• Are you interested in learning, developing and researching the impact in performance of design elements?
• Are you a critical thinker with an eye for detail?
• Do you enjoy collaborative working and devising in inter-disciplinary groups?
• Do you want to initiate performance ideas?
• Are you a creative individual keen to develop a directorial vision for performance events?
• Do you want to develop a critical and reflective understanding of performance?
• Are you interested in creating innovative contemporary performances through devising processes and individual experimentation?

 

On the Performance Design programme you will explore design and creative technological applications for performance through engaging with costume, space and light and the way these elements interact with texts and performing bodies.
We focus on performance-making practices where design is central to the audience experience. To this end, you will explore the potential of image-based and experimental forms of performance. This degree suits students who are interested in the design, direction and initiation of performance events.
 
COURSE OVERVIEW

For the Programme Catalogue link through here

‘Scenography’ is defined as the manipulation and orchestration of the performance environment. The term encompasses lighting design, set design and costume design and goes further. It also refers to the way all the material aspects of performance work over time and in conjunction with other aspects of performance such as text and body.

The Performance Design programme focuses on these scenographic elements. Students investigate the interaction of space, imagery, technology, objects and the body and consider how this can make meaning for an audience. Through studio-based working and through studying key concepts and practices in contemporary performance, students develop practical and conceptual skills in scenography; developing design processes and an appreciation of design in performance.

Performance-based projects allow practical exploration of the properties of light and projection, spatial structure, costume, puppetry and objects in the creation of scenographic environments. Design projects promote skills in textual analysis, developing and evaluating design ideas, and the use of traditional and computer-aided forms of modelling to present ideas.

The first year is common to all students but in year 2 and year 3 students have increasing scope to focus on specific areas of performance design and tailor their studies to suit their developing interests; for example, students may choose to focus their studies through particular aspects of performance design such as lighting or costume or setting. Students at every level will have the opportunity to work both individually and as part of a group to develop their creative potential in performance design.

In common with the other students in the School, Performance Design students develop an understanding of the wider context of performance and the cultural industries, addressing key ideas, theoretical models and research methods in the field, and exploring the techniques and issues of creative interdisciplinary collaboration. This ensures a high level of understanding between the specialist degree programmes in the School and establishes the possibility for effective collaboration across the other undergraduate programmes in the school.

In addition to specific subject knowledge, students develop generic skills in research, high level written and verbal communication, creativity, team working and problem solving.
In year 3, students have the opportunity to undertake a short period of study in a professional context within performance, the cultural industries, educational or other appropriate organisations. Between level 2 and level 3 students in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries can opt for an additional year of study abroad at another university or a year in industry

BA (Hons) Performance Design

Level 1 Study

Elements of Scenography (20 credits)

‘Scenography’ is defined as the manipulation and orchestration of the performance environment. The term encompasses lighting design, set design and costume design and goes further. It also refers to the way all the material aspects of performance work over time and in conjunction with other aspects of performance such as text and body.
This studio-based module has students working in groups to explore the use of using light, space, time, costume and objects in the creation of performance environments. It develops students’ practical understanding of key concepts in scenography through experimentation with materials and the introduction of the ideas of key practitioners and pioneers in scenography.  Students work towards creating a series of theatrical scenarios leading towards a design-led performance which builds upon the discoveries made during the module. Assessment focuses on the reflection and analysis of practical work.

Performance Design Process (20 credits)

In this studio-based module students work individually as scenographer/director in response to a specified theatrical text. Students learn how to create a speculative design (set, light and costume) and directorial scheme. Using scenographic ideas they re-interpret and re-imagine classic texts for contemporary performance. They develop skills in; textual analysis; researching, developing and evaluating design ideas for performance; critiquing their own work and that of their peers; modelling; drawing; storyboarding; using computer aided design and presenting their ideas to others.

