The Alumni Annual Fund supports projects that demonstrate that they will enhance the experience across the wider student community, benefitting current and future generations and making Exeter an even better place to live and study.

A wide range of projects are supported by the Alumni Annual Fund every year which recently included workshops as part of the University of Exeter’s first Festival of Compassion and the Shotgun Theatre’s performance of Company who, in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 round respectively, received funding to help their projects.

Workshops during the University of Exeter Festival of Compassion

This project created several workshops on Compassion and Education and Poetry of Compassion during the University of Exeter's first Festival of Compassion. These workshops were a unique opportunity for students and attendees engage with world leaders on compassion and education and have potentially been inspired to make significant contributions to society.

In addition, students were able to learn different methodologies of emphatic listening, sense making, participatory social practices, how to ask questions about compassion, privilege and identity, and public space and how to activate change in education in compassionate creative way. Volunteering students were also involved with event preparation, promotion, management and running the events throughout the Festival.

Funding from the Alumni Annual fund enabled the project organiser Senior Lecturer, Maarten Koeners, to create a daylong event ‘A BIG day out’ on the topic of Compassion and Education, which included the contribution from 22 world leading keynote speakers

It also supported the employment of a creative practitioner to create and stage ‘The Poetry of Compassion’ on the topic of Art of Compassion. Through online and an in-person workshops attendees created a series of poems which were displayed during the festival at the daily Compassionate Cafés and they’re planning to permanently display these. The events funded by the Alumni Annual Fund during the Festival of Compassion had over 600 active engagements.

Students who participated found the event a great experience and this wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the Alumni Annual Fund, you can read some feedback from them below:

“[The BIG day out] was really inspiring and so thought-provoking. I was completely in awe of the speakers and what they stand for. I felt completely privileged to be at the event and to attend the workshops. Thank you.”

“I really loved this [BIG day out] because it did not feel as though I was in the company of teachers even though I was. The people who spoke at this event and organised it, are how I wish all teachers approached life and their work.”

If you’re interested in finding out more about the Festival of Compassion you can watch this video impression.

Shotgun Theatre’s performance of Company

The Alumni Annual Fund supported the provision of the set and the 2m scaffolding that was used in the performance of Company by the Shotgun Theatre which was a modern interpretation and gender-blind casting of Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Company’. The project opened up a unique performance for an audience outside of the University to come and create their own interpretation whilst feeling seen and spoken to by these gender-bending portrayals. They also created a socially distanced accessible performance to allow everyone a chance to come and see the production.

The performance consisted of four shows from Thursday to Saturday with a dress rehearsal on Wednesday. The team worked incredibly hard over the week, painting and constructing set, organising props, creating/ setting the stage, planning the lights/sound and sourcing the costumes for the opening night.

Project leads Ella and Francesca said: “All four of our shows were a great success with us nearly selling out the Northcott Theatre on our last night. We received two great reviews from Exposé and an abundance of compliments from an audience made up of not only friends and family but the general public as well.”

“Fifty-five students were involved in the project and the support from the Alumni Annual Fund gave them a chance to perform on the Northcott Theatre Stage. Also with around 500 people attending the performances over the course of the four evenings, they were able to showcase their talents to a mass audience in a professional theatre. Thank you for making this possible!”

You can find out more about the Alumni Annual Fund  and the wide range of projects supported by it online.