Weekly Evening Courses - Arts and Humanities

We very much look forward to welcoming both new and returning students to the University of Southampton.

We would like to advise that you will need to have the appropriate technology and suitable internet connection in place, as we will be making use of online materials. At Southampton, we use a virtual learning environment (VLE) called Blackboard which is used to deliver learning materials and real-time online teaching for our students.

Exploring Regional Histories: Historical Narratives of Winchester

This course will explore eight centuries of Winchester’s history, from the unique perspective of local legends and writings about the region. From the life and legend of Alfred the Great, through Arthurian folklore, Winchester’s round table and on to the battle of Guy of Warwick and the giant Colbrand, the course will immerse you in the tales that have been told about this ancient city.

Each week, you will explore a different historical narrative, or legend, to uncover the common themes, and ask key questions about why these accounts were written, and how they influenced the city. We will look at the development of these stories over time and the reasons behind their growing prominence in creating a rich cultural sense of place and history in the ancestral capital of Wessex. Drawing on archaeology, historical sources, and folklore this wide ranging and exciting course offers you the chance to view Winchester in a whole new light.

This 6-week course will take place at Winchester School of Art on Tuesday evenings from 6pm to 8pm starting on 21st January 2025 and finishing on 4th March 2025 (please note, there is no class on 28th January).

Please see our price list below:

• Standard price - £115.00
• Staff/student/alumni price - £100.00

Please note: if you select the staff/student/alumni price option, you must use an online store account that has been set up with your University email address and fill out your University staff, student or alumni ID number when prompted as part of the questionnaire data section.

When booking a course please do consult our Terms and Conditions which set out our cancellation and refund policy. Please note, that should we need to move teaching online, you will not be entitled to any refund other than those already set out in our Terms and Conditions.

We very much look forward to welcoming both new and returning students to the University of Southampton. Unless otherwise stated, all courses will be taught in person at our Avenue Campus.

We would like to advise that you will need to have the appropriate technology and suitable internet connection in place, as we will be making use of online materials. At Southampton, we use a virtual learning environment (VLE) called Blackboard which is used to deliver learning materials and real-time online teaching for our students.

Fiction Essentials: Writing the City

This creative writing course invites you to engage with urban space in your writing: to register its rhythms, map its corners, and think deeply about how the landscape of the city shapes your feelings and experiences. 

Each week, we’ll explore a set of texts that give voice to the city in different ways, from the flâneurs who strolled the streets of Paris to the Windrush-generation novelists documenting their experiences of London. These texts will act as prompts for your own writing, with exercises to help you experiment with form, voice, and subject.

Throughout the course you will be encouraged to draw on your own real or virtual experiences of straying through the city’s parks and streets, and recording the changing moods, atmospheres, sounds and scenery.

This 6-week course will take place online on Tuesday evenings from 18:30 to 20:30 starting on 28 January 2025 and finishing on 4 March 2025.

Please see our price list below:

• Standard price - £115.00
• Staff/student/alumni price - £100.00

Please note: if you select the staff/student/alumni price option, you must use an online store account that has been set up with your University email address and fill out your University staff, student or alumni ID number when prompted as part of the questionnaire data section.

When booking a course please do consult our Terms and Conditions which set out our cancellation and refund policy. 

We very much look forward to welcoming both new and returning students to the University of Southampton. Unless otherwise stated, all courses will be taught in person at our Avenue Campus.

We would like to advise that you will need to have the appropriate technology and suitable internet connection in place, as we will be making use of online materials. At Southampton, we use a virtual learning environment (VLE) called Blackboard which is used to deliver learning materials and real-time online teaching for our students.

The Spaghetti Western: The good, the bad and the beautiful 

This course is perfect for both the devoted fans of the genre and complete newcomers.

Initially criticized for being a cheap imitation of the American western, the 1960s Italian western subverted and revolutionized the genre. Introducing irony, cynicism, black humour, sadistic violence, cartoonish action, and leftist overtones, it became a world phenomenon. It kept on surprising the public with its gradually increasing eccentricity, while also mirroring its troubled historical times, defined by growing crime and unemployment rates, riots, police brutality and corruption scandals.

This course evaluates the spaghetti western in all its glory. It focuses on its unusual evolution and historical context, but also enormous flexibility which resulted in the production of truly peculiar hybrids, combining the western with the elements of gothic horror or the kung-fu film. We will discuss the most famous and the most obscure spaghetti westerns in equal matters, using numerous film extracts to illustrate the analysed content.

This course will take place on Wednesday evenings from 7pm to 9pm starting on 30 April 2025 and finishing on 04 June 2025.

Please see our price list below:

Standard price - £115.00
Staff/student/alumni price - £100.00

Please note: if you select the staff/student/alumni price option, you must use an online store account that has been set up with your University email address and fill out your University staff, student or alumni ID number when prompted as part of the questionnaire data section.

When booking a course please do consult our Terms and Conditions which set out our cancellation and refund policy.

(Photo credit - Taylor Brandon, Unsplash)

We very much look forward to welcoming both new and returning students to the University of Southampton. Unless otherwise stated, all courses will be taught in person at our Avenue Campus.

We would like to advise that you will need to have the appropriate technology and suitable internet connection in place, as we will be making use of online materials. At Southampton, we use a virtual learning environment (VLE) called Blackboard which is used to deliver learning materials and real-time online teaching for our students.

