Birmingham City University

B.A (Hons) - Design for Performance: Theatre, Film and Live Events with a Foundation Year

This four-year Design for Performance degree course with a Foundation Year has been specifically designed to allow you to undertake an additional year of study which will build stronger creative footings to ensure successful progression through your chosen degree program. 

Working in a lively and energetic environment, you will be given the freedom to expand your knowledge of practical skills, creative exploration and conceptual development, underpinned by broad critical understanding, academic writing and emerging theoretical principles. 

There will be a range of opportunities to work on collaborative and individual projects aimed to develop employability partnerships and to identify the role of developing practitioners. BA teaching staff from across both schools will work closely with you throughout the course to prepare you for progression. 

After successful completion of the foundation year, you will have the flexibility to switch (should you wish to change direction) onto a number of related undergraduate degree programs within Birmingham School of Art or the School of Visual Communication. 

BA (Hons) Design for Performance

Make creative and informed contributions to contemporary performance design practice with our unique, future-focused BA (Hons) Design for Performance course. Ambitious in its approach, this course includes design and production for theatre, events, museums, concerts, exhibitions, festivals, environments, nightclubs, film, live arts and scenography. 

You will benefit from the collaboration of ideas within a multi-disciplinary School, in a course that reflects the dynamic crossover common to creative arts in the twenty-first century. Imagination, experimentation, and risk-taking are fundamental to our students as the challenges and opportunities are so varied on this course.

What's covered in the course?

You will develop a clear understanding of the scope and breadth of contemporary Design for Performance, engaging with a variety of individual and collaborative opportunities.  Working with traditional and experimental formats from stage design to live arts and site-specific festivals to themed environments. Using hands-on making, technical skills, 2D and 3D design, craft techniques and digital platforms you will be able to determine your own career path in this expansive and growing industry. 

Our approach is to offer a first-year experience that educates and supports students to develop skills and understanding that encompass spatial, figurative and performance design. From these underpinning principles, students tailor their second and third-year studies to areas of performance that are of particular interest to them. Because flexibility is built into our course design, you are able to study the same modules together regardless of your specific area of interest - this fosters a studio culture rich in diversity and collaboration. 

You will be supported by an experienced team that assist you with your exploration of the traditions, theories, and practices that are pertinent to your individual student journey.  Learning is demonstrated through an accumulation of individual, collaborative, realized speculative and live projects along with a suite of high profile industry opportunities. 

This ensures that the course remains relevant and able to respond to the needs of contemporary and future work and indeed to the discipline as a whole.