Program Overview
The University of Leeds' Writing for Performance and Digital Media MA program cultivates emerging writers' unique voices. Students explore critical thinking, creative writing and storytelling skills, and various genres and media across performance, screen, and new media. The program emphasizes innovation, collaboration, and industry connections, preparing graduates for careers as writers, performers, or in other creative fields.
Program Outline
Writing for Performance and Digital Media MA - University of Leeds
Degree Overview:
This Masters program aims to develop students' unique voices as writers and storytellers within the context of the School of Performance and Cultural Industries' research in contemporary performance practice, creative and adaptive writing, digital and intermedial art, audience studies, and cultural engagement. The program focuses on critical thinking about narrative, storytelling, and performance in contemporary culture, enhancing creative writing skills and knowledge across various genres, forms, and media. Students can explore areas of interest, including tailored pathways in writing for theatre, performance, screen, and new media. The program emphasizes a diverse and close-knit community of professional writers, creative practitioners, and innovative researchers dedicated to nurturing new and emerging talent.
- A partnership with Leeds Playhouse offers a program of specially created events and workshops each year, connecting students with a significant center for new writing.
Outline:
The program includes compulsory modules designed to advance practical writing and storytelling skills while deepening critical and theoretical understanding of writing for performance, screen, and digital media. Students can choose from a range of optional modules, tailoring their studies to their interests and career ambitions. Depending on optional module choices, students can collaborate with peers, work with local cultural organizations, or focus on developing their independent creative practice. As students progress, they apply their learning in an independent research project on a topic of their choice. This could be a major creative writing project with critical commentary, a performance, or a written dissertation.
Year 1 Compulsory Modules:
- Independent Research Project (MA): 60 Credits
- Narrative Perspectives in Practice: 30 Credits
- Writing for Contemporary Theatre and Performance: 30 Credits
Assessment:
The program uses a variety of assessment approaches, depending on the chosen options. All students are assessed through creative writing practice and critical writing (essay or exegesis).
Creative Writing Practice:
- Forms can be flexible, depending on the skills students want to develop and the industry contexts they hope to work in.
- Examples include scripts, performance scores, digital artifacts (like games and podcasts), or other forms of intermedial performance.
Critical Writing:
- Students complete an individual research project, which can take the form of a traditional dissertation or a creative writing practice-based critical inquiry.
Teaching:
The MA in Writing for Performance and Digital Media utilizes a mix of seminars, practicals, lectures, and workshops. This learning is complemented by personal reading, research, and directed creative writing tasks.
Teaching Emphasis:
- The program emphasizes the agency and intellectual curiosity of individual students.
- Students are encouraged to think about and articulate their identity and positionality as writers and storytellers.
- Students reflect critically on their creative goals, connecting their practice and thinking to various perspectives on aesthetics, cultural value, and audience engagement. Instead, it invites creative writers to develop a personal account of their practice and connect their assessed work to specific industry contexts, practices, and intellectual traditions.
Faculty:
- Students are taught by expert academics, from lecturers to professors.
- They may also be taught by industry professionals with years of experience, as well as trained postgraduate researchers.
Careers:
Many students pursue careers as creative practitioners, working as writers for stage, screen, or new media. The program helps students realize their ambitions by connecting their creative and intellectual concerns to specific industry contexts and practices.
Career Outcomes:
- Playwrights
- Television writers
- Dramaturgs
- Performers
- Broadcasters
- Journalists
Alternative Career Paths:
- Education
- Arts administration
- Script editing
- Literary management
- Advertising
- Publishing
- Marketing
- Public relations
Other:
- The program has a strong record of developing successful writers and creative leaders.
- Graduates from similar courses have continued with their research and progressed to PhD study.
UK fees: £11,500 (Total) International fees: £24,500 (Total)
