Undergraduate
BA (Hons) Street Arts: Performance and Production
Why study at Winchester? There are many reasons to study at the University
Our graduates have a strong track record of
of Winchester – but the one to consider most
finding employment after leaving the University.
is that you will become part of a safe and
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of the city centre of Winchester, which is only one
well at interview.
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BA Street Arts: Performance and Production The BA Street Arts: Performance and
wide range of partnerships. The degree
Production programme at Winchester is
balances the need to develop the creative
an exciting performance-based degree
capabilities of the students and also for
which explores how to create imaginative
them to have a working knowledge of
artist-led contemporary productions
different production and business models
Typical offer: 260-300 points*
in the new arenas of street arts and
that support their work within these
Single Honours
outdoor spaces. It is the only Street Arts
different sectors.
undergraduate degree in the world and it
FACT FILE
Selection process: Potentially suitable
has been shortlisted for Excellence and
You may want to create and produce
applicants may be invited to interview
Innovation in the Arts in the Times Higher
spectacular performances for festivals and
and/or a group workshop
Education Awards. This sector of the
large scale events; make and perform large
performing arts is innovative, diverse and
scale puppets; engage in the vibrant world
If English is not your first language:
rapidly expanding. In this programme,
of street dance, music and comedy; or
IELTS 6.0 (including 6.0 in writing)
students are encouraged to develop a
develop a show which you could perform in
or equivalent. If you do not have the
practice leading to the creation of a range
many different countries around the world.
necessary level of English there are
of performances and events.
As a performing artist, you may choose to
pre-sessional English language training
create and organise live events through
programmes available at the University
The Street Arts marketplace has extended
creative partnerships with city centres,
that may allow you to meet your
and expanded in the last ten years. It is no
the heritage industry and commercial
minimum entry requirements.
longer just a branch of the performing arts
companies or as part of community
that creates work for festivals and events
celebrations.
but now reaches over to new areas of
*Entry requirements correct at time of print. For the most up-to-date entry
practice that embraces the strategic aims
This degree programme encourages you
requirements please visit our website at
and objectives of the heritage industries,
to apply your existing skills to these new
www.winchester.ac.uk
social policy makers, commercial
contexts and strive for performances
organisations, environmental agencies and
of the highest quality. Productions take
arts and wellbeing.
shape under many influences and offer you the opportunity to transform your ideas
The contemporary Street Art student
into imaginative performances in a wide
needs to know how to produce work across
variety of settings through a process of
a variety of different situations within a
creative engagement and critical reflection.
www.winchester.ac.uk
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BA Street Arts: Performance and Production
Students devise and develop productions
practitioners and to develop portfolio of
which draw from a range of different
work across a network of events, festivals
subject areas and produce performances
and creation centres in the UK and Europe.
within an atmosphere of innovation and
This opportunity to develop your practice
creative development supported by a
allows you to build significant CV’s and
team of tutors all of whom have extensive
professional contacts whilst studying;
experience as street arts practitioners and
this is an important feature of the course.
who research and create contemporary
There are a number of street arts festivals
street arts projects.
for emergent artists which showcase the students work each year to invited
The degree develops your professional
producers and promoters including a
understanding of how to produce a range
festival run by the University.
of performances, events and festivals through the use of a range of performance
In the autumn, students have the
and production skills by working with
opportunity to develop work in the centre
creative producers, artistic directors and
of Winchester. The students are able
arts administrators and professional
to develop public performances with
practitioners.
professional practitioners, and to create productions as part of Hat Fair.
During the course, there are opportunities to develop work specifically commissioned
Throughout the course, students are
by the international Winchester Hat
encouraged to set up their own companies
Fair (the longest running and one of the
and to create their own online profiles as
largest street arts festivals in the UK).
a basis for establishing their professional
The University has built an international
practices on leaving the course. Current
network of performance and production
students have already identified the
based partnerships with festivals and
viability of a street arts practice as a
universities.
career choice through setting up their own Student Company and through their
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You have the opportunity through work
curricular and extracurricular work they
experience to work with professional
have already funded a range of activities
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BA Street Arts: Performance and Production
including overseas visits to Spain and
Modules
France.
Year 1 • Making
Programme content
• Production Skills
The course is based on the practices of
• Performance Skills
outdoor performances which have a long
• Histories and Context
and distinguished tradition. Street arts
Year Two
have always reflected on and drawn from
• Street Arts Study
intercultural influences evolving from
• Dramaturgy of Public Space
many styles from around the world.
• Extending Practice • Directed Performance
The degree is not just based on skill
• Options
development but on the development
Year Three
of the ideas of why you want to make
• Performance Now: Debates and Discourse
performances or events. To realise these
• Creative Entrepreneurship and Production
ideas you develop methods of devising,
• Collaborative Project
informed by modules which develop body
• Extended independent Study
awareness and skill development especially
• Internship or Volunteering
in terms of physicality and movement and through improvisation and play.