Performance Perspectives (20 credits) and Cultures of Performance (20 credits)

These two modules form a common spine of learning for all PCI students throughout the first year. The aim of the modules is to introduce all of our students to a range of perspectives on contemporary performance (e.g. space, time, technology, the body, organisation, interactivity) and key theories and concepts in culture and performance (e.g. popular culture, performance and everyday life, semiotics, phenomenology, gender  and identity, creativity and control).
These modules are taught through lectures and programme-specific seminar groups enabling students to see how overarching ideas about performance and culture can be useful in understanding their specific area of study. These modules help students to develop core research skills in reading, analysis and academic writing.

 

Collaborative Process (20 credits)

This module brings students from all three PCI undergraduate programmes to work together in interdisciplinary groups through the medium of performance. The aim is to use workshops and seminars to explore creative, collaborative processes and concepts and allow students from different disciplines to share and exchange ideas. Students learn how to develop ideas in collaboration and reflect on their individual contributions to the group. Theories of creativity, team working and contemporary practice in devised and collaborative performance provide a frame of reference for this module.

Elective Module (20 Credits)

Students choose an elective module from a vast array of possibilities offered through many departments across the University. In the School of Performance and Cultural Industries Level 1 electives include: Exploring the Musical, Stage Management, Dance Technique

 

 

BA (Hons) Performance Design

Level 2 StudyStrategies for Research (20 credits)

How can we know what impact performance and the cultural industries have on society? How can we investigate aspects such as creativity and collaboration? Building on core skills introduced at Level 1, this module looks at the range of ways in which new knowledge in performance and the cultural industries can be developed. Students are introduced to the way different methods can be applied to real-life examples and they explore ways in which they would go about pursuing their own research project. The aim of this module is to support students in developing their capacity as researchers and as critical thinkers. It supports students in developing their understanding of current research in their subject area and also helps develop valuable and transferable academic skills.

Image Based Performance (20 credits)
This module further develops scenographic skills introduced at Level 1 and requires students to create their own innovative performances through an expressive use of light, space, projection and objects. The module enables a more sophisticated consideration of the manipulation, interaction and synthesis of scenographic elements and their impact on an audience in performance. Students develop an appreciation of the way scenography is used in contemporary performance and through exploring contemporary practice and theories about the way scenographic performance works learn how it can be analysed. Students are encouraged to experiment with a variety of materials and technologies to respond to creative challenges and create scenographic statements in performance. In this module students extend their range of critical references and develop their capacity for presenting ideas to others.

Collaborative Performance Project (20 credits)
This module allows students to evaluate the role of performance in culture and society through a live project. It builds on the collaborative processes developed at Level 1. Working in interdisciplinary groups, students bring their specialist skills to a collaborative performance project with a partner organisation from outside the University which will emerge through a negotiated brief. Students investigate the needs of particular audiences (or client groups) and undertake research. Under the supervision of tutors, students define and develop a range of skills through a collaborative process which culminates in a performance event. This might take the form of a community performance and/or workshop activity for the client or partner organisation. Students will develop evaluation methodologies in order to assess the project’s effectiveness. Recent partners have included Opera North, West Yorkshire Fire Service, New Hall Prison, West Yorkshire Playhouse, The National Mining Museum and Leeds City Art Gallery.

Design Presentation (20 credits)
This module refines students’ individual aesthetic and processes of design for performance. Working with reference to specific theatre spaces (e.g. venues at the West Yorkshire Playhouse),
students develop design ideas from a choice of texts within a quasi-professional context. Students are expected to work as both director and scenographer in creating a vision for their chosen performance text and space. This module further develops skills in exploring and evaluating design ideas, modelling, drawing and presenting creative ideas to others. Students are encouraged to examine a range of approaches and techniques including; 3D modelling, sketches, storyboarding, technical drawing, experimentation with materials, using the miniature model box lighting rig, computer-aided design, visual manipulation through digital photography and software.

