BA (Hons) Stage & Production Management at Backstage Academy is dedicated to delivering the next generation of stage and production managers for the live events sector, in areas as diverse as theatre, live music, concert touring, corporate and sporting events.
Beginning with an in-depth study of traditional theatre-based stage management techniques, you will then learn how to apply this knowledge across the breadth of live events. You will examine how the roles of stage and production managers develop from rehearsal to performance and tour and study the ways in which your skills can be transferred to working on multiple events both in the UK and internationally.
The programme has been designed to give you an edge to succeed in a busy marketplace and is the first of its kind to be dedicated to the stage and production management of large scale shows, concert tours, outdoor events, conferences, award ceremonies and festivals.
Whether you dream of showcalling The Oscars, running the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival, or production managing the next big West End show, this degree will lead you to a career like no other.
The third year of our BA (Hons) course in Live Events Production can also be taken as a standalone qualification. BA (Hons) Top-Up in Live Events Production provides a progression route for students who have successfully completed our Live Events Production FdA, a related HE Level 5 qualification at another academic institution or through APEL entry.
Our Top Up course will provide an insight into the key issues involved in the strategic organisation of large events, festivals, and touring music. You will investigate how businesses and individuals operate within the sector to provide dynamic solutions. Alongside
this, you can progress your choice of specialism in an area of creative technical production or event management. Personal and professional development is emphasised during the course, whilst the modules reinforce the programme’s integration with the industry to provide you with the right skills and attributes for employment across a variety of areas in the live events sector.
The delivery structure of the course is designed to be compatible with students maintaining employment in the sector and provide opportunities to get involved in a diverse range of practical projects, manufacturers’ seminars and visits.
BA (Hons) Live Visual Design & Production is a groundbreaking degree focused on creating cutting-edge visual experiences for global audiences. You'll build virtual worlds with gaming platforms like Unreal Engine, experiment with immersive technology such as VR and motion tracking, and create interactive visual experiences with projection mapping and LED walls to amaze audiences.
BA (Hons) Live Visual Design & Production is ideal for you if you would like to develop a career in:
World building - video and interactive game design using software such as Unreal Game Engine and Notch
Generative content creation - using software to automatically generate content in real time
Virtual production and motion tracking
Immersive & interactive technology (including virtual & augmented reality)
Projection mapping, systems and technologies
Large format LED systems (e.g. video walls)
2D & 3D design and modelling
BA (Hons) Performing Arts consists of three pathways: Musical Theatre, Acting and Hip-Hop Artistry; each providing in-depth training shaped by current industry trends.
Technique, work ethic, confidence, self-awareness and imagination are key tools for any performer looking to build a sustainable and fulfilling career in the arts.
During the first two years of your training, you will develop and embed technique, explore new ideas and ways of working, discover yourself as a creative artist, and learn how to promote yourself and your work in a competitive market.
In the third year the training becomes industry focused with professional preparation, public shows, a filmed show reel, self-taping tuition as well as an independent project of your choosing.
Uniquely during your final year, you also select from a range of options, all created to meet the demands of the industry. This allows you to drill down into a specific area of performance and enhance your skill set further.
Our pathways encourage independence, entrepreneurialism and innovation because these qualities will be required of any performer entering the contemporary performing arts industry. We don’t want you just to get work, we want you to make work.
All learning is underpinned by personal development classes, enabling you to find strategies in time management, organisational skills and control of performance related anxiety. These are life skills that you can apply far beyond your three years with us, and within a variety of contexts.
This course encourages independence, entrepreneurialism and innovation because these qualities will be required of any performer entering the contemporary performing arts industry. We don’t want you just to get work, we want you to make work.
All learning is underpinned by regular mental and physical resilience classes; another key element of your training.
You will need to be resilient on entering this notoriously hard profession. You should also be equipped with life skills, which you can apply within a variety of contexts far beyond your three years of training.
We want you to be a multi-skilled practitioner able to work in all areas of sound to build a sustained career in the audio industry. This course develops your skills in recorded sound, live sound and post-production.
We teach you why as well as how, so that you have a strong theoretical base to draw on and help you be adaptable to change. You learn and practice using industry-standard equipment in our studios and performance spaces (24/7 access to our studios during term-time).