Year 1 In Year 1, you learn how to realise
Production modules introduce you to
your ideas through producing public
principles of making and production;
performances with an understanding of
sound and film production; and new
public space and through using space
media and technology and puppetry
as a resource. Key to this work is an
Performance modules introduce street
understanding of the relationship between
dance techniques; circus and spectacle; and
the performance and the audience.
physical theatre, clowning and comedy. Other skills tutoring are supported through
You develop your performance ideas
work with practitioners and visiting
through improvisation and play, making
lecturers.
and devising and through learning,
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BA Street Arts: Performance and Production
developing and applying a range of
are encouraged to become involved in a
production and performance skills.
range of extracurricular performances in a
Alongside the development of these skills
variety of contexts.
you explore how developments in digital media, networking and the internet can
Year 2
connect you to a wide range of audiences
In Year 2, Semester 1 you extend your
and practices in the shaping of your
understanding of the approaches and
practice as well as allowing you to record
skills in street arts through playful
and disseminate your own practice.
exploration and experimentation drawing from and looking across to other forms to
You deliver performances through gaining
encourage new and exciting works. You are
a preliminary knowledge of creative
encouraged to develop a sense of your own
production which include knowledge of
practice and discover new ways of working
risk assessment, health and safety. You
using a diversity of skills around key areas
then engage in the creation of installation
of interest to street arts. In the module
and finally develop a series of public
Street Arts Study, you look in depth at a
performances.
street arts company, festival or event to produce a report which also informs your
This work is created within a framework of
own future practice as well as studying the
critical reflection as you explore the subject
creative practices of other companies to
from its roots in popular traditions and the
inform your own making process.
carnival to its position as an innovative and diverse contemporary practice.
In Semester 2, you develop your own projects utilising your knowledge from
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Students are encouraged to explore
the first semester using principles of
Street Arts in its widest context drawing
Practice as Research critically reflecting
from the experience of working with
on your own and other’s work. In Directed
professionals and visiting lecturers
Performance, you will receive direction
as well as the experienced street arts
from the staff as you develop a group
practitioners which already teach at the
public performance. As a company
University. Throughout Year 1, students
during this intense year of practice and
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BA Street Arts: Performance and Production
performance you continue to develop
Your aim is to develop contemporary street
your production and performance skills,
arts performance to a level which can
including developing the administrative
sustain professional and public scrutiny.
and promotional skills necessary to
The final production is showcased to
develop and run your own company
invited creative producers, agents and
in collaborative and sustainable
events programmers, in order to develop
relationships with professional creative
reciprocal sustainable relationships of
producers. You continue to inform your
employment and practice. Modules in
practice through a critical framework
Creative Entrepreneurship and Production
which looks at transcultural influences,
will be centred around the creation of a
counter narratives and alternative
Festival of Street Arts to celebrate your
perspectives and practices.
work and to showcase it to promoters and bookers. Now: Debates and Discourses
You can be involved in exchange visits
contextually allows you to evaluate street
to France and Spain and encouraged and
art themes in contemporary society and
invited to perform at Hat Fair and a range
internationally.
of other festivals and events over the summer.
Independent project The independent project is your chance
Year 3
to explore your ideas and visions through
In Year 3, you are engaged in independent
writing and performance you have found
study and performance both as a group
interesting and engaging over the course
and individually. In the collaborative
of your study in the process of making
Project you create, develop, produce and
performance. You might choose to write
deliver performances to a level which on
a dissertation, produce a documented
completion can be performed in front
project/performance or produce a
of the public at the Winchester Hat Fair.
creative project. The independent project
You are encouraged in the process to
is accompanied by modules on Creative
explore ways of developing your ideas
Entrepreneurship and Production and
using a variety of techniques, for example
Performance Now: Debates and Discourses
workshops and prototype performances.
that relate your final year’s work to the
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BA Street Arts: Performance and Production
working and performance environment
Assessment
you will soon be entering. It also prepares
Assessment is made mainly through
you for the creative infrastructure which is
assignments and projects completed during
currently emerging in street arts practice.
modules. Module assessments include performances, presentations, workshops,
Learning and teaching
documentation, journals, seminars, online
At the roots of BA Street Arts is the central
tasks and written work. We encourage you
role of devising within a collective context,
to reflect through your relationship to the
exploring practice using interdisciplinary
internet as well as more traditional means
methods and recognising the importance
of study. We are conscious of this growing
of enquiry. You are introduced to a wide
relationship with new media. Increasingly
variety of street arts styles and practices
through the course you are able to choose
which inform your own understanding of
assessment methods which play to your
the subject. We are as much interested in
strengths.
how performances are created in outdoor contexts as in the skills which lie at the centre of the subject. We believe both these elements need to be understood in relation to each other and within a wider social, political and cultural context. The course therefore is a journey into a wide engagement with street arts performing contexts which are both practical and conceptual. In this way we look for students whose critical awareness informs the way that they make work and in the way they understand their place in the community of street arts practitioners. What you believe and how you want to practice is important to us.
