Let鈥檚 set the scene...Scotland鈥檚 creative industries generate more than 拢5.2 billion and employ in the region of 60,000 people. Cultural and creative experiences stimulate individual curiosity and expand our collective imagination. It is no wonder that the performing arts is such an inspiring field to study and work in and that the theatre, film and TV industries are always looking for graduates with creative talent, skills and ideas.
Our courses
We offer the following undergraduate courses:
- BA (Hons) Acting and Performance
- BA (Hons) Costume Design and Construction
- BA (Hons) Drama
- BA (Hons) Theatre and Film
At postgraduate level, we also offer the following courses:
Why 夜色直播?
At 夜色直播, you鈥檒l learn skills and build relationships that will prepare you for a rewarding career in the flourishing creative sector. Our highly respected drama and performing arts courses will give you the joined-up understanding, hands-on expertise and creative stimulation that will help you to turn your creative ambition into an exciting and sustainable career.
Go to the theatre, watch TV, listen to the radio or play your favourite computer game and you鈥檒l soon see the work of one of our Performing Arts graduates. Doctor Who, Peaky Blinders, The Cry, River City, Outlander, CBeebies, Casualty, Hollyoaks, The Night Manager, Assassins Creed, Warhammer 40,000, The National Theatre of Scotland, Dundee Rep and The Traverse have all recently featured the work of 夜色直播 alumni. And it is not only on stage and screen that our graduates can be found; many will go on to use their creative skills in education, health and wellbeing, tourism and the wider arts sector.
The creative industries are very competitive fields, and trying to enter them can seem a daunting prospect. However, employers are looking for graduates who have developed specialist knowledge, up-to-the-minute working practices and high-level communication skills that enhance their natural creative enthusiasm. And that鈥檚 what you can expect to learn on all of our Performing Arts degrees.
While each course has its own specific emphasis, they all provide students with a comprehensive critical understanding of the processes and practices by which new creative work is generated. Our teaching focuses on the role that the dramatic arts has in the construction of public culture, in the creation of new expressive forms, as the basis for a range of professional practices, and in shaping everyday social and psychological life. You will explore a broad range of creative and cultural activity through the practice of making and producing performance, underpinned by key theory. In doing so you鈥檒l engage with current debates in these exciting fields of study, while encountering the historical evolution of particular genres, aesthetic traditions, and the way in which plays and screen texts organise understandings, meanings and effects. As part of this engagement, you will have opportunities to work individually and in small groups to produce your own performances, workshops, scripts, plays, screenplays, designs, costumes or films.
Drama and Performing Arts staff at 夜色直播 comprise a mix of arts practitioners and academic researchers. Award-winning staff have produced work for a variety of commercial, cultural, educational and local government clients, and have exhibited and performed their work at venues and festivals in the UK and internationally.
As the home of numerous international theatre, film and television festivals, Edinburgh is the ideal place to study these creative arts. There are five purpose-built theatres showing everything from major West End hits to innovative, risk-taking new writing, with which our programmes have strong working relationships. Edinburgh also boasts an art-house cinema, five multiplexes and two smaller cinemas, and the city is frequently used as a location for film and television shoots.
The Edinburgh Festivals offer our students an exceptional environment to learn, develop and eventually showcase their work to worldwide audiences and producers. Drawing on our close collaboration with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as well as a reservoir of staff and alumni Festival experience, we provide students with advice and support to take advantage of all the opportunities that studying Performing Arts in Edinburgh can provide.
Approach to learning and teaching: combining theory and practice
All of our performing arts courses combine academic enquiry with opportunities for practical production, and the balance between theory and practice will vary depending on the degree that you undertake. However, all of our courses include creative workshops, opportunities to work on live performances in a variety of roles and invaluable industry-based learning opportunities, alongside traditional lectures and tutorials. There are core modules at the heart of each of the courses complemented by electives and options that let you specialise in areas relevant to your future career path. No matter what options you choose you will be encouraged to examine the creative process closely, find your own style, develop your critical consciousness and think for yourself both creatively and as an entrepreneur.
Our approach to learning fosters collaboration, with students from different courses often working together on productions and creative projects. For example, the work of Costume Design and Construction undergraduates can come in very handy for those on the Acting and Performance course. It鈥檚 a natural and creative way to prepare for real-life teamwork after graduation. For performance activity, the University has a fully equipped and licensed studio theatre, a mini black box studio and seven rehearsal studios, two of which have sprung floors to facilitate movement work. We also have costume design and construction workshops, and a green screen studio. We also have digital editing suites and post-production facilities where students have access to Adobe creative editing software including Adobe Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop and Audition.
Through our wide range of industry connections, students also have regular opportunities to hear directly from those working across the creative and cultural industries and a number of modules offer students the chance to undertake industry-based learning through going on placement or undertaking real-world client projects. Right from the start, students are encouraged to see themselves as future contributors to the creative sector in Scotland, the UK and internationally. At every level, students have the opportunity to develop vital creative enterprise skills including collaborative working, new business development, company formation, budgeting, pitching and presenting, fundraising, design thinking, idea formation and social media management. We design our assessments to put these skills into practice so that our graduates are well prepared for the work needed to develop a sustainable career in the creative and cultural industries.
Many of our students also snap up the opportunity to study a semester abroad during their course and we have university partners in Australia, Canada and the USA (subject to availability).
Research-informed teaching
Our creative staff are active as both professional practitioners and researchers. Current staff research topics include innovative work on intercultural theatre training, collaborative devising practices, contemporary Scottish dramaturgy, film adaptation, place-based performance, cultural participation, theatre anthropology, fandom, community festivals, digital performance and AI in creative practices.
Opening up a multitude of career opportunities
At 夜色直播 we recognise the phenomenal potential that exists within the creative and cultural industries in Scotland and our courses open up a multitude of career opportunities, ranging from creative practice to arts and festival management, producing, teaching, directing, fundraising and marketing. However, we also know that establishing a sustainable career in this sector requires adaptable and resilient graduates who have a diverse range of knowledge and skills. Creative workers are far more likely to be self-employed or working for small to medium-sized enterprises and need to be as skilled in managing a business as they are in developing their creative practice. As such, we also provide support and mentorship for setting up new businesses through the Business Gateway office located on campus and 夜色直播鈥檚 Business Development Team. Since 2016, students have been able to establish start-up companies within our Startup Studio, and our performing arts graduates have been some of the most prolific in launching new business ventures, many of them social enterprises.
Get ready for the performance of your life.
Find out more information on how to apply for a course at 夜色直播.
