts organisation Collusion. CJ's major project continued a joint university collaboration live brief called “New Canterbury Tales,” and included building a world within Minecraft based on the stories and lore about its inhabitants.
(L-R) Joe McCullagh, Emily Godden, CJ Faichney with award, Tina Burton (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Browse more images from the Secret Showcase 2022 events below:
ARU Vice Chancellor Roderick Watkins addresses the crowd (Photo: Dom Zalys)
The three Head of School prepare to give their talks (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Dr Fiona Cosson, Head of School of Humanities and Social Sciences, introduces her students' work (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Colleagues from across ARU attended the events (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Industry reps like Jules Mascarenhas (Director, Creative, Executive Producer and Writer) were invited to the Secret Showcase to see work by the next generation of professionals (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Friends and families of students were also invited to the Secret Showcase events (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Visitors appreciated the range of creative work on display (Photo: Dom Zalys)
The student exhibits offered many ways for visitors to interact (Photo: Dom Zalys)
BA (Hons) Illustration major project display (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Our illustration students find many ways to bring their work to life, such as these detailed book and box models by Bethan Rutherford... (Photo: Dom Zalys)
...and these detailed cardboard models by BA (Hons) Illustration student Astrid Holscher... (Photo: Dom Zalys)
...or this proscenium arch model by BA (Hons) Illustration student Aimee Pollock (Photo: P Tait)
BA (Hons) Illustration major project work by graduating student Sam Dawkes (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Sketchbook of BA (Hons) Illustration student Maddie Smith (Photo: P Tait)
Senior Lecturer in Graphic Design Jon Melton studies the work by BA (Hons) Illustration students (Photo: Dom Zalys)
BA (Hons) Fine Art graduating student Simona Racheva in front of her major project work (Photo: Dom Zalys)
BA (Hons) Fine Art major project work by graduating student Youngjoo Chun (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Another piece by BA (Hons) Fine Art student Youngjoo Chun (Photo: P Tait)
Videos by BA (Hons) Fine Art student Crina Popat (Photo: P Tait)
BA (Hons) Fine Art student Ilinca Alecsa's major project work (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Work by BA (Hons) Fine Art student Jennifer Flack (Photo: P Tait)
BA (Hons) Computer Games Art exhibition (Photo: P Tait)
Work by BA (Hons) Computer Games Art student Miguel Morillas Mead (Photo: P Tait)
Work by BA (Hons) Computer Games Art student Konstantinos Arnaoutoglou (Photo: P Tait)
Work by BA (Hons) Computer Games Art student Agata Skorka (Photo: P Tait)
BA (Hons) Fashion Design work by graduating students (Photo: Dom Zalys)
BA (Hons) Fashion Design exhibition (Photo: P Tait)
Our students put a lot of thought into how best to curate and display their work (Photo: P Tait)
Clothing designs by BA (Hons) Fashion Design student Joana Castanheira (Photo: P Tait)
Design work by BA (Hons) Fashion Design student Joana Castaheira (Photo: P Tait)
BA (Hons) Interior Design major project display (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Student Andrea Jiminez Novoa with her interior design project work (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Model of bench in BA (Hons) Interior Design major project exhibition (Photo: Dom Zalys)
BA (Hons) Interior Design exhibition (Photo: P Tait)
Interior Design work by Carlota Grandara-Lopez
Interior Design work by Chiara Melillo
Interior Design work by Victoria Netidu
Images from the 'New Canterbury Tales' project by BA (Hons) Digital Media Production student CJ Faichney (Photo: P Tait)
Assorted documents and ephemera from CJ Faichney's 'New Canterbury Tales' project (Photo: P Tait)
Promotional posters and video for the Rey Collection clothing range by BA (Hons) Digital Media Production students Dina Mateus and Rasny Baia Cabral De Magalhaes (Photo: P Tait)
T-shirts from the Rey Collection designed by graduating BA (Hons) Digital Media Production student Rasny Magalhaes (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Work by BA (Hons) Digital Media Production student Montel Vernege, with other students projects on display behind. (Photo: P Tait)
Work by BA (Hons) Digital Media Production student Zoe Firth (Photo: P Tait)
Poems by BA (Hons) Writing and English Literature student Anouk Noevoet (Photo: P Tait)
Work by BA (Hons) Illustration and Animation student Becky Holloway (Photo: P Tait)
Work by BA (Hons) Illustration and Animation student Ethan Dredge (Photo: P Tait)
Work by BA (Hons) Illustration and Animation student Ruta Stalmokaite (Photo: P Tait)
Work by BA (Hons) Illustration and Animation student Amelia King (Photo: P Tait)
BA (Hons) Illustration and Animation exhibition (Photo: P Tait)
Model created BA (Hons) Illustration and Animation student Hannah Vernon for use in her major project film (Photo: P Tait)
BA (Hons) Photography major project exhibition (Photo: Dom Zalys)
A visitor examining work by our graduating BA (Hons) Photography students (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Creative work from the Humanities and Social Sciences Creative Showcase Bootcamp project (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Creative work from the Humanities and Social Sciences Creative Showcase Bootcamp project (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Another creative piece by a student on the HSS Creative Showcase Bootcamp (Photo: P Tait)
Deputy Dean of the Faculty Dr Apurba Kundu and Language Skills Tutor David Jay discuss creative work by students from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences Creative Showcase Bootcamp (Photo: Dom Zalys)
A device from the BA (Hons) Audio and Music Technology exhibition (Photo: Dom Zalys)
The range of works on display allowed for some fascinating juxtapositions of imagery, such as this pottery by Technical Officer Katy MacDonald next to a video of CJ Faichney's "New Canterbury Tales" project (Photo: P Tait)
Various artefacts, designs, and sketches from student projects were on display in glass cabinets on the main floor of Ruskin Gallery (Photo: P Tait)
Sketchbooks on display in cabinets (Photo: P Tait)
Artefacts from student projects on display in cabinets (Photo: P Tait)
Interior Design work on display in cabinet (Photo: P Tait)
Student films were projected onto the gallery wall above the displays (Photo: P Tait)
Showreels of student work on the Secret Showcase welcome wall (Photo: P Tait)
Visitors were able to enjoy some wine as they browsed the work (Photo: Dom Zalys)
A DJ welcomed guests as they arrived at reception... (Photo: Dom Zalys)
...while student and alumni bands entertained them in Ruskin Gallery (Photo: Dom Zalys)
The guitarist from alumni band Edenveil prepares to perform (Photo: Dom Zalys)
BA (Hons) Popular Music alumni band Edenveil performing to the crowd (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Ruskin Gallery was packed for the events, with many visitors watching from the balcony above (Photo: Dom Zalys)
Ruskin Balcony afforded a great view of the events - as well as providing another space for student work (Photo: Dom Zalys)
The Secret Showcase 2022 was hailed as a great success, providing a platform for all graduating students in the faculty that can be built on in future years. (Photo: Dom Zalys)