Semester One or Semester Two Option - Independent Industry Study (20 credits)
This module aims to provide individual insight into a specific area of work within the cultural and creative industries. It requires you to undertake a placement within a relevant professional context and then to evaluate both the placement and your own learning arising from it. With guidance and support from tutors and the University careers staff, students will identify personal learning objectives for a placement of approximately 70 hours. This can take place over a short intense working period or spread out over a number of weeks depending on what is appropriate and practical. Examples include arts organisations, theatres, broadcast media, design agencies, advertising agencies, schools, colleges, companies working within communities. This module provides an opportunity to meet cultural industries professionals, understand their working practices, and reflect upon opportunities and implications for future employment.

Semester One Option - Dance in Context (20 Credits)
This module studies the application of dance in a variety of contexts. The module will focus on agendas such as inclusion, empowerment, ownership, and self-expression and will explore how these ideas impact on dance as artistic practice. Students will be asked to consider how practitioners retain artistic integrity when dance is being used as a means to facilitate cross-disciplinary research, to make political statements, to educate and to provoke social change. Students will be introduced to a range of different contexts across the module. These might include dance for mental health, dance as dementia treatment, inclusive practice, dance as a means to self-knowledge, the place of dance in the education system, dance and politics, dance and philosophy, dance and contemporary culture. The module is delivered through lectures, practice-led workshops, seminars, group and solo work as well as group discussion and uses theory and practice in combination to develop an understanding of applied dance practice and choreographic outcomes.

Semester One Option - Arts Marketing (20 credits)
This module is for those students looking to gain knowledge and understanding of current practices within arts marketing. It explores key marketing concepts and frameworks and examines how those are applied to specific cultural organisations. Students will review current debates about how marketing should be applied to cultural activities and the impact cultural policy has on the marketing function in the UK. Emphasis will be placed on reviewing research and theories on consumer behaviour. Students will reflect on the implications of these factors and how they affect price, product and promotions for cultural organisations. The module is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars and informal group work. In these sessions students will examine generic marketing principles and the particular problems facing those engaged in marketing the arts. A range of marketing tools for overcoming these issues will be explored.

Semester One Option - Modernism and Postmodernism in Performance (20 credits)
This module explores intersections between the arts and theatre, ranging from the late nineteenth century to the present. Weekly sessions will examine innovations in performance, theatre, design, dance and live art, including the influences of philosophical, social and technological developments during this period. A programme of readings, lectures and seminars will highlight the work of selected practitioners acknowledged for their contribution to the radical reinterpretations of the 20th and 21st centuries. Delivered through group seminar and some practical exploration, teaching will be structured to allow for close study of particular reactions to and departures from early Naturalism and Realism, and the key artistic movements within which these reactions were given expression, e.g. Symbolism, Expressionism, Dada, Surrealism, Absurdism, Epic Theatre. This will be followed by investigation of the concept of the ‘postmodern’ in performance, including key practitioners and works that belong within the historical and cultural period of ‘postmodernity’.

Semester Two Option - Practice-led Research (20 credits)
This module reflects contemporary approaches to practice-led research in performance and therefore introduces you to the intersection of academic and professional practice. It allows you to develop a deeper understanding of what practice through research might be within the field of performance and you will discover how cutting edge knowledge is produced in this way. The module encourages collaborative, interdisciplinary working. With advice and guidance from module staff you will develop a research proposal and pursue this through practical work either on your own or in small groups if your research interests can be seen to be mutually beneficial. Projects might focus on techniques for devising, the investigation of audience experience, site-specific performance or any other related subject where conducting practical research is the best way to pursue your research questions. The module is delivered through lectures, seminars and tutorials and requires students to work independently on their own project.

