Secondary school students ‘challenge their reality’ at Digital Arts Festival

The opportunity to get hands-on experience of a range of creative technologies brought 170 Year 10 and 11 students to our Colchester campus last week, for this year’s Digital Arts Festival.

Students created their own GIFs, delved into virtual worlds and focused on the relationship between reality and mental health, aided by creatives from across the southeast.

Those attending also had the chance to learn more about career opportunities within the UK’s £100bn creative sector.

Lucy Murray, Director of Outreach, said: “Opportunities like the Digital Arts Festival give students the opportunity to look beyond the classroom and experience the wide range of future careers that are available, many of which they may not have known about or had an aspiration to progress into. It’s great to see so many young people on our Colchester campus, enjoying this exciting technology and thinking about the amazing opportunities available.”

The Digital Arts Festival, on Tuesday 2 April, was supported by our Departments of Psychology, History and Literature, Film and Theatre Studies, together with East 15 Acting School and the University of Essex Student Union’s Rebel Media.