Arts University Plymouth celebrates the Class of 2025 at Theatre Royal Plymouth

<p dir="ltr">Graduating students from Arts University Plymouth celebrated their graduation with friends and family in a ceremony at <strong>Theatre Royal Plymouth</strong>, alongside internationally acclaimed artist and author <strong>Edmund de Waal CBE</strong> and futurist and storyteller <strong>Ada Parris</strong>, who were both awarded Honorary Fellowships by the city’s arts university.</p> <p>The graduates, who included the undergraduate and postgraduate <strong>Class of 2025</strong>, represented a diverse range of art, design and media specialisms across the university’s creative community.</p>

<p dir="ltr">National and international accolades included <strong>BA (Hons) Painting, Drawing &amp; Printmaking</strong> graduate <strong>Siobhán Morrissey</strong> winning the <strong>Freelands Painting Prize 2025</strong>; fellow graduate <strong>Minka Stear</strong> taking the <strong>Platform Graduate Award 2025 (South West, CVAN)</strong>; <strong>Matilda Smyth</strong> receiving <strong>Velarde Gallery’s South West Arts Graduate Award (SWAG)</strong>; <strong>Chloe Yasmin</strong> (<strong>BA (Hons) Illustration</strong>) named in the <strong>Association of Illustrators’ ‘10 UK Illustration Graduates to Watch 2025’</strong> and, alongside filmmaker <strong>Moon Seungsung</strong> (<strong>BA (Hons) Film &amp; Screen Arts</strong>), selected for <strong>It’s Nice That’s Ones to Watch 2025</strong>.</p> <p>Design and industry partnerships saw <strong>Amber Timms, Daniela Dardano and Matthew Essery</strong> (all <strong>BA (Hons) Graphic Design</strong>) shortlisted in the top five for <strong>Plymouth Design Forum Student of the Year 2025</strong>; students sweep all three prizes in <strong>Beaumont &amp; Brown’s international recycled-cotton throw brief</strong> (<strong>Caitlin Piper, Chloe Nutt, Rowan Hewitt</strong>) with designs moving into global production; and <strong>Max Golley</strong> (<strong>BA (Hons) Fashion Design</strong>) awarded <strong>Field System’s Four Quarters Award 2025</strong> with a solo exhibition.</p>

<p>Arts University Plymouth awarded <strong>Edmund de Waal CBE</strong> an Honorary Fellowship <strong>in recognition of his outstanding international contribution to British art</strong>, and awarded <strong>Ada Parris</strong> an Honorary Fellowship <strong>in recognition of an outstanding contribution to creative leadership in sustainable innovation</strong>.</p>

<p>Arts University Plymouth is a specialist arts university in the heart of Plymouth’s cultural quarter, <strong>adjacent to The Box</strong>, with <strong>Theatre Royal Plymouth</strong> as the current venue for graduation ceremonies. The university has been the <strong>top-scoring specialist arts university in the UK in the National Student Survey for four consecutive years (2022–2025)</strong> and ranked <strong>#2 in the UK for Teaching Excellence</strong> (Daily Mail University Guide 2025).</p>