Spring in the City

In Portsmouth we mark the beginning of Spring with a series of cultural events across the city.

As we lost an hour to our day, we add a new festival to our calendar. The Lost Hour has proved to be a popular event in the city and long may it continues.

At the moment, students are enjoying their Easter Break and probably thinking about how many chocolate eggs they can eat in one sitting. While there are Easter egg hunts organised in woods and gardens, churches spring into wonderful concert venues.

Florilegium who played at the last Music in the Round concert has their diaries full of concerts, the biggest being the St Matthew's Passion at the Royal Festival Hall. Historically, the church used to be a big patron of music and that is why some of the greatest compositions are of church music.

For me, I'm still hunting for the Golden Egg; the how do we tell the world about the treasure trove of culture we have in Portsmouth?

My hunt, so far has led to a meeting with our Creative Technologies Department at the end of March when they told me about their wonderful project. This might be the Golden Egg.

Students studying Television and Broadcasting have been busy producing a TV programme to promote Portsmouth to the world. Eye on Portsmouth has been created as part of their course, and they are keen to get the local community involved and watching. Take a look the programmes made so far on http://vimeo.com/album/2809004

By joining forces with the local community, the university staff and students can make this project a success. There is so much for everybody to learn; students about the city, and the community about what university life is all about.

If anyone would like to get involved, or has a story to tell, please get in touch. My number is 023 8284 3757 or through Twitter @maricarjagger

In the meantime, Shakespeare's birthday is on 23 April and Christine Berberich from The Centre for Studies in Literature has put together a programme of events to showcase the expertise we have at the university. So look out for the Shakespeare Festival events happening near you.

I’ve also been busy producing the programme of events for the next few months and the list will be made public at the end of April. Look out for it.

This article is as it appeared in the Portsmouth View, April 2014 edition.

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