The course supports students to take ownership of the stories they want to curate and to step into the role they’ve been preparing for throughout their degree: engaged cultural leaders able to respond to some of the most pressing challenges of our society. The CMCI Winter Festival is not only a celebration of creativity, but an archive of students’ learning journeys and a laboratory for imagining possible futures.
Dr Estrella Sendra, Lecturer in Culture, Media and Creative Industries Education
20 January 2026
'You learn how it is going to be in real life' — student-led festival showcases creativity and cultural leadership at King's
The CMCI Winter Festival returned to King’s for its fourth year, bringing together students, staff and audiences to explore creativity, empowerment and social change through a programme of student-led events and exhibitions.
Held from 17 to 19 December, the festival transformed spaces across King’s into a platform for experimentation, collaboration and public engagement. Across three days, final-year students curated and delivered 13 events and exhibitions as part of the BA Culture, Media and Creative Industries programme. The festival demonstrated how creative practice can respond to contemporary cultural, social and environmental questions. It also offered students hands-on experience of producing large-scale public-facing work.
Under the theme 'The Art of Empowerment - Empowering Culture', Inspiring Change, students explored ideas of identity, community, heritage, sustainability and care. Projects ranged from immersive exhibitions on club culture and fashion as protest, to creative responses to folk traditions, gender identity and the environmental impact of emerging technologies.
The festival is produced as part of the Events and Festivals module, first launched in 2022, which supports students to collectively design, manage and deliver a multidisciplinary arts festival. Working in large teams, students develop skills in leadership, problem-solving, collaboration and project management, applying learning from across their degree in a real-world context. This year also marked the first use of the Science Gallery for the Echoes of the Dancefloor event, expanding the scale and ambition of student work.
Student reflections highlighted the value of the module in building confidence, practical experience and a sense of shared purpose. Participants described the festival as an opportunity to put learning into practice, work meaningfully with peers, and create work that would live on beyond the classroom.
You learn how it is going to be in real life. When you write essays, you imagine things. But when you do it, you realise that there are so many different options. There are many ways of solving problems. You learn a lot from yourself and other people as well.
BA Culture, Media and Creative Industries student
You can find out more about the BA Culture, Media and Creative Industries programme here.
In this story
Lecturer in Culture, Media and Creative Industries Education (Festivals and Events)
Senior Lecturer in Culture, Media & Creative Industries