Global Performance and Cultural Industries

This postgraduate degree explores the key disciplines of performance and cultural industries in a global context.

You'll examine live and digital performing arts that are produced with international audiences in mind.

Throughout this Masters course you'll develop a critical understanding of what performance is, and how it is produced and consumed locally and globally within a variety of social, political and economic settings.

You'll apply your learning through lectures, seminars and field trips. This course will equip you with the skills to build your global career networks, you'll have the opportunity to visit a variety of cultural organisations, and gain valuable insight into the cultural industries from guest lecturers and industry experts.

This Masters course is taught by the School of Performance and Cultural Industries which is based in stage@leeds, a publicly licensed theatre at the heart of the University campus. As a student you'll also have access to stage@leedsDigital, a virtual creative space for students, researchers, professional artists and international theatre companies. You'll also have the opportunity to observe the process of performance making, as well as to gain practical experience through optional modules and work experience.

Leeds has a thriving cultural scene, and is home to large-scale events like Leeds International Film Festival, Light Night, and Transform Festival. Our industry connections allow you to engage with local cultural organisations such as Leeds Playhouse, Opera North, Phoenix Dance Theatre, the BBC, the National Science and Media Museum, and East Street Arts.

Specialist facilities

Our School is based in stage@leeds, a purpose-built landmark building that sits at the heart of campus. As our student, you'll have access to its two professional standard, publicly licensed theatres: the main space seats 180 and is equipped with the latest technologies, and the theatre studio provides a technically advanced performance research facility.

stage@leeds hosts a range of work by students and visiting theatre companies all year round. Within the building you'll also find rehearsal rooms, two black-box studios, costume construction and wardrobe stores, a design studio, a scenic workshop, computer aided design facilities and video-editing and sound recording

Explore our facilities

Extensive resources

Our greatest resource is our links with the local community. Partnership working is fundamental to applied theatre, and the unique requests and needs of our community partners inspire and shape our work with them.

Leeds University Library is one of the UK's major academic research libraries, and has extensive holdings to support your studies including Special Collections offering a huge range of rare books, manuscripts and art. You'll have access to materials relating to Leeds Playhouse, Phoenix Dance Theatre, and more.

Many of the Library's materials are available online, allowing you to access them from a distance. You'll also have access to study services like one-to-one support and skills development workshops, which will help you to get the most out of your time with us.

This degree will open up a broad range of career opportunities within and around the cultural and creative industries. You'll gain in-depth knowledge of theatre and performance in a global context allowing you to pursue an international career.

Careers may include an artistic practitioner, producer, administrator, theatre manager, policy maker, educator among others. There is a wide variety of careers and employability support available across the University to help you with your career.

Graduates from similar courses have continued with their research and progressed to PhD study.

Careers support

We encourage you to prepare for your career from day one. That's one of the reasons Leeds graduates are so sought after by employers.

The Careers Centre and staff in your faculty provide a range of help and advice to help you plan your career and make well-informed decisions along the way, even after you graduate. Find out more at the Careers website.

Apply

There are three steps to applying:

1. Read our Access to Leeds application guidelines
2. Fill in our Access to Leeds application form (this will be available here once the application cycle opens). If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader), there is an accessible version of this form available to download. Please only use this version if you have accessibility requirements
3. Submit your application using our online Access to Leeds Application Submission Form (this will be available here once the application cycle opens).

If you require it for your application, please download our Declaration of Household Income Form (this will be available here once the application cycle opens).