Fancy yourself a bit of a creative? Eager to dabble with a crayon? Part of the crochet craze? UCD has a society for it, and they are eager for you to join their ranks.
These UCD societies work really hard all year round to put on events, coffee mornings, and more to make sure your creativity has somewhere to flourish. So, if you are looking for an outlet for your creative spark (and some wholesome new friends) these societies are just the place.
Draw Society
From crochet nights to still life drawing, origami, and fashion design, there is no limit to what you can do with DrawSoc. They are the experts of all things arts and crafts. Last year, the society organised events like a trip to Powerscourt Japanese Gardens and Bob Ross Thursdays. If that’s not enough, I don’t know what is.
UCDTV Society
UCD TV Soc “make stuff” and throw events for “really cool people”. They organise Screenwriting Workshops and run a weekly Production Club (in which they create a movie from scratch!). Their now annual Film Festival, which they welcome short-film submissions for, takes place around April time. If you aspire to direct, produce, or film, then TV Soc is a great place to find people who can show you the way, and might even join your crew.
UCD Purl Jam
A craft and creative group that is open to the wider community surrounding UCD, their main focus is naturally knitting and crocheting. Their jam is purl and their tea is brewed. You can find them on Instagram at @ucd.purljam to keep up to date with their weekly meetups. If you’re lucky, they might even hold their Craftmas Fair again this December.
Dance Society
With a self-proclaimed mission to spread their love and appreciation of dance to all their members, they are one of the larger societies here in UCD, and they are definitely open to beginners. They offer workshops of every variety, K-Pop, ballet, tango, salsa, HipHop, and Irish dancing, which all vary from beginner to intermediate and advanced levels. Later in the year, be sure to catch their spectacular Winter and Spring Showcases.
Juggling Society
Show me a definition for ‘creative’ and I’ll show you how JuggleSoc embodies it. Learn to love circus and performing arts, and enter the embrace of a global community who are some of the soundest people you will ever meet. Learn to juggle and manipulate a diabolo, to ride a unicycle and spin a hula hoop, or head to events like the National and European Juggling Conventions, and enjoy the frequent offerings of pizza.
Architecture Society
For architecture students, your overflowing creativity is continually poured into your degree day in day out. ArcSoc offers a solace to re-energise with your classmates through their numerous nights out, movie screenings, and the Architecture Society Ball. For the sister-degree of landscape architects (is that controversial to say?) make sure to check out the equally exciting Landscape Architecture Society, or @UCD_LarcSoc on Instagram.
Arts Society
No list of the numerous Arts societies in UCD would be complete without mentioning Arts Soc. Dedicated to the Arts students who cling to the sofas of Newman like a security blanket, but equally open to students who need a relief from the demand of their non-arts degree. They host an Arts Appreciation Club, pub quizzes, movie nights, and parties galore, all with the gusto of people who don’t have any 9am lectures to worry about. Consider them your new Newman sofa.