This advanced degree programme concerns itself with exploring the relationship between the three key terms of Performance, Culture and Context. It begins with the notion that performance cannot exist in a vacuum and that any investigation of performance practice leads us to an examination of the society and culture from which it emerges. How performance contributes to how we make meaning and how it influences, infuses and shapes our understanding of the world is a central strand of the programme.

During this degree programme you will be challenged to experiment and stretch your definition of what constitutes performance. You will be asked to think between and across disciplines. You will be asked to consider the new places where performance is emerging, whether on the street, in festivals or in ‘telematic’ cyber space. You will investigate how practitioners of the future might create resonant and exciting work relevant to the 21st century and its shifting cultural landscape.

By studying MA Performance, Culture and Context you will be able to build upon your own existing expertise and experience and to reinvigorate your practice by situating it in a research led environment. You will be able to explore contemporary techniques, styles and concepts both individually and in collaboration with others, and examine the role of performance practice and meaning making in response to a rapidly changing world.

You will be taught by leading academics with a range of specialisms and will be able to take an active part in the research culture of the school. Taking an MA may lead you to new career opportunities and to further doctoral study.

You will be able to work within stage@leeds, a state-of-the art performance space equipped with the latest technical facilities at the heart of the Leeds campus. You will be able to take part in our annual MA festival, New Stages, where new writing meets cutting edge performance, workshops and guest speakers. With its mix of professional touring work, tutor-led performance projects and a vibrant postgraduate festival, the stage@leeds complex is never quiet.

 

• The programme encourages practical interaction and dialogue between students, and with those on our other MA programmes.
  
  
• You will be supported by tutors with a wide range of expertise and with research specialisms in one or more of the following areas:

Interactive and applied theatre
Club cultures, sub cultures and post-punk performance
Festival Performance
20th and 21st Century performer training
Contemporary live art and compositional practices
Digital performance, scenography and computer visualisation
Site specific performance
Physical theatre and the performing body

• Core modules focus on the cultural and theoretical contexts of performance, contemporary performance practices, and research techniques. Optional modules offer the chance to pursue an individual project of your own, to study creative processes or how performance might be documented, or to shadow a professional artist or cultural organisation as part of an analysis of creative work. All students undertake an extended research project of their own, which may include a significant element of performance practice.
  

 

The MA in Performance, Culture and Context is an advanced degree programme for arts graduates, established professionals and practitioners who want to rethink and renew their performance skills and knowledge. It is aimed at:

• existing arts or cultural practitioners who wish to understand more about their own practice and to view it through a variety of theoretical frames
• arts graduates with aspirations to become cultural and creative activists of the future
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• graduates, practitioners and performers who are ready to open new doors to their own profession through further study and collaboration
• individuals who are interested in the social and cultural dimensions of performance and the impact it might have on the world
• critical thinkers and reflective practitioners
• performers, makers, educators, artists, community workers, technologists and others who have an interest in investigating the purpose and position of performance in a global context.
  
  
  

You can pursue this programme full-time or part-time so combining it with work and other commitments is a possibility.

 

First Semester

For full time students, Semester One is composed of the following modules:

• Research Perspectives – compulsory module (30 credits)
• Contemporary Performance Practices (30 credits)
• Performance Contexts (30 credits)

 

Second Semester

For full time students, Semester Two consists of the following modules: 

• Research Project  - compulsory module (60 credits)
• Students choose one of the following two options:
• Creative Work (30 credits)
• Individual Project (30 credits)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graduate Destinations

• Many students use the degree to springboard them into a new career or to redirect their existing knowledge and expertise.
• Other students will take the degree in order to go back to their existing profession with a new perspective, using their additional experience and qualification to progress their careers.
• The degree is suitable for a career in performance practice, direction and facilitation, community arts, education, arts administration and management, events and cultural planning, broadcasting and the media, advertising, journalism and other creative industries.
• Some students continue follow the MA with doctoral study (MPhil or PhD).
  
  

• You can apply online at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/info/20022/postgraduate_taught/81/applying_for_taught_programmes.
  If you require further details and want to speak to a member of the Post graduate Admissions staff please contact: admissions-pci@leeds.ac.uk or Ms Jane Richardson Admissions Secretary 0113 343 8714
• When the School receives your application, we will contact you. Wherever possible, we call candidates for interview. For international students, this can be a telephone interview. We will let you know the result of your application as soon as possible

• For more information: contact Programme Director Dr Fiona Bannon f.bannon@leeds.ac.uk

Entry Requirements

University Admissions Policy can be found here

• Please note: Applicants should hold an Honours degrees of at least upper second class or equivalent. Exceptions to this academic requirement may be made when applicants can demonstrate significant relevant industry experience.
  
  
• For international students, it is likely that if English is your second language, you will need to prove English proficiency (see link above for more information).  This can be demonstrated in a number of ways, including:
  
  1.  IELTS: an overall band 6.5 with not less than 6.0 in all components;
  
  2.   TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) internet-based test: a total score of 94, with not less than: 21 in listening, 23 in reading and speaking, and 24 in writing

 

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