Semester Two Option - Staging Histories (20 credits)
This module is dedicated to an exploration of the varied relationships between performance and history: the history in performance as well as the history of performance. It focuses on pre-20th century theatre, design, dance and performance, and concerns itself with historical texts that include scripts, photographs, drawings, models, designs, diaries, descriptions and criticisms. The investigation will necessarily draw on the related concepts of the past, time and memory, as well as their expressions in such diverse notions as heritage, nostalgia, retrospectives, tradition, reminiscence, convention, reconstruction, revival, archaeology and so on. In other words, the module is designed to range widely over the broad territory that connects ‘performance’ and ‘history’, and is not simply concerned with ‘performance history’ as such. Delivered through group seminar students will be asked to consider how a performance’s original conditions of production influenced its form and content, and how subsequent generations interpreted that text in accordance with their own conditions. The aim is not to study historical texts as museum pieces, but to understand the use of these texts as sites of negotiation between different historical periods, including the contemporary.

Semester Two Option - Cultural Flashpoints in the Performing Arts (20 credits)
This module examines case studies from across the performing arts disciplines; theatre, dance, music theatre, film, popular music taking specific examples that may be seen to originate from creative and cultural flashpoints in the 20th Century. The module explores how certain periods of time generated particular cultural shifts and examines how this relates to the social and political landscape from which they emerge. Case studies for close analysis might include the performing arts and the rise of Fascism in the 1930s, new British Theatre in the 1950s, British New Wave Film in the 1960s, punk rock during the 1970s. Delivered through a series of lectures students will be encouraged to evaluate the impact of cultural artefacts on British and European culture and to demonstrate cultural knowledge through a detailed study of an agreed and focussed performance area of their own choosing.

Level 2 PCI Optional & Elective Modules;

e.g. Arts Marketing, Introduction to Intercultural Performance, Cultural Flashpoints in Theatre, Film and Popular Music,  Dance in Context

 

BA (Hons) Performance Design

Level 3 Study

Contemporary Issues in the Cultural Industries (20 credits)
This module looks at relevant cultural, social and economic theories to investigate public policies and funding models. Students study the shifting and evolving nature of performance and cultural industries labour markets, typical modes of professional practice, the role of networks, markets and public policies, the organisational characteristics of the performance and cultural industries and, the nature of risk in the creative market-place. Students are asked to investigate an area of performance and the cultural industries in the light of key contemporary themes; enterprise, creativity, innovation, regeneration, access, education and social and cultural participation.

Scenographic Scheme (20 credits)
In this module students develop a scenographic scheme for performance. The text of this performance may be a written dramatic work; it may be a proposition for devised performance; or it may be that of a scenographic
aesthetic event or installation. Drawing on their own individual skills and interests, students will work with an
appropriate combination of site, architecture, performance technologies, scenery, costume, lighting and sound. Students are required to take a directorial approach and to convey their scenographic vision in a formal
presentation to an audience. This module therefore allows students to develop a detailed proposal for an innovative performance event either within an existing theatre space or in response to a specific site. Recent Scenographic Schemes have produced proposals for the National Theatre, Sheffield Crucible, and for Festival locations as well as site-specific and immersive performances designed for spaces including; warehouses, market places, multi-storey car parks, forests and underground city-centre vaults.

Performance Project (40 credits)
In this module students build on their experience of collaborative projects at previous levels and draw on specialist skills and understanding that have been developed in programme modules to create a large-scale public performance for stage@leeds. Students work in a professional mode to carry out specific roles in relation to their degree specialism and their own range of interests as appropriate to the context of the particular project. Activities might include; directing; writing; dramaturgy; management; marketing; voice, movement, and physical performance; dance; set and costume design; lighting, sound. Students will work on the production quasi-independently, developing material from staff-led workshops and realising ideas with the advice and guidance of the supervising tutor(s) and with the support, tuition and monitoring from other academic and technical staff as appropriate. OR

Enterprise Project (40 credits)
This module enables students to develop knowledge of entrepreneurship as it applies within the cultural and creative domains normally outside the School and frequently outside the University. Working with the tutor, students will identify a context within which they will have the opportunity to practice their entrepreneurial skills and apply their entrepreneurial knowledge. Past projects in this module have included creating, managing, and marketing a
one-off event in collaboration with university-based or external partners and social enterprise programmes developed to serve at-risk youths and cancer patients.

