Why you should look at the posters in Uniarts

6.3.2025 0 Like 0 kommenttia

Student ambassador Snowdrop reveals what can you learn from keeping your eyes open on campus.

As a new student, at the start of your art journey at Uniarts, it can be a daunting task to find your place here. Whether you’re at the start of your artistic career as a whole or just continuing your next steps there’s a lot of challenge in finding your place. As challenging as it can be, there’s many resources that can make that challenge easy to tackle, and in this post I’m gonna talk about one of the small things that is often overlooked: the posters all over the walls. Here’s 5 reasons those posters could be your key to that next step!

1. School clubs!

One of the most common complaints I hear from students is the lack of interaction between departments and even within individual classes. Loneliness is a big issue, and with so many differing departments and schedules it’s a big wall to overcome trying to reach across and make new friends in the rush of classes, assignments, and projects. And that’s where clubs come in. Some posters advice school clubs such as the knitting club, cinema club, and more.

2. Networking opportunities!

Are you feeling underworked somehow? Just drowning in all this free time on your hands? Consider turning your skills to those among us who aren’t so skilled and help one of your peers with their projects. Jokes aside, lots of people are making big, impressive works at Uniarts, theater students from the bachelor’s and master’s programs, sculptors, painters, and more. 

Art is very often a collaborative practice and as members of this community who knows where your skills can apply. It could be a great experience helping with costume design or set building for someone’s film thesis. You might be an extra in someone’s play or a model for some live art. 

All sorts of projects are being posted everyday looking for help. And yeah, I know you’re thinking “well there’s already group chats for that” but hey, you can’t be in every group chat in the school and even if you are, you’re bound to miss half those messages anyway. You could learn something new, work in a field you never expected and open yourself up to practicing an art form you’ve never considered before. It’s a great opportunity to challenge yourself and discover things that could go into your own art. And at the same time, you’re getting to work with the very people who are going to go out into the world as professionals. 

You never know when it might come in handy to know someone who focuses on Chinese traditional music or takes stunning nature portraits. This could lead to an art form you’ve never had a chance to interact with becoming a centerpiece of your artistic practice. No man is an island, we all learn from and improve each other. As we overlap and share our art and experiences, we each grow. Even if it’s just as simple and getting used to the feeling of putting your work in front of the public and interacting with other artists outside of classroom confines. The value of these experiences and meetings will be immense. 

3. Gallery exhibitions!

Helsinki is a beautiful and bustling city, with art spaces and museums in every corner. There’s no end to the time you could spend just going from exhibition to exhibition. Students, alumni, other professionals, museums, theater shows, and all manner of independent and group productions and exhibitions are running constantly. Maybe take a break from your own world and find inspiration in the worlds and works of your peers. It can’t be all assignments all the time and if you’re feeling drained, look around and you’ll find something new to experience. From live music recordings in underground bunkers, to contemporary dance pieces, to more traditional displays of painting and sculpture. There’s a wealth of projects on display all over the city and many of them are stuck to the walls all around you.

Many fellow students are putting on their own productions as well, and it’s a good opportunity to meet the people around you who are working on similar projects with similar interests to yours. Over the months I’ve seen all kinds of shows I’d never think of and there’s pretty much always something new going on. Spend enough time and you could even put that down as your independent work for students in The Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki. Regardless though, there are enriching experiences to be had. It might inspire your next piece, or might just be a fun Saturday afternoon to spend in good company, looking at amazing art.

4. Your student union!

The student union is your voice to the school. They represent you and your interests and represent the school’s interests to you. I know they can be easy to overlook, certainly unions aren’t the most exciting topic in the world, but there are immense benefits to watching out for their posters and notices. They hold events, parties, meetings and more regularly and you could toss your hat and voice into the ring as well. I’m sure we all have ways we feel the school could change to benefit those attending. Suggestions and ideas that we are just itching for a chance to share with the school government. The union is your voice to do just that. The posters tell you ways to get involved with them. Going back to the idea of using the posters to meet new people and clubs, perhaps you have a club you’re interested in starting, the student union could provide valuable information and help in doing that. In getting your own posters up and finding meeting rooms or other resources. 

5. Jobs and open calls!

Don’t you just love it when you get paid for your art or when you get to exhibit your art to a larger audience? Ever wondered where people find all these opportunities from? Well, one way is through the posters. Galleries, employers, art spaces, festivals, etc, put up posters about upcoming events where artists are needed. By keeping an eye out for the posters around school, you could happen upon such an opportunity! 

It’s easy to miss an email under all the important school and work emails we already struggle to keep up with, but the posters are there all day, already in front of you. And they might say things even more important than I can list here.