The UK’s first Coronavirus lockdown began shortly after I joined the University of Exeter as a Creative Writing Lecturer. It felt odd not to have met the majority of my colleagues, and to face the prospect of not meeting them for a very long time. Like most people, I soon felt a deep cultural absence – I missed live performances and arts-based experiences, as well as the social experiences that went with them.

Along with my family, I began to explore what was now being made available online – not just great films, TV shows and podcasts, but also streamed productions of live performances by enterprising organisations who were no longer able to share their work with physical audiences. I discovered some wonderful work, from dance to theatre and exhibitions, that really deserved to be experienced. It struck me that many of these productions wouldn’t have been easy for me to get to physically – and that, although many arts organisations were now facing a dire funding situation, in some ways the situation had opened up accessibility in a radical way for audiences across the country and even the globe: a thin but glittery silver lining.

I started swapping arts and culture tips with friends and family, and looking up recommendations from critics and artists online. I still hadn’t met most of my Exeter colleagues by that point, but I could tell from their web pages that many of them were super interesting.

An idea emerged: if I were to devise a little series of conversations where I asked colleagues and other artists and thinkers for their arts and culture tips under lockdown, their responses could be as interesting for others as it would be for me. Such a series would also be a great way to connect the University with prospective students who wanted to get a more informal sense of connection with the institution and the people who might be teaching them, and with the wider public. And who doesn’t crave a rich variety of arts and culture tips right now? Happily, when I suggested it to the powers that be, all thumbs went up.

If you have any ideas for arts and culture tips, or guests you’d like to see on the series, please get in touch with us and share them! It would also be great to know which of the tips you’ve followed up and enjoyed, drop Ellen an e-mail [here][mailto:e.wiles@exeter.ac.uk].

In the meantime, stay safe, and enjoy all the cultural delights you can.

Episode 1 and 2

Episode 1: (below left) Henry Power is Professor of English Literature at the University of Exeter. He is a specialist in classics and an expert on Homer and his influence.

Episode 2: (below right) Fabrizio Nevola is Professor of Art History and Visual Culture at the University of Exeter, and the founder of an immersive historical app called Hidden Cities.

Episode 3 and 4

Episode 3: (below left) John Wedgwood Clarke is a poet and a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Exeter University. He is currently working on a poetic project exploring the value and meaning of a polluted river in West Cornwall.

Episode 4: (below right) Francesca Stavrakopoulou is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at the University of Exeter – and she also happens to be an atheist. She explores topics like God's body, child sacrifice, goddess worship, ancestor veneration, and the social and religious power of human corpses, and she appears regularly on TV and radio.

Episode 5 and 6

Episode 5: (below left) Rowan Hisayo Buchanan is the author of two novels: Harmless Like You, a New York Times editor’s pick; and Starling Days which was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award. She is the winner of The Authors' Club First Novel Award and a Betty Trask Award.

Episode 6: (below right) Professor Maria Scott is a Senior Lecturer in French in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Exeter. She specializes in the work of French writers Stendhal and Baudelaire, and she may have spent a disproportionate amount of time watching Dr Who with her 13-year-old twins.

Episode 7 and 8

Episode 7: (below left) Cherry Anastasia is a student at Exeter, and is currently her final year of Liberal Arts, majoring in English Literature. She is the Humanities College Officer for students this year. As a BAME student, Cherry is passionate about issues surrounding equality, diversity and inclusion as well as anti-discrimination.

Episode 8: (below right) Anbara Salam is a novelist. She is half Palestinian and half Scottish and she grew up in London. Her first novel, Things Bright and Beautiful, was published in 2018 and her second novel, Belladonna, was published in 2020.

Episode 9 and 10

Episode 9: (below left) Sarah Campbell, is the Associate Director for Arts and Culture at Exeter University, and previously worked with the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Arts and Culture programme at Exeter aims to ‘activate creativity’.

Episode 10: (below right) Deirdre Mask is the author of The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth and Power, out this year, is a New York Times Editors’ Choice. She graduated top of her class at Harvard, and studied at Oxford and then back at Harvard Law, before completing a Masters in writing.

Episode 11 and 12

Episode 11: (below left) Michael Hughes is a novelist and an actor. He is originally from Northern Ireland, and his latest novel Country, is a retelling of the Iliad during the final months of the Troubles, and won the 2019 London Hellenic Prize. His actor self, Michael Colgan, he recently appeared in the TV series Chernobyl.

Episode 12: (below right) Robert McCrum is an acclaimed writer and editor, and has been a central figure in the British literary scene for the past four decades, including as editor-in-chief of Faber & Faber and as Literary Editor and then Associate Editor of the Observer. His new book is Shakespearean: On Life and Language in Times of Disruption.