Resonate Festival of Arts and Culture - Our Biggest Day Out Yet!

It was an exciting day of creativity, curiosity and community at our 2025 Resonate Festival of Arts and Culture. We were thrilled to welcome over 800 visitors from the local area to explore campus, and wanted to share some of the highlights of the day below!

The Oculus Field was filled with incredible energy all day thanks to performances and workshops from Ascension Dance and House of MASH. We were lucky to host two performances of ‘The Other Side’, which tackles the ideas of bridging difference and divides in order for all to all benefit. Those in the audience watched the team work together to build a self-sustaining bridge, which they were then invited to walk across. House of MASH returned to campus to showcase their phenomenal circus skills and help a few of our visitors find their own! We saw three ‘Micro musicals’, exploring not only beautiful stories of love and hope but also a few bits of hidden history from the University of Warwick.

You might also have been lucky enough to catch some brilliant performances and workshops from our very own student societies. The Warwick Pantomime Society brought an audience favourite with the 15 Minute Pantomime of Robin Hood (oh yes they did!) and Opera Warwick wowed us with an introduction to opera.

When we weren’t soaking up the sun outside, we were exploring the Faculty of Arts Building and the Oculus to get hands on with fun crafts, demonstrations and workshops. The first stop in FAB was ‘Pottery of Self’ with a chance to use clay to think a bit about objects that represent us. You might have even bumped into a medieval medic, as researchers from the School of Life Sciences explored the secrets in alchemical texts. Thanks to the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, the Market Hall was filled with activities for our Language Learners, from Chinese Calligraphy, to Korean Bookmark Making and language games. We were also joined by teams from the Modern Records Centre and University Libraries who showed us how to get Arty with the Archives, and explore some of the exciting artefacts we have on campus.

The studios and lecture theatre were also buzzing with activity all day! In Studio 1 we were excited to work with the team at ‘Drop the Mask’ to bring their new exhibition to campus. ‘Drop the Mask: Neurodivergence, Belonging, Creativity and Empathy’ is a co-created participatory research project culminating in an interactive exhibition which invited neurodivergent individuals—and anyone who’s ever felt different—to explore identity, creativity, and belonging through art. Studio 2 was our workshop space for the day, where we got to play chill drama games with the Pantomime Society, see a demonstration of medieval medicine from the School of Life Sciences, try out our singing voices with Opera Warwick and explore Signdance thanks to a researcher from Theatre and Performance Studies, where we explored sign language and movement.

In the lecture theatre, we had an introduction to Spanish, learned Chinese in 30 minutes, investigated untranslatable words and got to enjoy some multilingual story time! You might have even seen a table with some information from our very own Esports centre.

We were also lucky enough to host a showing of “Leamington Spa: University Town” - a film created by Leamington History Group and local filmmaker Mark Ellis chronicling the history of the town and investigating what impact the University has had on Leamington over the past 60 years. If you didn’t manage to catch it on the day, you can see this film and more on their YouTube Channel.

On the way out to the field, many also contributed to the beautiful collaborative art piece ‘Come Outside!’, where together we assembled a view of the campus made from pictures through a viewfinder.

Over in the Oculus, we had a foyer full of fun! As well as some fantastic face painting and exploring the food we eat through creativity, attendees could try their hand at Archaeology with the Classics Department and learn about how new technology like 3D printed coins can help us understand ancient things with Design Studies. We also looked at books a little differently, creating Witch themed pop-up books with the Department of English and learning about how the Warwick Research with Kids Group from Psychology study reading development with their eye tracker.

The Oculus also hosted some exciting activity where STEM meets Art with creative Maths Crafts from the Warwick Mathematics Institute, lollipop stick bridge building with Ascension Dance and the fascinating Stitch In Time from WMG, where attendees could code an embroidery machine!

Thanks to the School of Law, and a collaboration between local organisation ArtLAB and a researcher from Politics and International studies, we also got to explore cultural heritage. Attendees could share their thoughts and stories on Intangible Cultural Heritage (as well as the learn the laws of finding treasure!) and get creative with traditional Ukrainian crafts, making their own headdress and discovering regional embroidery styles.

We also got to find out more about the amazing work of our emergency services - with a special focus on ambulances and what happens when you call 999 - thanks to the Behind the Siren team!

What a day! We can’t wait to be back next year for more creativity and curiosity - thank you for supporting Resonate, and to all the teams from our staff, students and community partners who made this possible, we couldn’t do it without you!

Did you join us on the day? Tag us on Instagram @WarwickResonates!