It’s unsurprising that the School of Communication & Creativity is a hotbed of change and ‘new beginnings’.
After all, the communications sector is seemingly in a state of permanent revolution. Creativity, meanwhile, stands or falls on innovation and ‘the shock of the new’.
The School’s Executive Dean, Professor Anna Whitelock, sees the recruitment of nine academics last summer as evidence of City St George’s commitment to the creative arts, to communication and media.
She says: “These fields are under threat across the sector but we’re meeting the challenges head-on – expanding options for our students and attracting the brightest and the best academics. They have vast experience in the very industries our students will be working in. Their insights and perspectives have already stimulated both students and academic colleagues.”
Our highly-respected Department of Journalism, for example, kicked off the new academic year with four new lecturers, all by seasoned industry professionals.
From broadcast fashion journalism (Kath Melandri,) to hard-hitting social affairs stories in print and digital media (Raekha Prasad), the department’s new arrivals brought the skills and insights needed to thrive in the fast-changing world of journalism. Kath chalked up 25 years at the BBC before taking the step into academia at the London College of Fashion.
Meanwhile, Juan Solari is drawing on his years as London correspondent for a Mexican TV channel – and other roles in front of and behind the camera – for his teaching and research at City St George’s.
And completing the quartet is Suyin Haynes who worked for many years as a TIME magazine correspondent in London and Hong Kong before venturing into storytelling and work as a media consultant.
However, each role demands its own discrete skills. That’s why another department in the School of Communication & Creativity, the Department of Media, Culture and Creative Industries, launched a full suite of master’s degrees in marketing, public relations and communications this year.
Again, students are benefitting from the fresh thinking, insights and career experiences of three new colleagues.
Bence Bardos, a filmmaker and content creator, arrived from stints at the University of Kent and Kodolányi János University in Budapest to share knowledge around remix culture, online memes, digital participatory culture and social media communication.
In a sector where change sometimes comes at bewildering speed, Ayesha Taylor-Camara’s research has focused on developing a framework for how we value that ultimate 20th century media and communications giant – the BBC.
As well as lecturing in media and marketing analytics, Ayesha designs research and delivers insights that help brands, podcasters and marketers better understand how their content, marketing and brand resonate with audiences.
Rosa Beunel-Fogarty, an English lecturer with an in-depth knowledge of post-colonial literature, specialises in research around the literary output of writers from Indian Ocean islands. Her other research interests include the relationship between local cultural production and global networks, the culture of creolised societies, and archipelagic theory.
Of course, we must also turn the spotlight on our new and expanding Department of Performing Arts, comprising Music and Urdang.
The department welcomed Mira Benjamin, a Canadian violinist, researcher and new-music instigator. She is interested in new and old music with an experimental outlook – as well as how the human body holds and experiences knowledge. Like many of her School colleagues, she keeps mind and body immersed in the creative space with regular performances as a violinist with Apartment House, Plus Minus Ensemble and Decibel Ensemble.
If Mira’s research interests centre on the corporeal – the body’s retention of knowledge – then her work is complemented by that of music psychologist Dr Ruth Herbert. Her research interests include the fields of music, health and wellbeing, music and consciousness (including ASC and Trance), and music education. Ruth has performed with several ensembles – including recording soundtracks for silent films commissioned by the British Film Institute.
She is an important part of the School’s soundtrack for creative and media worlds seemingly immersed in a permanent revolution.