📖Program Curriculum
The underlying aim of this course is to prepare you to co-create or support the production of imaginative impactful meaningful arts-based interventions in collaboration with participants external partners and audiences.
From the outset your focus is on the development of an independent project which utilises participatory creative practice. This could for example include: a cultural or heritage project designed to provide participants with agency over their identities; a workshop or series of masterclasses held in schools or the community to educate through participatory discovery; arts-based research into how people understand a particular space or building or research designed to inform creative processes or activities themselves.
Culminating in a fully conceptualised project you’ll undertake a journey of self-discovery which takes you through the principles and processes required to devise collaborative arts activity such as funding sources logistics how to establish a contract with an external partner or how to manage conflict and contestation in your work.
The MA Creative Practice can be studied as either a one-year full-time or two-year part-time course with start dates in September. You will complete 180 credits comprising one optional module (30 credits) and five compulsory modules (150 credits).
The core modules include the substantive Creative Practice Independent Project module which provides an exciting opportunity to work potentially in collaboration with external partners to devise an educational theatrical artistic or community-based creative project. The type of practice you choose can be as creative as you like and is not limited to one specific discipline – anything from dance design music or magazine production to sewing pottery filmmaking fine art and more.
For your optional module you can choose to undertake a work placement for example in a school theatre gallery museum or creative business. Students from this School previously for example developed branding and social content for Baba Baboon a promotional hub all about Stoke-on-Trent Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire.
The course can also be studied on a modular basis with individual modules taken as CPD short courses with the option to be subsequently counted towards a full MA.
Core Taught Modules
SEMESTER 1
CPA-40001 Collaborative Working: Theory and Methods (15 credits)
Drawing on recent work in the field this module introduces you to key theories and approaches in arts-based participatory practice deepening your theoretical and critical understanding of creative practice and research. Studying various practices and approaches including cultural animation walking art and geopoetics it covers some of the challenges for example in creating a common purpose distributing leadership or holding partners to account and how to overcome them. You’ll learn more about how to plan and deliver partnership work taking account of ethics regulatory compliance and legal frameworks.
HIS-40017 Research Skills in the Humanities (15 credits)
You will receive training in the practical and technical skills necessary for postgraduate research in the humanities so you will be able to plan then find and use the necessary resources for your research and writing. This includes: relevant University regulations; procedures for managing a research degree; the differences between popular press dissemination of research and academic forms; how to identify issues of research ethic affecting your work; and how to use real-world and digital archives and be creative in looking for primary research sources such as film archives digitised magazines and pamphlets first editions of out of print literature. You will also develop essential personal and professional skills in time stress and project management.
SEMESTER 2
CPA-40003 Collaborative Working: Practice and Evaluation (15 credits)
This module introduces you to a range of recent ground-breaking collaborative arts-based interventions using a variety of arts-based methods including creative writing public heritage public history visual methods and ethnography. Examples includeThe Poetry Pharmacy Circling and Decommissioning the 20th Century. This is supported by planning practice sessions covering project planning grant applications resource management ethics and health and safety documentation. The goal is to help you devise imaginative and impactful arts-based practice giving you the tools to overcome some of the challenges posed by shared projects and develop the skills for team working and collaboration for all forms of creative practice.
HIS-40016 Reflective Practice in the Humanities (15 credits)
Reflective practice describes a systematic approach to reflection that involves creating a habit structure and routine around reflecting on our experiences and engaging in continuous learning. Whether you choose to learn from experience as an individual or with others there are many benefits to be gained from sharing ideas experiences and considering how you can change or improve your creative practice. Throughout this module you will be asked to explore the intellectual connections between your research area and wider fields of study. We look at ‘big ideas’ relevant to contemporary society such as the concept of ‘post truth’ ‘big data’ and the pulling down of statues and we work to understand them from the perspective of our disciplines.
SEMESTER 1 2 AND 3
CPA-40005 Creative Practice Independent Project (90 credits)
The project is your chance to apply the skills and understanding you develop during the course to conceive devise and deliver an independent real-world research project and demonstrate your understanding of the legal ethical and governance dimensions of conducting arts-based participatory research and practice. You begin planning your project from the start of the course giving you time to develop your thinking and allow for research and experimentation. You’ll be supported by a programme of workshops to help assess the feasibility of your ideas and establish what needs to be done to realise them. Projects may involve collaboration with other students and external partners and you have the freedom to choose your own medium be it writing creative media heritage music pottery photography human geography or anything else. Graduates from this School regularly share their different art forms within the community via locations as diverse as car boot sales train stations primary schools and the back of a converted ambulance.
Optional Modules
You will choose one of the following modules.
ENG-40041 The Writer in the Community (30 credits)
If you are interested in gaining real-life practical experience of the cultural landscape in which writers typically work this optional project-based module gives you the chance to participate in a 12-week project within our local community. Possible projects include: designing and delivering creative writing workshops; mentoring less experienced writers; steering a literary editing project; setting up and putting on a literary event; or creating a web-based literary resource. Recent examples have included creating audio poetry experiences linked to natural spaces; using QR codes to merge poetry and ambient music; and being The Car Boot Poet.
ENG-40057 Work Placement for Humanities (30 credits)
You have an opportunity to spend around 100 hours on work placement in an environment where your research analytical and communication skills can be put to use in a meaningful way such as a local museum theatre library school marketing company local newspaper or radio station. For example you may research and produce materials to advertise or support an exhibit or performance or you might be able to contribute material to the project itself in the form of creative pieces or through education-based activities. One of our PhDs student undertook a placement to design a blog and produce website content for the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum in Lichfield. You will gain valuable experience that you can apply in the future and gain a deeper understanding of what might be expected in collaborative projects.
MDS-40016 Creative Media Practice (30 credits)
Combining theory with hands-on experience you’ll develop a stronger working sense of using film video photography or digital media. You will learn how to conceptualise plan and manage a large media project. You’ll eventually pitch your creative project to tutors and peers.
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