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Societies > Case Studies  

Societies

Societies are groups of students with a shared interest. We have around 150 societies and if there’s something missing, it’s easy to start your own.

Different societies do different things and run in different ways. Some are focused on one big project per year, others have regular meetings, some organise activities that anyone can come to, others focus on organising things for their members, some societies are quite small, others are huge.

All societies are open to anyone and you can join societies throughout the year so take a look at what is on offer. Make sure you keep an eye on the list of societies as new ones start up quite regularly.

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► Case Studies

I have been an active member of a number of societies from the start of my time at Sussex, most specifically the Drama Society, with whom I have served as First Year Rep, Publicity Officer and finally as the current President. As well as the administrative side I’ve also been continually involved in acting or directing in productions, as well as co-ordinating fundraisers. This year I’m lucky enough to have the opportunity to take the drama society production to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and have acted in our productions for the Brighton Fringe Festival for the last two years. Through the drama society, I and other members of the committee have been working with Project V in order to set up a volunteering opportunity for drama society members to run an after-school theatre club for young people in the local area, with a view to expanding this to incorporate drama therapy activities for other groups such as asylum seekers.

I have also benefitted as member of the creative writing society, circus society, polesoc, life drawing society, swing society and am in the process of setting up a society for the practice and promotion of aerial trapeze.

Even before coming to university one of the things I was most excited and enthusiastic about was the opportunity to engage in a new range of activities based in arts and performance that have never been available to me before. Whilst I have had a life-long love of theatre, I have had little opportunity to engage with it, coming from a relatively deprived background that does not privilege or respect such activities. As such, all of my efforts to gain experience in this fields were limited financially, ideologically and due to the highly limited provision of cultural activities in my area. The accessibility of the union’s societies provided a platform for me to develop these interests, and my skills, not just in my primary interest of drama, but in a range of other physical and artistic outlets. I cannot envisage another scenario in which so many different opportunities would be so easily available, accessible and cheap than those offered to students through the Student’s Union, and I personally was delighted to seize those opportunities as best I could while I have the chance.

The social element of the drama society has provided the basis of my social life for the last three years, and I have made the vast majority of my friends through it, including all of my housemates, greatly benefitting my overall happiness and wellbeing. I also now have a variety of useful contacts in this field which will be useful when attempting to develop in it in the future.

There are lots of staff members who are helpful and knowledgeable with information required to organise and run events, and it is possible to receive frequent responses to queries and problems, as well as active solutions to rectify issues. There is support for the health and safety requirements of societies and assistance from the Falmer House porters. The Activities Officer actively encourages new suggestions and improvements through the Activites Committee, and is willing, helpful and enthusiastic in putting them into place.

I hope to continue with a career in the theatre, and my creative and administrative experiences with the Union have been essential to developing both to my knowledge and, even more importantly, confidence to do so. I also hope to train at aerial school to develop an integrated type of physical performance, and the opportunity to set up this society through the Union’s Activities department will give me the practice and experience to be able to audition for a place.

Lana Harper, 2010