Exciting weekend of events at Plymouth Uni

Plymouth University’s world class facilities and place at the heart of the community are to be showcased to the public as never before.

From open-air cultural events to laboratory tours, exhibitions of student work to pioneering partnerships, the city centre campus will be thrown open for The Big Festival Weekend on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 June.

Two days of events will aim to give visitors a flavour of life at the University and the role it is playing in transforming lives locally and globally.

The weekend will also include the 2015 Plymouth Respect Festival, being organised by the Plymouth and Devon Racial Equality Council and bringing a blend of culture, cuisine and colour to the University campus.

Professor David Coslett, Interim Vice-Chancellor of Plymouth University, said: “For more than 150 years, we have been at the heart of this great city, supporting a wide range of activities as part of our commitment to the local community. This weekend is all about opening our doors, and inviting current and future friends and partners to see some of our exciting and innovative work and to find out how they can be part of our ongoing journey. The inclusion of the Plymouth Respect Festival within the weekend will add to the sense of excitement and vibrancy, and we are looking forward to sharing those days with our community.”

The Big Festival Weekend will include opportunities to tour cutting edge University facilities such as the Marine Building, with wave tanks rated among the best in Europe and a cutting edge navigation simulator, the Immersive Vision Theatre, and scientific and medical laboratories used for potentially life-changing research.

There will be showcases of prominent partnerships, including the recently announced initiative with Brain Tumour Research, with university graduates also invited to return for a ‘Back to Plymouth’ alumni events.
Innovative artwork will be showcased at HOT’15 – an exhibition of works by final-year students across a range of art and design disciplines – while events will also be staged in Drake’s Place Gardens, the Victorian space which was recently restored with Heritage Lottery funding.

And there will be a host of family events, such as campus trails and treasure hunts, a fun park, craft fairs and performances.

The Plymouth Respect Festival was last held in October 2013, and this year’s event is set to include parades through the city centre, live music, dancing and theatrical events, as well as play activities, world food and information stands.

For more information about The Big Festival Weekend, and details of how you can get involved in all these events, visit www.plymouth.ac.uk/aweekend.