School of Creative Arts, Performance and Visual Cultures (SCAPVC)
A new creative venture from the Faculty of Arts will help develop the University as a powerhouse for the artistic, cultural, creative and media industries in the region and beyond. The new School of Creative Arts, Performance and Visual Cultures will redefine Warwick’s teaching and research in the arts, cultural and creative industries – offering great opportunities for students, graduates, external partners, academics and for public engagement.
Professor Christine Ennew, Provost, said:
“The creation of the School of Creative Arts, Performance and Visual Cultures brings together areas of real strength for the University, and will provide exciting opportunities for new developments in teaching and research in the arts, cultural and creative industries. This is particularly important with Coventry becoming City of Culture in 2021 and will encourage greater collaboration and innovation within the University, the local region, nationally and internationally.”
The move aligns with the development of curricula and research which nurtures creative practice alongside academic knowledge, anticipating:
- Close partnership arrangements in advance of moving into the state of the art new Faculty of Arts building
- Collaboration with Warwick Arts Centre, for 2021 City of Culture; with regional creative industries, clusters and creative quarters
- Warwick’s exploration of student enterprise incubators by the Director of Innovation to accelerate activities around student opportunities and graduate outcomes.
The new School will be established from 1 August 2019 and will be fully operational on 1 August 2020. The School will thrive, grow and adapt as it welcomes new programmes, students, researchers and projects in the near future.
Building on creativity for future growth
In the first year of the creation of this new School, the Warwick Writing Programme (WWP), the Centre for Cultural & Media Policy Studies (CMPS) and the Department of Theatre & Performance Studies (TPS) will bring together their national and global profiles into a coherent and integrated operation and collaboration. Each unit is distinct and well-regarded and each has developed and maintained a successful USP for research and education that shapes and influences artistic, media, culture, performance and creative industries in a wide range of countries. Greater connection will open up new possibilities to continue to attract the very best students from around the world, develop new ideas and skills, and use the established international reputations of staff and their extensive connections to reach beyond academia.
The new School will develop multiple routes for pathways to teaching, creative output, cutting edge research, impact and public engagement. Embracing creative technologies will enable readiness for future opportunities, alongside strong interdisciplinarity and a focus on sustainable practices, social justice, community and collaboration. We and our students will understand the shaping powers of the past and be unafraid to shape the future.
The School will attract and support dynamic and committed writers, creative producers, performers, social entrepreneurs, theatre-makers, media managers, literary translators, cultural place-makers, curators, communicators and artistic producers. Our connectivity to and development of incubation schemes with practitioners, cooperative projects for City of Culture and Warwick Arts Centre and artistic, cultural and media residencies of our students and researchers will strengthen Warwick’s creative profile. The School will broker opportunities for placements, internships and residencies; and build a platform for creativity to connect across our teaching, research and practice. It will actively engage with big challenges: cultural and social values, policy-making, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, habitability, commercialism, freedom of expression, collaboration, resilience, global technologies, human compassion and care.
A repertoire of pedagogies for the 21st century
The School will focus on opening up new teaching and learning spaces characterised by hybridity, permeability, mobility and flexibility. Researchers and students will be encouraged to select from a repertoire of ideas, practices, methods as they innovate, create and critically engage. The School’s repertoire approach will be deliberately cross-disciplinary and multi-directional because it will be interested in making new events, new arts, new ideas and new companies. If society is to address the value of culture and cultural values, environmental crisis and unsustainable consumption, disproportionate access to culture, art and education and tackle, for example, diversity in publishing, arts, museums, games, media and cultural production, then we need to think and create across boundaries. The new School will be a strong link between arts, cultural and creative organisations keen to improve diversity and to platform and amplify the voices of a rising generation.
The new School comes into being from the 1 August 2019 and in Phase 1 is made up of three existing academic disciplines: the Centre for Cultural Media Policy Studies, Theatre and Performance Studies and the Warwick Writing Programme. Phase 2 will take place from 1 August 2020 and will see History of Art join the School grouping. The School will continue to be located in Millburn House until the Faculty moves to the new Arts building.
Current links to Phase 1 disciplines:
School of Theatre and Performance Studies