MA Performance at York St John University
►About this programme
►Why study MA Performance?
►What will I study?
►How can I study?
►Awards
►What qualifications do I need?
►Will I be interviewed?
►How much does it cost?
►How do I apply?
►Further information
About this programme
Our MA Performance degree programme invites you to place your own arts practice at the centre of an investigation into relationships between creativity, knowledge and reflection in performance. Aimed at recent graduates or current practitioners within traditions of theatre, dance, music or live art, this MA will provide you with opportunities, structures and encouragement to make work, and to enhance the conceptual, reflective and technical strategies that you employ in your practice. As part of York St John University's Creative Practice hub, this MA programme shares some of its modules with a companion MA award in Fine Arts. Whilst your focus will be on Performance, there will also be opportunities for exciting cross-disciplinary study across these two programmes.
The programme will provide you with the opportunity to develop your creative practice and thinking and provide you with a platform from which to disseminate your work. We seek capable, questioning and dedicated practitioners from a diversity of performance practices whether in the UK, Europe or beyond to join us in York and make the most of the opportunities our programme offers. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any further information. I do hope you will come and join us.
Dr Matthew Reason
Head of Programme, MA Studies in Creative Practice
Why study MA Performance?
Your own practice is at the centre of the programme
Your own practice is at the centre of the programme, and you will take practice-based modules throughout the degree, whether you are enrolled full-time or part-time.
Fluid interrelationship between theory and practice
Delivery of the degree programme will make use of workshop, studio, seminar and virtual environments, providing an opportunity to explore the interrelationships between practice, reflection and knowledge.
Opportunities for cross-disciplinary work
The existence of parallel MA Performance and MA Fine Arts programmes will provide you with opportunities to develop cross-disciplinary awareness and practices.
Focus on reflection and documentation
The programme is designed to enhance the reflective strategies you employ while making work and the ways you use documentation as a generative and communicative tool within your practice.
What will I study?
The curriculum, which also supports awards a Postgraduate Certificate and Postgraduate Diploma levels, is designed to focus on developing artists' abilities and capacities for professional, vocational and academic innovation. We emphasise relationships between composition, reflection, practice and documentation across a dynamic range of performance disciplines and discourses.
This degree is structured to enable students who already have some experience of performance practice to expand their artistic horizons, develop their reflective abilities and expand their portfolio as thinking practitioners. You will follow two strands of modules through the programme:
Reflective Practice
This strand, consisting of two 40-credit practice-based modules, is designed to enhance your abilities as a self-reflective practitioner. It recognises the deep interrelationship between reflection, documentation and production, both in terms of the development of an artists' work and in terms of the work's critical and public dissemination. You will be introduced to the variety of ways in which composition, creation and production in performance has evolved in the 20th and 21st centuries. This will be accompanied by investigation into documentary and reflective strategies. This module strand will be primarily focused around your own practice, and put into context by looking at various key practitioners, modes or theories.
Creativity & Knowledge
This strand, consisting of two 20-credit modules, is designed to deepen and broaden your understanding of the interrelationship between arts practice, knowledge and research. It will consist of investigation into concepts of practice-based research in the arts and the examination of the implications of the widening of traditional concepts of research. The modules will also interrogate, through workshop-based practice, the possibilities for the generation and communication of knowledge in and through practice. The modules will draw on both your own practice, being undertaken in the Reflective Practice strand, and upon the work of key practitioners and theorists of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Masters Independent Project
Together these taught elements will lead you into the final Independent Project module, where you will undertake an extended period of supervised practice-based research. You will be expected to draw together and use the resources provided to you earlier in the programme.
How can I study?
You can study the MA programme:
Full-time:
Over one year
Part-time:
Up to five years' duration
The programme begins in September each year. The taught modules will normally consist of weekly sessions scheduled on one day a week, with full-time candidates attending the whole day, part-time students for half the day. There may also be the occasional intensive weekend session.
Awards
Although most students would normally enrol onto the MA programme (180 credits), there is the possibility of undertaking the Postgraduate Diploma (120 credits) or exiting with the Postgraduate Certificate (60 credits).
Postgraduate Diploma (PG Dip Performance)
The Postgraduate Diploma (Pg Dip) offers an opportunity to take only the four taught modules (120 credits). It does not require you to undertake the Masters Independent Project. This route may be attractive if you wish to update or consolidate your existing qualifications but do not wish to carry out extended research into contemporary arts practice. The Postgraduate Diploma is a qualification in its own right but can also provide a bridge towards higher degree work in contemporary arts practice. Those following this programme will be taught alongside students registered for the MA. Attendance requirements are the same, as are the number of weekly sessions.
Postgraduate Certificate (Pg Cert Performance)
The Postgraduate Certificate (Pg Cert) offers an opportunity to achieve an award on successful completion of the first two taught modules (60 credits).
What qualifications do I need?
In order to apply for a place on the MA programme, you must normally have one of the following: - An honours degree at 2:2 or above in a related subject (eg Drama, Theatre, Live Art, Dance, Music, Place/Space/Time Based Art). - Experience of working in a professional arts environment or extensive experience of arts practice. Academic tutors will consider such applications on an individual basis. If you do not meet the above criteria, you may be considered for registration on the taught module. You may then be able to progress to Masters level if you successfully complete the taught modules. If you are an international student, you will need to demonstrate that you have equivalent experience/qualifications as above. If your first language is not English, you must show evidence of English Language competence at IELTS level 6.0 (in all areas of the test) or equivalent.
Will I be interviewed?
For all candidates there will be an interview and consideration of a portfolio of work. Arrangements for interview by telephone for overseas students are possible where appropriate although all candidates are encouraged to attend for interview in person wherever possible.
How much does it cost?
The current 2008-09 fee is £3,240. Programme fees are payable by module or semester and are subject to an annual increase. For overseas students the standard international fee will apply - please contact the Finance Office for information E: finance@yorksj.ac.uk
How do I apply?
Applications should be made direct to the York St John. You will need an application form which can be obtained from Admissions: T: 01904 876598 E: admissions@yorksj.ac.uk
There is no deadline for applications, which will be considered throughout the year.
Further information
For further information about the MA Performance programme contact Dr Matthew Reason, E: m.reason@yorksj.ac.uk