FdA Performing Arts

Year 1:

• Creative Industries Context – develop an appreciation of the creative industries, its products and audiences.
• Teaching in the Creative Arts – learn how to deliver practical workshops or taught sessions to supplement your income. 
• Specialist Skill (Acting) – the core acting principles with a focus on characterisation, monologues, duologues and scripted works to develop your skills in voice, speech and movement.
• Performance Project 1 – a practical creative teamwork project to generate a response to a creative brief; a short film, radio programme, performance, installation or live event.
• Specialist Skill (Musical Theatre) – learn the core performance disciplines of singing for Musical Theatre and voice for Professional and Commercial Dance), acting (text, improvisation, physical theatre) and dance (ballet, jazz and tap).
• Screen acting – You will rehearse record short scripts for video, involving studio work and encouraged to create your own media. 

Year 2

• Professional Practice and Entrepreneurship – your career management and developing a progression plan, CV writing and applying for work, pitching and professional presentation.
• Content creation – explore your own creativity in producing scripts or articles in your specialist area.
• Performance Project 2 – extend your skills from year 1 to generate a suitable showcase of your work to industry professionals.
• Specialist Skill (Acting) – applying voice and speech techniques to performance, physical techniques, monologues, duologues and script work and rehearsal and performance, and responding to direction.
• Specialist Skill (Musical Theatre) – continue your professional development as a technical artist in Acting, Singing and Dance (ballet, tap and jazz).

Entry to this course requires 80 UCAS tariff points. T Level qualifications are accepted, a T Level PASS with a minimum of a grade A*-C (equates to 96 UCAS points). We also consider individual applicants who can demonstrate relevant learning, work/voluntary experience, using our Recognition of Prior Learning process.

We take an innovative approach to assessing our students. We use a range of new methods including the use of YouTube videos, podcasts, online blogs, with vlogs replacing the use of logbooks and viva voce spoken assessments replacing the more traditional written evaluations. We aim to make sure that the skills you develop for an assessment are transferable and while we still use traditional forms of assessment such as performances and essays for some aspects of the course we make sure that both the content and the format of these assessments are relevant and valuable to you in a professional setting. There is an opportunity for collaborative work with students from your programme and those from other areas of the School. This often includes Performing Arts students working on performances alongside Film, Media Make-up, Fashion and Music to create professional standard productions. These collaborations also lead to networking opportunities with other creatives and the forging of relationships that endure after graduation. An example submission for a piece of performance;

• A weekly vlog of your progress through the rehearsal period
• The recording of the performance
• A recorded viva voce

There will be a work placement (40 hours minimum) and this could be over a number of weeks, as part of day release, or in a block. Examples of placement opportunities include a runner on a TV set, an actor with the Graduate Company, an assistant director with at a theatre or a writer with a production company. As part of the Teaching in the Creative Arts module you will be required to undertake some teaching practice. The minimum requirement is 30 hours and this could be over a number of weeks, partial day release or in a block. In Year 2 of the FdA, students follow a year-long work experience module with opportunities to embed themselves in a locally based company. In recent years students have worked at The Science and Media Museum; Liberty Arts, Yorkshire; Falling Stars Theatre Company; The Brick Box; Bradford Fringe Festival and with acclaimed dance artist Vince Virr. Through our relationship with Bradford Producing Hub we are expanding the number of work experience partners that we work with and every student will be allocated a placement that embeds them within the local cultural ecology which is currently gearing up to making a bid for City of Culture in 2025. All of our placement providers are committed to nurturing locally based creatives and developing longer term relationships which may lead to employment post-graduation.

Our Graduates progress into a number of different pathways, most stay to complete their full degree with our BA (Hons) in Performance Top Up year. From there they can join our Graduate Company and take advantage of the industry links they have made and the opportunities that are increasingly available in the local area. This is an excellent way to gain paid work in the Performing Arts.

Other Costs: Approx. £500 for trips, visits to exhibitions and shows. (all optional)

This is representative of the most common fees scenario, but actual fees can vary depending on a number of factors. Please contact us if you need more guidance.