Arts and culture
Arts, Culture and Heritage are integral to life at the University of Leicester. Our commitment to Arts, Culture and Heritage spans across our research, education, student experience, public and community programmes.
The University of Leicester champions the value of Arts, Culture & Heritage to society. We believe that culture is a human right and advocate for the varied artistic, educational, social and economic impacts Arts, Culture & Heritage can have in all our lives.
The University is home to a range of world-leading Arts, Culture & Heritage focussed Research and Education programmes, and we have dedicated Arts, Culture & Heritage student experience and public programmes which collectively engage over 250,000 people per year.
Research and Education
College of Social Sciences, Arts & Humanities
The College of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities is comprised of nine schools, two research institutes and nine research centres across the breadth of arts, humanities and social sciences and interdisciplinary subjects.
We are ambitious, innovative, future-facing, and interdisciplinary; guided in everything we do by our desire to nurture a stimulating, creative, and collegial working and learning environment.
We embrace diversity and challenge ourselves to achieve excellence in research and teaching that shapes policy and changes minds through our interpretation of the past and present.
Heritage Hub
The University of Leicester’s Heritage Hub works creatively with communities in Leicester, Leicestershire, Rutland and beyond to research and promote all aspects of heritage, seeking create a powerful network of changemakers to improve lives today and for future generations.
Institute for Digital Culture
The Institute for Digital Culture has a commitment to a values-driven approach to supporting, and working with the cultural sector as it adapts to a digital world.
Public Programmes
Attenborough Arts Centre
Attenborough Arts Centre is a public centre for contemporary art at the heart of the University of Leicester campus with a mission to make contemporary art accessible for all. Welcoming 100,000 visitors per year, Attenborough Arts Centre produces a range of art exhibitions and performances including music, theatre, dance, spoken word and comedy. Attenborough Arts Centre integrates culture with Higher Education, engaging our University communities of staff, students and public in a range of research, teaching, student experience and community programmes which demonstrate the power of creativity and creative thinking in education.
University of Leicester Botanic Garden and Attenborough Arboretum
The University of Leicester Botanic Garden is open to the public year-round, comprising sixteen acres of lovingly-cultivated grounds and greenhouses, displaying a wide variety of features and environments and a wide-ranging collection of plants from around the world. Our five-acre Arboretum displays our native trees in the sequence in which they arrived in this country after the last ice age. Our College of Life Sciences work closely with the Estates teams at the Botanic Garden and Arboretum to develop global biodiversity and use our collections for the latest scientific research. We have a range of public programmes including a range of summer events, and schools programmes throughout the year which engage school children in experiencing and learning about our natural world.
Literary Leicester
Literary Leicester is the University’s annual free literary festival, open to all, produced by the School of Arts and the Centre for New Writing.
Partnerships
Civic Universities Agreement: Arts, Culture & Heritage
The Civic Universities Agreement is a commitment between the University of Leicester, De Montfort University, Loughborough University, and the city and counties of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland to work together for the benefit of local people and the prosperity of our places.
The Arts, Culture & Heritage strand of the Civic Universities Agreement develops and establish effective, sustainable and scalable cultural partnerships that enable our partners to effectively contribute to the cultural life of our locality, driven and informed by the needs of our community and responding to strategic priorities. Together we deliver bold and distinctive programmes of inclusive arts, culture and heritage programmes and events, seeking to enhance and raise the profile of our region as a diverse and inclusive arts, cultural and heritage destination.
The City Classroom: Leicester’s Local Cultural Education Partnership (LCEP)
>The City Classroom is one of the UK’s Local Cultural Education Partnerships, working to promote culture and creativity in education. First established in 2017, the partnership has seen Leicester cultural organisations Attenborough Arts Centre, Charnwood Arts, Curve Theatre, Leicester Print Workshop, Soft Touch Arts and the Spark Arts for Children collaborate with schools on a range of creative and cultural experiences. In March 2023 the University of Leicester and De Montfort University joined The City Classroom with the former leading on the next phase of the initiative which will expand the number of schools involved and promote youth voice in the partnership’s future direction.