Histories and Contexts of Cinema - Titanic and other ships on Film

“I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote, I love to sail forbidden seas…” 

Are you a ship lover? Starting with the RMS Titanic which departed from the port of Southampton in her maiden voyage, this course takes you on a journey into films that feature a variety of ships in different historical periods across cultures. From Polynesian canoes, Greek triremes and Chinese treasure ships to the 19th century iron steamers and battleship Yamato, from Noah’s Ark to the Flying Dutchman in Pirates of the Caribbean. We will also investigate the behind-the-scenes stories of how they are presented for the screen.

This 6-week course will take place in person on Wednesday evenings from 7pm to 9pm starting on 29th January 2025 and finishing on 5th March 2025.

Please see our price list below:

• Standard price - £115.00
• Staff/student/alumni price - £100.00

Please note: if you select the staff/student/alumni price option, you must use an online store account that has been set up with your University email address and fill out your University staff, student or alumni ID number when prompted as part of the questionnaire data section.

When booking a course please do consult our Terms and Conditions which set out our cancellation and refund policy. Please note, that should we need to move teaching online, you will not be entitled to any refund other than those already set out in our Terms and Conditions.

We very much look forward to welcoming both new and returning students to the University of Southampton. 

A Study of Women Artists: 16th to 21st Century

This practical art course will help develop analytical and creative skills by reflecting on major art movements.

The Art world has seen a remarkable range of successful female visual artists over the centuries. Their journey, so often a poignant tale of struggle, is inspiring. This 8-week course will examine the achievement of women painters in a diverse range of styles, tracking the story of art from 16th to 21st Century. It will enable students to make practical experiments in a range of genres, including Portraiture, Still Life, Landscape and Abstraction with a series of practical exercises involving drawing materials, paint and collage, using own references.

Aims and learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of Female Art as illustrated by various artists including Evelyn de Morgan and Bridget Riley and will gain mastery of drawing, painting and mixed media techniques in order to develop personal art projects in a range of genres, building on artists’ examples.

This 8-week course will take place in person on Tuesday evenings from 7pm to 9pm starting on 29th April 2025 and finishing on 17th June 2025.

Please see our price list below:

• Standard price - £145.00
• Staff/student/alumni price - £125.00

Please note: if you select the staff/student/alumni price option, you must use an online store account that has been set up with your University email address and fill out your University staff, student or alumni ID number when prompted as part of the questionnaire data section.

When booking a course please consult our Terms and Conditions which set out our cancellation and refund policy.

We very much look forward to welcoming new and returning students to the University of Southampton. Unless otherwise stated, all courses will be taught in person at our Avenue Campus

We would like to advise that you will need to have the appropriate technology and suitable internet connection in place, as we will be making use of online materials. At Southampton, we use a virtual learning environment (VLE) called Blackboard which is used to deliver learning materials and real-time online teaching for our students.

The Art of Film: Learn how to make a film in six steps, from script to editing

This intensive course takes place over a weekend, during which you will learn how to create a short film or a short audio-visual project, from theory to practice. 

The sessions will focus on different aspects of cinematography, namely six fundamentals of filmmaking: from step one, which is the script, to the last step, which is the editing and post-production.

The course begins with an introduction to the basics of scriptwriting. Then we focus on film direction and outstanding filmmakers, before moving on to learn about camera and photography operations and terminology.

Next, we examine artistic surroundings and aesthetics of cinema illustrated by examples from Art films and directors.

Finally, we cover the meticulous process of editing and post-production. This includes an opportunity for hands-on practise. By the end of the course you should be able to create your own project, using the very basic of tools, either in class or at home.

The course is organised over one weekend on the following dates and times:-

• Friday 11 April - 18:00 to 20:00
• Saturday 12 April - 10:00 to 16:00
• Sunday 13 April - 10:00 to 16:00

Please see our price list below:

• Standard price - £115.00
• Staff/student/alumni price - £100.00

Please note: if you select the staff/student/alumni price option, you must use an online store account that has been set up with your University email address and fill out your University staff, student or alumni ID number when prompted as part of the questionnaire data section.

When booking a course please do consult our Terms and Conditions which set out our cancellation and refund policy. Please note, that should we need to move teaching online, you will not be entitled to any refund other than those already set out in our Terms and Conditions.

We very much look forward to welcoming both new and returning students to the University of Southampton. Unless otherwise stated, all courses will be taught in person at our Avenue Campus.

We would like to advise that you will need to have the appropriate technology and suitable internet connection in place, as we will be making use of online materials. At Southampton, we use a virtual learning environment (VLE) called Blackboard which is used to deliver learning materials and real-time online teaching for our students.

The Serious Pleasures of Literary Reading: Women's Writing Through Time

Time travel with us on a journey to discover how women’s writing has developed over the centuries. What were the social conditions in which women wrote? How did changes in laws and different movements lead to a rise in women’s writings?

Please note: if you select the staff or student price option, you must use an online store account that has been set up with your University email address and fill out your University staff or student ID number when prompted as part of the questionnaire data section.

This 6-week course will take place in person on Tuesday evenings from 7pm to 9pm starting on
29 April 2025 and finishing on Tuesday 3 June 2025.

Please see our price list below:

• Standard price - £115.00
• Staff/student/alumni price - £100.00

(Image credit: wayhomestudio at Freepik.com)

The course will start by discussing the writings of Jane Austen and her continued influence today. It will then move on to the Victorian writers such as Mary Shelley and the Brontë sisters. In later weeks we will engage with an overview of the three waves of feminism, exploring what each of these feminist waves entailed and the writing that emerged as a result. A slight detour takes us into the world of women writing crime fiction, with a focus on Agatha Christie, to consider women writing in an often male-dominated genre. Wide ranging and varied, this course will open up new perspectives on some of literature’s greatest female writers.