Future art and design talent to be unveiled at major exhibition
By Chris Birkle | Published on 8 May 2026
Categories: Press office; NTU Arts; School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment; School of Art & Design;
An exhibition of emerging creative talent — which has a long history of showcasing award-winning student work — is set to open at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) for its annual art and design showcase.
Graduate Festival 26, presented by the Nottingham School of Art & Design, and the Student Showcase from the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment, will take over NTU’s City Campus, Confetti Campus, and a range of venues across Nottingham.
Free and open to the public, the exhibitions highlight work from across a broad spectrum of creative disciplines from more than 1,300 creative students.
Product Design by Luke Black
Subject areas span fashion, knitwear and textiles; fashion marketing and communication; fine art, photography, film and animation; graphic design and illustration; stage and screen design; music, Esports production; games art; content creation; product and furniture design; as well as architecture, interior architecture and architectural technology.
Alongside the citywide exhibitions, NTU students will present their work at leading national platforms in London. These include Graduate Fashion Week — the world’s largest showcase of new fashion talent — as well as New Designers, featuring disciplines such as product design, textiles, illustration and animation.
Games art by Kenneth Lycett
The university continues to collaborate with Nottingham’s thriving creative community, with exhibitions and installations hosted in partnership with venues including Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham Playhouse and Surface Gallery, expanding the showcase across the city.
Graduate Festival 26 opens on 11 May at the university’s Design & Digital Arts (D&DA) building, launching with works from filmmaking, film production, and content creation students, followed by a series of exhibitions across different course areas.
The Student Showcase will open on 29 May, featuring a public exhibition of product design, furniture design and architecture, in the Newton building.
Esports production work will be shown at Confetti X
Michael Marsden, Executive Dean of the Nottingham School of Art & Design, said: “Art and design play a crucial role in shaping the environments and experiences around us, and Graduate Festival 26 offers a window into what comes next.
“These exhibitions mark a significant milestone for our students — celebrating what they have achieved while signalling the beginning of their professional journeys. We’re proud to invite audiences to discover their ideas, perspectives and creative ambitions.”
Dr Andrew Knight, Executive Dean of the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment, said: “Our annual showcase demonstrates the creativity, dedication and problem-solving ability of our students as they respond to real-world challenges.
“Visitors will not only see high-quality design outcomes and prototypes, but also gain insight into the thinking, research and experimentation that underpin them. It is always a pleasure to share this work with the public.”
Exhibitions vary by subject area and date. For full event listings and ticket information, visit the respective Graduate Festival and Student Showcase web pages.
Notes for Editors
Press enquiries please contact Chris Birkle, Public Relations Manager, on telephone +44 (0)115 848 2310, or via email.
About Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham Trent University (NTU) has been named UK ‘University of the Year’ five times in six years, (Times Higher Education Awards 2017, The Guardian University Awards 2019, The Times and Sunday Times 2018 and 2023, Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023) and is consistently one of the top performing modern universities in the UK.
Students have voted us the best university in the UK and 1st in the UK for student employability (Uni Compare 2025).
NTU is 4th in the UK for number of undergraduate students (HESA 2023-24) with over 36,000 students and more than 4,000 staff located across six campuses. It has an international student population of 6,000 and an NTU community representing over 160 countries.
NTU owns two Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for outstanding achievements in research (2015, 2021). The first recognises NTU’s research on the safety and security of global citizens. The second was awarded for research in science, engineering, arts and humanities to investigate and restore cultural objects, buildings and heritage. The Research Excellence Framework (2021) classed 83% of NTU’s research activity as either world-leading or internationally excellent.
NTU was awarded GOLD in the national 2023 Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) assessment.
NTU is a top 10 for sport (British Universities and Colleges Sport league table 2025) and was named as Sports University of the Year (Daily Mail University Guide 2025). It has also been ranked as 25th in the UK by the Guardian University Guide 2026.
NTU is a holder of the University Mental Health Charter recognising the commitment an institution has shown towards continuous improvement in the area of mental health and wellbeing.
NTU is the most environmentally sustainable university in the UK and second in the world (UI Green Metric University World Rankings, 2024).