Dissertation (40 credits)
This module is an extended research project where the student identifies a research question pertinent to knowledge in performance and the cultural industries and devises and carries out a strategy to address that question. The Dissertation demonstrates that you can work independently, conduct research which involves dealing with a range of material and complex ideas and communicate the outcome through a coherent and well-structured piece of original writing. As well as the traditional format (a 10,000 - 12,000 word thesis) the dissertation can also include an element of field-work conducted within a short period of study in an industry context or an element of practice-led enquiry. In these cases the student may, with the agreement of the dissertation supervisor, submit a shorter dissertation together with an appendix which documents the methods and key findings from the field-work/practice-led work. This module provides students with an opportunity to conduct an extended piece of research of their own choosing that builds on previous knowledge from earlier modules, allowing greater immersion into a subject of personal interest.

 

Year in Industry

What is the Year in Industry?
This is the opportunity to turn your three year degree into a four year degree, the BA Performance Design (industry) by undertaking a work based placement  for the equivalent of an academic year.   
You will be able to apply the knowledge and skills you have gained through the first two years of your degree, and learn from high achieving professional individuals and organisations within the creative and cultural industries. 
Some posts will be waged whilst  others will provide a package including expenses and training.
Before and doing  your placement you will receive a great deal of support and training from the Careers Centre and the School of PCI, including pre-placement training, a workplace visit, and regular phone/email contact.  

What are the benefits of undertaking a Year in Industry?
It  is a unique opportunity to:

• test and expand  your personal , academic and professional   attributes;
• improve your CV and enhance your employability;
• experience the day-to-day running of a  business;
• have worked based learning supported by University expertise and recognised in your degree title.

Recent research in the University has shown that work placements have a positive impact on academic achievement in the final year. 

Where have our students worked?
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts, Newcastle (events)
Dancexchange Birmingham (Marketing)
Enterprise Rent-a-Car  (Management scheme)
Prysmian Cables Ltd (Marketing and Acquisitions)
National Dance Company of Wales (Marketing and Project Management)
Prince’s Trust (Fundraising)
St Nicholas’ Primary School Leeds
Vauxhall Motors (Marketing and Event Management)
Warner Bros  (Marketing)
West Yorkshire Theatre  Networks (Marketing and Events)

How do I find out more?
There is an introductory talk at the end of level one for all level one students.

During the autumn term of the academic year, there is an open lecture for all level two students.  This is followed by a series of structured workshops and tutorials run  across the year in collaboration with the University’s Careers Centre for those  who decide to enrol on the module. 

Whilst a fundamental element of this module is to equip students with the skills they need to find
their own placement, the School has also developed a database of company contacts. Individuals will have tutorials with the School Placements  Tutor to support their applications and preparation.

What is the assessment?
The year is a pass/fail and does not contribute to your degree classification.   To pass, you must successfully complete the placement itself and complete two takes on you return.  Firstly, you will submit a written assignment  and oral contribution in an appropriate form –  for example,  as a contribution to a taught module, as an input to an Open Day, as a pod cast for the School web site, as a case study for the Careers Centre website.  The assessment items will become invaluable elements of your  CV.

Click here for the Year in Industry module information

Study Abroad

As part of their studies, all PCI undergraduate students can opt to spend a year studying abroad in a partner institution.

Click here for more information on Study Abroad.

 

Graduate opportunities

• Further academic study
• A wide range of opportunities in the culturalindustries sector, for example;
• Freelance design and making for theatre,film and television
• Work as part of a performance company
• Event design and production
• Directing
• Producing
• Arts administration
• Community arts work
• Education

The high-level generic and transferable skills our students develop also mean that they are suited to professional training in areas
beyond the arts. A Leeds University degree is highly respected, with proven advantages for graduate employment.