See the work of creative graduates in Arts University Plymouth’s 2023 Summer Shows

From immersive animations and cutting-edge fashion design to contemporary illustration and innovations in glass and ceramics, creative graduates are preparing to showcase the culmination of their work at Arts University Plymouth in the leading arts university’s Summer Shows 2023.

Arts University Plymouth’s Tavistock Place campus, between The Box and Drake Circus, will be open to members of the public from Friday 23 June to Thursday 29 June 2023 for the main undergraduate Summer Shows. This will offer a once-a-year opportunity to look around the university and see examples of the very best work created by graduating students completing a wide range of creative qualifications, from BA (Hons) Interior Design & Styling and BA (Hons) Costume Production to BA (Hons) Film and BA (Hons) Photography.

If you’ve ever wanted to see what goes on inside Arts University Plymouth, which has been part of the city since 1856, this is your best chance to meet students and academics and find out more about creative qualifications and careers within the UK’s world-leading creative industries. Visit the Summer Shows 2023 to see first-hand why Arts University Plymouth was voted by students as the top arts university in the UK for overall student satisfaction in the National Student Survey (NSS) 2022, voted Gold by students in 2022 and Silver in 2023 in the Small or Specialist Institution category at the annual Whatuni Student Choice Awards and shortlisted for Company of the Year in the National Sustainability Awards 2022.

One-million people attend events organised by creative and cultural organisations in Plymouth each year, and culture is worth more than £98 million to the city annually. For graduating students, the Summer Shows mark an important step towards contributing to that creative economy both in the city and internationally, from meeting new industry contracts and securing work, to setting up businesses or planning further creative study.

To see work from the Arts University Plymouth Pre-Degree campus of specialist post-16 courses, Foundation Diploma in Art & Design students will open their Summer Show in Palace Studios from Friday 26 to Friday 31 May. That show overlaps with the main Pre-Degree Summer Show for A-Level-equivalent Extended Diploma in Creative Practice students running from Friday 2 June to Thursday 8 June just down the road in Palace Court, midway between the Barcode and the Barbican.

Extended BA students who are completing their first exploratory year of a four-year route towards an undergraduate degree will host their Summer Show from Monday 12 to Monday 19 June in our main Tavistock Place campus.

Finally, at the end of the summer, graduating Masters students from Arts University Plymouth will showcase a variety of exciting and dynamic postgraduate projects at the Masters Summer Show, which runs from Thursday 31 August to Thursday 7 September in MIRROR. 

By utilising new technologies during their studies, identifying emerging markets and defining sustainable working methods as they establish their creative practices, Arts University Plymouth’s graduating students demonstrate purposeful design and highlight the benefits of learning in a collaborative cross-disciplinary environment. Following the Summer Shows, the graduates join an international community of alumni who have worked and created for clients including Marvel, Sony, Disney, the BBC, LEGO, FENTY, Rockstar Games, Burberry, Kerrang!, Vans, Red Bull, Animal and Princess Yachts.

For anybody considering a course of creative study, Saturday 24 June marks an undergraduate and postgraduate Open Day at Arts University Plymouth during the Summer Shows, offering an excellent opportunity to explore specialist facilities such as Fab Lab Plymouth and the dedicated Material Practices workshops for ceramics, glass and metalwork, as well as visiting exhibitions of work by graduating students to see what sort of skills and outcomes can be achieved after university-level creative study.

Arts University Plymouth was voted by students as the top arts university in the UK for overall student satisfaction in the National Student Survey (NSS) 2022, voted by students as first place in the Small or Specialist Institution at the annual Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2022 and second place in 2023 and shortlisted for Company of the Year in the National Sustainability Awards 2022.