Posted 3 October 2022

What do you do when you are faced with juggling life’s commitments and wanting to reconnect with the next step in your educational journey into Creative Arts? University Centre Leeds’ MA Creative Practice could be just the thing you are looking for! 

University Centre Leeds (UCLeeds) is proud to have extended its Creative Arts higher education provision to include a Masters in Creative Practice for anyone wanting to return to education and extend their academic and practical understanding of their subject specialism.  

Validated by the Open University, this innovative and exciting course is a practice-led Level 7 qualification designed for creative undergraduates and people returning to education from a range of disciplines to enhance their knowledge and skills. The course is designed for anyone wishing to develop their practical skills, refine their practice and creative identity, enhance their employability skills, and develop professional creative networks to support them to develop a career in the creative industries. The support received throughout the programme will develop their ability to work as a creative freelancer or work for creative agencies and employers or to progress to further study. Students are able to relate their experience to relevant theories and concepts and to critically reflect and learn from their practical and workplace experience in a creative context.  

So, if you have conceptual or commercial ideas that are bursting to come out and are enthusiastic to pursue a career as a creative practitioner, artist, film maker, makeup artist amongst other professions, this is the course and the place for you! 

Tom Poultney, Head of HE Creative Arts at UC Leeds said: “Through our active collaborative employer engagement on this course, stakeholders have shown a real interest in supporting the MA students over the past year which really has allowed them to collaborate meaningfully and effectively. There is a need for individuals to develop these higher-level skills in order to become innovators within their field and to meet industry changes for the future”.

As part of this exciting journey, MA students have ample opportunities to engage with local communities, in-house exhibitions and large scale projects including Leeds 2023, using creative arts to raise awareness of important issues and giving local communities a voice. The work produced throughout the course can provide opportunities for creative outcomes to be more thought provoking and cutting edge, leading to successful exhibitions, commercial and industry recognition for the  creators. 

Launched in 2021, staff and students have engaged with employers from across the creative industries such as Film Buddy, Channel 4, Red Ladder, Blue Rinse and Slung Low. Working with such employers has emphasised the need for students to exercise their skills within a real work environment in order for them to build resilience and form relationships with industry professionals. Students gain a higher level of learning but also real-life opportunities to develop as a creative individual and create the perfect craftsperson for the future.  

Student, Yasmin Felix-Lockett, said: “Very few places gauge the right balance between creativity and practicality. The MA Creative Practice at Leeds City College has taught me more about me as a person, and a creative professional, than any other life experience. I have walked away with the knowledge, and more importantly the confidence, to start my career in the creative industry. The knowledge shared by the lecturers has been imperative to this success and has provided me with a wealth of links to industry to kick start my career. This course is fundamental for anyone with a creative background to really explore their own discipline with the support of highly talented lecturers and peers”.