New creative arts courses for Chelmsford

Press release issued: 17 July 2007



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Anglia Ruskin University, one of the largest universities in the UK, is introducing two new creative arts courses aimed at both school leavers and mature students (those over the age of 21) from the East of England.

The three-year BA (Hons) courses in Drama and Fine Art are not new to the University, they have been available for some years on the Cambridge campus, but as part of a new initiative the courses are being extended to the Chelmsford campus to help bring new study opportunities closer to people from Essex and the surrounding area.

The move will help to feed more talent into the creative industries sector, according to Anglia Ruskin University's Head of Music and the Performing Arts, Paul Jackson:

"The performing arts sector is enjoying substantial growth in terms of both revenue and employment - some 945,000 people are estimated to work within the cultural industries - and most of the activity is concentrated on London and the South East.

"Within Essex alone there are now 13 new government-supported centres of excellence or 'beacon schools', many of which are focusing on the arts. These special status schools will ultimately produce an increasing quantity of cultural and creative degree candidates in the future - and these and others are needed to help to breathe new talent and life into the arts sector."

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The BA (Hons) Drama course provides students with an insight into the histories, practices and theories of drama, theatre and performance. The theoretical study is balanced by the teaching of a range of performance techniques and the creation of live performance events. On the BA (Hons) Fine Art course in Chelmsford studies involve both studio and digital practices. While students can still focus on traditional areas such as painting, the emphasis will be on digital media, video and film, installation, performance and live art.
Pathway Leader for Fine Art, David Ryan has commented:

"While there is a cross-over of activities on both sites, the new delivery of the course for Chelmsford will have a distinct flavour in terms of its concentration on less traditional media. This will be an exciting addition and complement to the existing developing fine art culture at Anglia Ruskin University."

Anglia Ruskin University is constantly responding to the changing needs of industry by delivering new and relevant vocationally-based degree programmes. The cultural sector already has a high concentration of graduate workers - it is estimated that around 40% of the workforce have degrees.
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