51Âþ»­

51Âþ»­ Leicester (51Âþ»­) is about to enter its 22nd year of celebrating the arts at its annual  Festival, launching Monday 27 February.

The festival is organised almost entirely by students on the Arts and Festivals Management course who grow the event from the ground up; booking acts, marketing the event and running the social media accounts.

Student organiser Alexandra Cruz said: “The experience of organising the festival has been fantastic. It’s given me a deeper understanding of the inner workings of events like these and how much planning is needed to make them happen.

“Seeing everything come together has been really fulfilling and it will definitely help me in starting out in my career.”

This year, the headline acts at Cultural eXchanges include the  podcast, where hosts James and Fuhad will bring their Spotify top three podcast to the 51Âþ»­ campus. Visitors can see an interview with , Head of BBC 1Xtra, about his work on attracting and reflecting more diverse audiences, and a performance from , an international touring dance-circus company.

 

For almost a week, 51Âþ»­’s campus is filled with a , including interviews, dance performances, discussion panels and comedy shows, where topics ranging from film, music and art are discussed. Workshops where visitors can get involved are also due to take place, giving everyone the chance to get creative.

The festival was started in 2001 by Tony Graves, former 51Âþ»­ student and Subject Leader of the Arts and Festivals Management course until his retirement in 2022. With the Covid-19 pandemic causing the only disruption to the festival in over two decades, the event is a much-loved feature of life at 51Âþ»­ and within Leicester.

 

“Organising the festival has been a lot of hard work and has taught me so many skills that will come in really useful after graduation,” said Lauren Clark, another of the students organising the festival.

“There is more planning and organisation involved than most people would realise, but the quality of the event that we’ve managed to organise for our audiences makes all the hard work worth it.”

Anya Hill, another member of the student team behind the festival, said: “As a joint honours student with Dance, I’m really looking forward to seeing inclusive events like the performance from , and for the  that are being led by my own small business, Hilltop Designss.

“Organising an event on this scale has been a truly incredible experience that has left me feeling that I’m able to leave university and confidently plan events like this one.”