Welcome to Cultivate
Loughborough University and Joshibi University of Art and Design Cultural Exchange Programme
Welcome to the next iteration of our continuing international relationship between Loughborough University and Joshibi University of Art and Design, our School’s institutional partner in Tokyo, Japan. I’m delighted that this year we will have dual exhibitions for Cultivate. Our online gallery, built last year to circumnavigate the effects of Covid-19, has been supplemented by a welcome return to a physical exhibition of artefacts.
For eight years, Loughborough University has welcomed Joshibi University of Art and Design undergraduate students onto the East Midlands campus to experience a month-long cultural exchange programme. Students are invited to participate and engage in a number of arts, cultural and linguistic activities across campus.
Ordinarily, our exchange programme aims to foster and promote cross-cultural understanding and appreciation, through jointly hosted exhibitions of student work, cultural visits beyond campus and social events that see students from both institutions meet, exchange ideas and ultimately become friends and acquaintances. Students realise that they have many points of reference; they share similar concerns about the world around them and find positive and encouraging ways of maintaining friendships and developing collaborations.
The Cultivate web site this year retains this spirit of showing, sharing and growing. Despite local quarantine conditions, travel restrictions and linguistic differences, this exhibition of work proves that there is a strong bond between the two institutions that has grown and developed.
As the world slowly opens up after the pandemic, we hope to be able to welcome Joshibi students back to Loughborough to immerse themselves in British culture and to exchange creative and linguistic ideas to help them develop as the curators of the future. By return, we hope the Loughborough students will forge new friendships and partnerships with their Japanese counterparts, establishing their own bonds and emboldening friendships for the future. With the current conditions in Ukraine, we are reminded more than ever that friendship, commaradare and mutual respect are more important than ever.
Andrew Selby
Senior Lecturer Illustration and Animation
School of Design and Creative Arts, Loughborough University