Through projects with students on performance and making performance possible courses, you develop essential interpersonal and collaborative skills.
We want to strengthen your music skills in musicianship, music writing and producing music.
This means you’re able to build on your existing music skills while developing a working knowledge of songwriting and music production. You also receive one-to-one tuition in a chosen instrument (or voice). The course shares many modules and activities with our foundation year for BA (Hons) Music (Songwriting & Performance), so you learn alongside a wide group of musicians, which benefits you for ensemble work.
We want to produce versatile and creative technicians, stage managers and designers capable of working across the whole performing arts sector.
In your first year, you get a thorough grounding in a range of production skills in lighting, sound, stage management and design and construction. From the second year onwards you can specialise in areas that include Stage Management, Lighting, AV, Sound or Set and Prop Construction or continue building a broad skill set. Your training is highly practical. You initially learn the ropes in our performance spaces and in addition to working on our acting shows, you can work on dance performances, music gigs and outside events.
This course was previously titled BA/MArts Creative Technologies & Performance. Through this course, we want to facilitate innovative storytellers, filmmakers, creatives and technicians, who use new audio visual technologies to deliver exceptional content for film, tv, theatre, concert, and online audiences.
There are three pathways on this course:
- Film and TV Production
- Story, Script and Development
- Emerging Technology and Digital Performance
In your first year, you study all of the pathways and then from your second year you specialise (selecting a major and a minor from the pathways) to build the right set of multiple skills and knowledge to achieve a sustainable career. You can collaborate with other students (performers and those who make performance possible) to produce a portfolio of quality outputs, whether that’s films, animations, live or recorded performances or scripts. Your studies are underpinned by essential professional skills such as project management, financial planning and team work. You can either undertake this programme as a three-year BA or as a four-year integrated Masters.
The BA (Hons) Digital Design & Production offers specialist training in the rapidly expanding field of projection and video-based art forms, such as animation and motion-graphics, lighting and design.
This programme is aimed at anyone interested in pursuing their passion for video design and production through to a career in the creative industries and live events sector.
The programme adapts to the developments in industry and technology, using state-of-the-art equipment and facilities in line with the latest industry developments.
The teaching is practical and project-based, and you will work on a range of projects with professional designers, programmers and animators, such as gallery installations, architectural mapping displays, collaborative theatre projects, projection work for Guildhall productions and VJing at festivals and club nights.
This programme will engage the creative and technical skills of designers, technicians, operators and programmers in the creation and delivery of video in live performance contexts, and aims to:
● Provide the opportunity for students to develop their own artistic vision and creative workflow
● Develop appropriate technical skills in relation to video as part of a live performance
● Provide students with experiences and opportunities that provide insight into the working practices of modern, high-profile partners
● Develop students’ confidence, independence and self-reliance necessary for a career in a rapidly evolving digital industry
You will also be taught a range of technical skills, including:
● Software such as Adobe creative cloud, D3, Resolume, Notch, Mapping Matter, Cinema 4D, Touch Designer, Q Lab
● Technical management eg. equipment (projectors, media servers, rigging, cabling, IT etc.)
The Production Arts programme at Guildhall School equips you with the skills you need to enter the theatre and related industries. We strongly believe that your training should be tailored to your individual career aims. For this reason, you will select one of four pathways, each with a different emphasis:
-Stage Management
-Costume
-Theatre Technology (Sound, Lighting, Video, Automation and Stage Technology)
-Design Realisation (Scenic Art, Scenic Construction and Prop Making)
These pathways are each supported by a first year of broad-based study covering the theory and practice of theatre production. As well as working on public productions you will get the opportunity to learn about the contemporary theatre scene and the history behind it, Health and Safety legislation, specialist software applications, stage craft, period style and much more. You will also work in small groups on project work designed to enhance your learning. Your second year is spent almost entirely on productions, developing your skills within your chosen pathway with a programme of study designed to suit your personal aims. The third year gives you the opportunity to lead and run the School productions working alongside the professional creative team. This provides you with true exposure to professional theatre and the opportunity to make contacts that will be useful to your future career. In this year you also undertake a work placement with a professional company or practitioner.
