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Art Beats Festival

What is Art Beats?

Established in 2023, Art Beats is an international festival jointly organised by Lancaster University (United Kingdom) and Sunway University (Malaysia). Since its launch, the festival has alternated annually between Sunway University and Lancaster University, creating a dynamic platform for international artistic exchange, collaboration, and dialogue across cultures and disciplines.

The festival also holds filmmaking workshops between students from both Lancaster and Sunway, with Lancaster students travelling to Sunway last year, and Sunway students coming to Lancaster this year. Throughout the workshops, they are mentored by film directors to create short films over a week, and have their films screened at the end of the festival.

As part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the global partnership between Lancaster University and Sunway University, the 2026 edition of Art Beats highlights contemporary artistic practice through the themes of The Power of Two, Crossings, and Future Memories.

Alongside its physical exhibitions and events, Art Beats maintains a strong digital presence through its online exhibition, bringing artists from around the world together to share their work. The festival welcomes a wide range of artistic practices and has previously featured submissions from artists across 14 countries.

An International Collaboration

Lancaster University and Sunway University have a long history of partnering together to support global education, student mobility and international research. In 2006, the two universities established an academic partnership which has grown from an initial cohort of 21 graduates to around 4,500 students who are enrolled in courses.

This long-standing partnership led to Dr Maryam Ghorbankarimi visiting Sunway University to attend their graduation ceremony in March 2020, and encountering Dr Mayco Axel Santealla. The two began dreaming about an art festival that brings together Lancaster and Sunway students. After a few years of planning, they successfully applied for the Global Advancement Fund, allowing them to realise their vision of creating Art Beats Festival, bringing about its first edition in 2023.

  • Lancaster University

    With their main campus in the UK, Lancaster is ranked among the top 15 in the UK and rated as a 5-Star institution by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). Based on a parkland campus, the University is home to a community of ambitious international students, staff and partners.

  • Sunway University

    Based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunway is a leading not-for-profit private university committed to “the pursuit of education through scholarship, research and enterprise”. It is ranked among the top 2% of universities in Asia and rated as a 5-Star institution by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).

Leading Departments

Dr Maryam Ghorbankarimi, Senior Lecturer in Film Practice and School of Arts Marketing and Recruitment Co-Lead, is collaborating with , Dean of Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Sunway University. This festival has been made possible through the support and funding from Lancaster University Global Advancement Fund.

  • Lancaster Institute for Contemporary Arts (LICA)

    LICA encompasses Lancaster’s teaching and research activities in architecture, art, design, film, and theatre. We pride ourselves on the research informed curriculum that underpins all of our degrees. Staff, students, and graduates set agendas in, and make meaningful contribution to the contemporary arts.

  • The School of Arts offers students a superior learning experience through excellent teaching and project-based learning. We are large enough to provide the facilities, equipment and expertise that you need to launch your future, while also being small enough to focus on you as an individual.

Festival Themes
Call for Submissions