Lucy Squire, Senior Researcher, University of South Wales

Immersed Festival: a case study that joins the dots between industry, academia and community through multidisciplinary collaboration and external partnerships to drive sustainable goals.

keywords: educational model urban imaginary sustainability goals music festivals

Immersed is an experimental learning model (Kolb,1984) that has developed curriculum into a community that connects academia, industry, and people with the power of music and social causes through a large-scale multi-media festival. Held annually since 2019 and based on thinkers such as Kreber, Hakeem and Rocha (2000, 2001), it is a creative explosion of film, art, performance, fashion, and music culminating in an external facing 1000-capacity live music showcase in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, UK. For 2024 the programme included Wales’s first Future Generations* Climate Convention accompanied by film screenings, immersive theatre, street murals, fringe gigs, and a live stream Immersed TV broadcast. Giving agency & voice to youth to advocate for real and immediate solutions through creative expression, including urban imaginary is at the heart of the project. The project collaborates with charity, Music Declares Emergency to educate on climate change, draw attention to sustainability goals and empower young people to take positive action.

The proposed presentation explores the following:

• The challenges and opportunities for integrating multidisciplinary subjects to effect positive change around climate and sustainable behaviours.
• Developing mutually beneficial partnerships across a range of locations and specialisms.
• The impact of working with industry partners on simulated briefs to produce the quality of work required for the festival.
• Immersed as a model for ‘real-world’ collaborative learning.

About

Lucy Squire is Head of Music and Drama at the University of South Wales, founding Director of Catapult Records, Creative Industries speaker and mentor. She is driven by a passion for connecting education with industry and combines a depth of experience with a forward-thinking vision to support both sectors. Current projects include Immersed, a multi-media festival dedicated to working with partners to co-design and deliver a large-scale public-facing event that joins academia, industry and the community with the power of music, social causes and creativity.