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BA Street Arts: Performance and Production
Teaching team
Dr Olu Taiwo graduated from the Laban
Gordon Murray is a theatre director and
The core teaching team comes from all
Centre with an MA in Choreography and
script developer whose projects range from
areas of the performing and visual arts.
wrote his PhD on performance philosophy.
the production of new plays to the staging
They have a wide range of experience as
He teaches dance, visual development
of large-scale public performance events.
producers, practitioners, lecturers and
and performance in a combination of real
He is a practitioner of community and
teachers. There are opportunities to work
and virtual formats and has a background
applied drama projects.
with professional practitioners, creative
in Fine Art. He is an actor, dancer and
producers and street arts companies
drummer performing in national and
Stephen Solloway is a flautist and
throughout the course. Specialisms
international contexts. His main interests
composer. His specialist academic interests
include circus; large scale puppetry; street
are to propagate twenty-first century
are in soundscape, music improvisation and
dance and choreography; street theatre;
issues concerning the interaction between
composition.
Commedia dell’arte; carnival arts; devised
body, identity, audience and technology.
theatre; clown and comedy; site specific
Annabel Arndt has an academic
performance and environmental art; live
Dr Richard Cuming is a performer, director,
background as programme leader in
art; music; physical theatre; and creative
deviser and teacher whose specialism is
Creative Industries. She has also worked
production. The staff are professionally
in innovative devised practice, especially
in Arts Administration and has edited
engaged in projects that involve
in physical and visual performance and
amongst other publications Total Theatre.
international collaborations, national
the synthesis of different forms, including
street arts performance groups and
clown and visual performance.
consultancy. We are conscious of the need
Nigel Luck and Sally Mann are associate lecturers and professional practitioners
to have a contemporary understanding of
Janet Lee is a physical theatre performer
which bring a wide range of skills to the
this fast evolving area of practice.
and puppeteer whose specialist areas are
programme especially in the disciplines of
physical and visual theatre. Her interests
visual arts, puppetry, circus arts and object
John Lee (Programme Leader) is Artistic
in street arts include large scale puppetry
manipulation.
Director of Fuse Performance and a
and stilt walking performance. She has
consultant to companies such as Kneehigh
directed for and performed with Strange
Career opportunities
Theatre Company. He has toured in over 35
Arrangements for the past 10 years as well
Street Arts is now practiced throughout
countries as a performer and street artist
as collaborating with Australian puppetry
the year in outdoor and indoor venues
with the British Council and is Co-founder
company Spare Parts Puppet Theatre.
and is supported by a year round circuit of
of the first Circus School in Britain.
festivals and events which cover all areas of the arts. It is an international art form
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BA Street Arts: Performance and Production
with practitioners travelling worldwide
equip the students to move into a range of
providing a platform of employment. Part
related professions which lie at the centre
of the degree programme involves studying
of creative industries.
in Europe on exchange visits and alongside European students.
As a graduate in this new arena of work you will be among the first professionally
Students can expect to go on to become
trained practitioners in this rapidly
street arts practitioners and performers;
growing sector of the creative and cultural
creative producers; event’s organisers;
industries.
directors and choreographers of street arts and outside events; arts managers,
Contact us
community; carnival arts and participatory
For more information contact:
theatre practitioners and teachers. There
John Lee, Programme Leader
is a demand for street arts students in
Telephone: +44 (0) 1962 827335
the corporate and heritage industries
Email: John.Lee@winchester.ac.uk
and in new media and performance and arts activism. There is the opportunity to
Course Enquiries and Applications
progress into postgraduate study.
Telephone: +44 (0) 1962 827234 Email: course.enquiries@winchester.ac.uk
Students leave this course with a wide range of skills and approaches appropriate to street arts practice. They will have experience of producing public performances within professional arenas using a wide variety of practices and styles. Through creating, developing and producing their own performances, they will be well equipped with an understanding of how to market and administrate their own projects. Many of the skills involved are transferable and
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Explore the Winchester experience Open Days are a great way to find out more
If you miss any of the Open Days or are
about the course that you are interested in. It is
unavailable to attend – you can arrange a
also an opportunity to explore the campus and
Campus Tour instead by contacting the Student
meet tutors and current students to discover
Recruitment team.
what studying at Winchester is all about. To find out when the next Open Day is visit www.winchester.ac.uk/opendays or contact the Student Recruitment team. At the event, academics from all of our programmes will be around campus giving sessions about your subject of interest. Each of the sessions will include an overview of the course, entry requirements, the application process and an opportunity to ask any questions you might have. Student Union representatives will also be available so you can find out more about Winchester’s sports clubs, societies and community involvement. As part of the campus tour you will see the halls of residence and the West Downs Student Village and find out more about living in Winchester. You will also be told about the student support services and scholarships and bursaries that are on offer.
Student Recruitment Telephone: +44 (0) 1962 827089 Email: opendays@winchester.ac.uk
Finding out more... Course Enquiries and Applications Telephone: +44 (0)1962 827234 Email: course.enquiries@winchester.ac.uk
The University of Winchester Winchester Hampshire S022 4NR www.winchester.ac.uk
04059/09/13
a large print version of this booklet is available on request