VisUAL society and Women in Media on running a society at UAL
- Written byStudent Communications
- Published date 02 November 2023
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Studying at university is about so much more than developing your creative practice.
Whether you’d like to pick up a new hobby, explore social spaces on your campus and around London or meet new people outside of your Course, Arts SU Sports Clubs and Societies are a great way to start.
We caught up with LCF graduates Lara and Mathilda, founders of the Women in Media Society, and Camberwell student Masha, president of the VisUAL Society, about running their societies and the benefits of getting involved.
Hi all! To start off, could you tell us why you decided to found or take over your respective societies?
Masha: I decided to take over the VisUAL Society because I felt it was very important to give students a space to experiment with different methods of creating things without the added pressure of having to incorporate it into their practice. I think it's very important for people to have that safe space to experiment and have fun.
Lara: My sister told me that there's this organisation called Women in Media at her university, and she asked whether we had one. I thought it was very inspiring and when we realised we didn’t have one at UAL, we discussed founding one ourselves. We both just wanted to have something to connect with. Then I was like ‘Oh, how do you start society? Can you just do that?’ I didn't realise it was so simple.
How did you go about founding or taking over your societies?
Lara: It was literally a matter of just signing up. I knew I didn’t want to do it alone, and I felt like the only person I knew that would have the same excitement about it and not be nervous was Mathilda, because I think a lot of people are nervous to start a society. But she was like, ‘yeah, let’s do it’. Obviously, we founded it during COVID, so we had to do everything virtually at first.
Masha: The process of taking over the society was quite simple: We talked to the committee of the previous year and asked them for guidance on how to take over. They were very helpful and excited to pass down their club that they had put so much care into, and we're happy to take over because otherwise the club would have had to shut down. So, we enrolled in the election on Arts SU’s website, and we had to submit our ideas for the club and then fill out different forms to let Arts SU know our plans for the coming year.
How did you find members to join your societies?
Masha: Since it wasn't a new society, we already had people who liked the society and knew about it. But we still try to reach as many people as possible, which is why we decided to make joining the society free this year. We also attended different fairs like the Welcome Fair at the beginning of term to let people know what we were going to be doing. I think that was very beneficial in spreading the word about our society.
Mathilda: I think we put a lot of effort into promoting it online. Since we attended the journalism course, we got some of our fellow course mates to sign up. Then we just made sure to talk and post about it, making sure that our social media presence was really big, and that we all reshared it.
We also started asking people to become social media ambassadors for us. So they were fellow students we asked to reshare everything we posted. I think that really made us reach out to everyone at the UAL campuses because it's obviously not just a London College of Fashion society. Everyone can join. I think having those ambassadors really got that point across because we had ambassadors across all UAL Colleges.
And then people really enjoyed what we were doing. So a lot of it worked through word of mouth and every time we had another meetup, more and more people came, and everyone said, ‘Oh, I brought my friends, because it was so fun last time I had to bring them’. So I think it was just creating a great atmosphere that made people want to bring other people which really helped us.
What kinds of activities are you able to put on through your societies?
Masha: The activities we have in our club are varied. Since we focus on teaching people different skills, we have to commit to running multiple workshops with different focuses. For example, we ran a lino printing workshop, where we taught people how to carve lino and turn it into prints, which is a great tool for artists since lino printing is so simple, it can be done at home. It also allows multiple replicas of the same work to be produced, so it's easier to make larger quantity of pieces without dropping the quality.
Mathilda: We always tried organising things requested by our members to make sure that they got what they wanted out of the society. I would say one of our all-time favourite events from our members’ point of view was just random pub get-togethers. We would book a table and people could just show up and meet people without needing a ticket.
We also wanted to make sure there was a mixture of both fun events not related to media and then some for people more interested in the professional development side. For example, we had a freelance expert come in who did a workshop with us and shared so many PDF documents that were absolutely golden, sharing tips on how to pitch for example.
How do you feel being part of a society has benefitted you?
Masha: When I first became a UAL student, the first club I joined was a sports club, because I really wanted to continue playing volleyball. I'm in my last year now, and I'm still a part of it. It's a lovely way to meet people who enjoy the things that you do, or people you wouldn't have met at university otherwise. It gives you a sense of community without having to do too many things at once.
I think there are also additional benefits to joining a society as an international student, because it's quite difficult to connect with people when a lot of them have been living in the same country all their life, and you don't have that shared experience. So finding something else that unites you, and something else that you're all passionate about can be a great thing. That's why sports are an amazing society to join, because people are so connected within the team, that you can't help but become friends with everyone.
Lara: I think we can both say it's given us a lot of confidence, and also just being able to start something and see it through for three years. We’re really proud of what we did. People have even got internships from it, gained other opportunities and made friends. So it was nice to be able to see something blossom. It's also good in terms of university work and development. It's helped me become more organised, as it also kind of replicated a work atmosphere. We had to learn how to manage a team and work together, organise events, especially with guest speakers.
Mathilda: We also quickly figured out that people liked that they could build their own network. So even though not everyone was part of media, everyone kind of is connected to media anyway. If you're a designer, you want journalists and you want your videographers and photographers and all of that to promote your work. You need media to promote whatever you're doing.
Do you have any words of encouragement for students considering to take part in a society or sports club?
Lara: If you're thinking of starting a society and you’re worried about time management or not being able to focus on your course, there's always a way to align everything and if you're doing something you love, and you're passionate about, then there's always time. I would encourage you to do it, because I think it's a very special and exciting venture to do during university and it's going to set you up with confidence, experience, friends, and evolving what you love.
Masha: If you're thinking of joining a society, you should definitely try out as many as you can during Give it a Go. It allows you to try everything without really having to commit to anything. If you never try, you'll never know!
To find out more, follow Women in Media and the VisUAL society on Instagram and check out their pages on Arts SU’s website.
