Art Explosion tops off ICSM RAG Week

The Imperial College School of Medicine Students’ Union (ICSMSU) presented an Arts Revue last Sunday, 8th February, to conclude what has been, by all accounts, a very successful Raising and Giving (RAG) week.

The show was performed in the Union Concert Hall and featured acts from various Medics’ performing arts societies including music, Dance and Light Opera, as well as a sneak preview of ICSM Drama’s upcoming production of Beauty and the Beast.

ICSM Light Opera and ICSM Dance performed numbers from Hairspray and Cole Porter’s Anything Goes, while the evening also saw, for the first time ever, a performance from all of the Medics’ music societies (Chamber Choir, Choir, Orchestra, Jazz Band and Bands).

Two of the Union’s sabbatical officers, Abi De Bruin (Deputy President, Clubs & Societies) and Chris Kaye (Deputy President, Welfare) attended the evening, and Abi lauded the “incredible ICSM talent” on show.

Sarah Hough, who founded Arts Revue and planned much of the event, said “I didn’t realise quite how much organisation and how many logistical nightmares would be involved in creating this event! But seeing four of ICSM’s arts societies come together to create something incredible and doing what we love to do made it all worthwhile.

“I hope Arts Revue will continue to be a yearly opportunity for these four sister societies to work together and show you all how incredibly talented and enthusiastic our members are.”

RAG week featured ‘I’m a Club Captain, Get Me Out of Here’, which was filmed on Tuesday and screened in the Reynolds bar on Thursday night. Medics’ team captains (and some of the ICSMSU Exec) were given ‘fun’ challenges, competing for a chance to participate in the live Bushtucker trial in the bar on Thursday.

One of the more controversial events was the time-honoured tradition of ‘4-skinning’. The idea is that 4 second year medics are nominated from the ICSM sports teams, who then compete to gain the most sponsorship. The winner has their head shaved. The lucky prize this year went to Football’s Wenrui Sun. Wen described the experience as “even more crushing” given that he had previously avoided his head being shaved on tour.

A fundraising total is yet to be released by the ICSMSU committee, with further events running over the next few weeks, including the RAG Valentine’s Ball at the Phoenix Arts Club on Monday.

It’s really reassuring to see that Medics have time to cultivate interests outside of their degrees (at least in the first two years), and we here at Felix look forward with anticipation to next year’s Arts Revue.