Trinity College is home to over 120 student run societies, spanning in disciplines from Metaphysical Philosophy to Alternative Music. Within the chasm of popular interests lies a select few societies concerned with the cultivation of art and design. These societies offer students an opportunity to engage in the creation of art and in the conversation of design while meeting like-minded people and making new friends. These are some of those societies that may pique the interest of a keen enthusiast of the arts as we enter Freshers week.
VisArts – The Visual Arts society, or VisArts, is one of Trinity’s largest Art and Design societies. Founded in 1966, the society is concerned with the promotion and exhibition of the visual arts. They hold a variety of art workshops throughout the year, including ‘Sketch + Sips’, Figure and Gesture Drawing, Still Life and Lantern Making. VisArts is located in House 6 of the front square but often meets outside of the enclosure of College Green to embark on Gallery tours. In February of 2022 the society organised a trip to Amsterdam, which saw participating members visit the Stedelijk Museum as part of a group Museum and Gallery tour.
TCD Knit Soc – Trinity’s Knitting Society know themselves to be the “cosiest, cuddliest crafting society” of the University. Not limited to knitting, the society also promotes the crafts of crocheting, weaving and embroidering. They meet twice a week, for knitting workshops and for their appropriately named ‘Stitch and Bitch’ sessions. They also host events throughout the year for their members, like Yarn Crawls, Knitathons and Charity Knits. The society offers students a chance to channel their creative minds into a medium that is new to many and old to few.
Trinity Arts Festival – Trinity Arts Festival is Ireland’s largest student-run festival. It takes place annually over the course of an action packed week in February. The festival prides itself on being representative of all art forms that students engage in, which allows it to offer an array of different events and exhibitions through a variety of mediums during the festival. As well as interactive events, TAF organises a series of talks with different influential artists, last year hosting names like that of Ellius Grace and Lucinda Graham. They can also be found to run events during Freshers week, last year celebrating the start of college with a Tie Dye Workshop, Guerilla Gigs and BYOB Collage Night.
DU Players – The Trinity College Drama society is the largest and most active drama society in Europe. As a result of their almost constant stream of activity, the productions put on require a large force of enthusiastic individuals working behind the scenes. It is the set design sector of DU Players that may pique the interest of an artsy individual. The society also has an extensive wardrobe that is perpetually being scavenged through for costumes. Getting involved in this costume design and wardrobe organisation part of Players also offers a hands-on creative project! During Freshers week they can be found hosting coffee mornings, midday events and club nights, and during the year you are guaranteed to find them putting on a new and exciting production.
Trinity Musical Theatre Society – The Trinity Musical Theatre Society is one of the newer societies within the university. Founded in 2016, they won the Best New Society award at the Society of the year awards in 2018 and have been actively promoting the cultivation of musical theatre across campus, year round. They know themselves to have “brought tides of charismatic theatre, collaboration and creativity to our esteemed college.” Similarly to DU Players, the society finds themselves in need of artsy hands to create the stage that they enjoy their craft upon. Having won first place in the 2022 Musical Theatre Intervarsities with their production of Cabaret, the society is brimming with excitement for the coming year and all of the artistic endeavours that it will take on.
WORDS: Ella Flynn
