Performing Arts with Integrated Foundation Year

Performing arts is a discipline that takes the full range of performance, encompassing theatre, dance, physical performance, devised work, and interdisciplinary practice, as its subject matter. It is a degree that develops you as a practitioner and as a critical thinker about performance, asking how works are made and received, what they communicate, and what role live performance plays in culture and society. The performing arts sit at the intersection of creativity and community, and a degree in the subject prepares you for a professional landscape that values versatility, collaboration, and the ability to make and facilitate performance in diverse contexts.

At the University of Sunderland this four-year programme includes an integrated foundation year that offers a supported and exploratory entry into degree-level study. The foundation year is designed for students returning to education, those who may not have met standard entry requirements, or those who want time to develop their practice and confidence before committing fully to a performing arts degree. A year abroad is included in the programme, offering the chance to engage with performance traditions and training in an international context.

Throughout the degree you will develop your practical skills as a performer, maker, and collaborator alongside a critical and theoretical understanding of the performing arts. You will engage with the history of theatre and performance, contemporary practice, and the professional and community contexts in which performance takes place.

Graduates of performing arts work as performers, directors, devised theatre makers, and community arts practitioners. Arts administration, theatre management, events production, drama education, and applied theatre in health, criminal justice, and community settings are further common directions. The collaborative, communication, and creative problem-solving skills the degree develops are also valued in roles outside the arts, including education, media, public relations, and project management.

Further study at postgraduate level in theatre, performance, applied theatre, or arts education is available for those wishing to deepen their practice or move into research and academic careers.