Experimental Arts and Performance at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London

About

Experimental Arts and Performance is a course for exploring and creating new forms of performance and spaces for culture.

As a student on the Experimental Arts and Performance course, you will:

Develop your creative work by exploring a wide range of experimental performance from across art forms and cultures
Develop performance-making and critical skills to investigate, theorise and develop new theatre and performance
Use performance to critically reflect on the world
Develop knowledge and skills to change how culture is made, and who gets access to culture
Develop producing and cultural leadership skills that foster social change and sustainability
Undertake projects with national and international arts organisations and leading artists
Explore the futures of performance in a range of cultures and communities
Become part of an international community of artists, cultural leaders, facilitators and activists, through workshops with guest artists, talks, professional collaborations and our growing alumnae community

Experimental Arts and Performance is for everyone who wants to shape the future of performance.

This course is for creative people interested in making, developing and supporting innovative contemporary performance. The course brings together aspiring artists, producers, thinkers, activists and cultural leaders committed to exploring the futures, forms and politics of experimental performance.

The programme enables students to critically and creatively pursue their individual or collaborative artistic practices and interests. It does so by engaging students with a range of inter-disciplinary, and international theatre and performance practices, from experimental theatre to live art, performance research and socially-engaged performance.

Making, supporting and growing your creative practice

The course is tailored towards the development of your artistic identity through practical experimentation and critical analysis. You will undertake different performance making processes that will challenge and develop your ways of working and thinking about performance and culture more broadly. You will engage with areas as diverse as creative writing, body-based performance, film and video, performance photography, sound and audio performance and movement practices.

Through fieldwork, debates, creative experiments and critical writing and discussion, you will engage with theories from philosophy, critical race studies, queer, feminist and postcolonial theory, and methods such as action research and autoethnography. Along with your peers, you will form a shared vocabulary from which you will build artistic practices and engage with questions of representation and equality. Together, you will reflect on audiences and communities of experimental performance, and how we might use performance to connect across borders (geographic, personal or political).

Laboratory and experiential learning

Students on the course are active in their learning. You will develop critical, creative and producing skills in order to challenge what performance can be, what it can do in the world, and how it might connect ideas, practices and communities. Throughout the course you will regularly share work, collaborate with others, test out and combine ideas, and learn to imagine and make ideas possible through your creative process and collaborations.

You will work alongside leading artists and thinkers in performance throughout your degree, as well as through collaborations with other venues, organisations and cultural networks. You will also learn from your peers, who bring a diversity of experiences, communities and skills to your collective journey. You will use your body to make performance, encounter unexpected connections and grow your own artistic work throughout the programme.

Cultural leadership

As part of your growth and development, you will engage with curating, programming and producing performance, as ways of holding, supporting and connecting different practices, audiences, resources and communities. You will explore how to centre equality, inclusion and sustainability through your work, and focus on building the cultural sector you want to see and be part of. You will develop skills in project management and communication, engage with cultural strategy and policy, as well as develop administrative skills, financial competencies and an understanding of cultural infrastructures for performance.

Second-year Entry

You can apply for second-year entry to this course if you have already undertaken first year study at another institution on a relevant course, taken a HND and HNC qualification or have relevant experience. Please contact [email protected] to find out more

Studying on the Experimental Arts and Performance course, you will: Experiment, explore and create new forms of performance. Develop critical skills to investigate, theorise and make new performance. Produce work in professional environments. Undertake projects with national and international arts organisations and practitioners.

Requirements

Entry Requirements

Candidates must be eligible to satisfy the admission requirements. Invitation to audition/interview and admission will be based on the reasonable expectation from your application that you have the potential to complete and contribute positively to the degree, and that you would benefit from master’s level study.

Applicants will normally be able to demonstrate the following:

relevant qualifications (e.g. undergraduate degree or equivalent), or professional experience which has prepared you equivalently for advanced study
appropriate written reference
evidence of a specific commitment to the course with an understanding of relevant issues and practices
evidence of appropriate level of skills/competencies
evidence of the ability to work in collaboration with colleagues and, where relevant, with external parties
evidence of a capacity to work at master’s level, e.g. engage with complex matters in the field, or demonstrate originality in the application of knowledge.

Fee Information

Tuition Fee

GBP 24,552 / year

How to Apply

How to Apply for Postgraduate Courses

All applications to postgraduate courses at Central must be made directly to the School. We have an online application system through which you should submit your application.

When to Apply for Postgraduate Courses

We will start receiving applications from 10 October each year, for courses starting in the following September/October. Applications for the MA Acting courses, which are January start, will open the preceding January.

There is no formal closing date for direct applications to Central, but you are strongly advised to apply as early as possible after applications open, as we consider applications in the order they are submitted and will close courses once they become full. Late applications will be considered as long as there are still places available on the course. We will post notice on the individual course pages on Central’s website when a course becomes full and is no longer considering applications.

Experimental Arts and Performance

Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London

Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London

Key Facts

Start & Deadlines