Creative and Therapeutic Arts
If you’re ready to combine your artistic talent with a drive to help people through creativity, this degree is for you.
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Key Course Details
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UCAS Code
WX93
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Start Date
September
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Location
Pontypridd
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Campus Code
A
Fees
Home students
£9,535*
International students
£16,200*
- Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.
Put your art skills into practice and explore the relationship between arts and wellbeing with this one-of-a-kind degree. Embedded in practical community-based projects, you’ll learn about and apply psychological theories while expanding your artistic skills and developing as an artist.
DESIGNED FOR
If you have a passion for helping people and want a career that will utilise your artistic skills, Creative and Therapeutic Arts is for you. The practical, inclusive degree will help you understand and apply the relationships between creativity and wellbeing. This is a great stepping stone to a fulfilling career.
Career paths
- Art Therapist
- Teacher
- Counsellor
- Occupational Therapist
- Freelance participatory artist
- Wellbeing practitioner
Skills taught
- Developing artistic identity through skills-based sessions
- Applying psychological theory
- Facilitation of workshops for wellbeing
- Critical reflection and evaluation
- Collaboration and co-production
- Independent working
- Skills for developing your professional network
Course Highlights
Module Overview
You’ll study three distinct areas in this creative and therapeutic arts degree – art practice, professional placement practice, and theoretical input. We’ll encourage you to make meaningful connections between each of the subjects, applying them to live briefs in a range of settings.
You’ll build firm foundations and a creative learning community with fellow students to support you throughout your studies. You will co-facilitate workshops, create art for exhibition and be introduced to theoretical perspectives and models that inform participatory practice.
Art
Develop your skills and confidence by experimenting with a range of visual techniques. Learn to write about creative processes in the context of art and inclusive practice.
Professional Practice (1)
Build up your skills and strategies as a creative arts practitioner within a group. Learn about and start to apply ethical, reflective and responsive practice on a professional placement.
Creativity and Wellbeing: Theoretical Underpinnings
Be introduced to theories that help us understand the nature of the human experience, and the role that creativity can have in improving health and wellbeing.
Academic Skills for Inclusive Practice
Learn about the relevance of research for evidence-based practice and start to hone your academic research and writing skills.
Explore participation and collaboration while developing art skills and knowledge of facilitation. You’ll do a professional placement and diversify your practice as you gain insight into a range of specialist contexts such as working with children, older people, or those with learning disabilities.
Art
Experiment and further develop your artistic identity, confidence and critical skills as an artist in your own studio space. Develop skills as you work on a bespoke brief within a hospital setting.
Professional Practice (2)
Develop professional skills through designing, delivering and evaluating your own project in your choice of organisation and setting. Reflect on your experiences with peers and lecturers.
Working Creatively to Facilitate Wellbeing
Learn about collaborative and participatory creative arts practice and links to wellbeing. Understand and apply theories including non-hierarchical, values based, and inclusive practice.
Hone your identity as an arts practitioner while learning the importance of evidence-based practice and evaluation. Placement opportunities will build your CV, skills and confidence. Create work for a graduate art trail of therapeutic and inclusive work that is public facing.
Art
Contribute to the cutting-edge field of Creative Access through producing interpretive artworks for a museum. Create a site-specific Art Trail in the local area to be seen by thousands.
Professional Practice (3)
Evidence your placement’s contribution to the arts, health and wellbeing sector through collecting and analysing data. Apply your knowledge of industry frameworks to launch your creative arts future.
Creativity and Wellbeing: Evidence Based Practice
Identify societal challenges and critically explore how creative arts practice can contribute to solutions. Critically reflect on your own journey to professionalism.
Course Highlights
How you'll Learn
You’ll learn through lectures, seminars, workshops, group projects, and placements. Address real-world challenges through live briefs developed with professional stakeholders in the arts, health and wellbeing field. Create art and facilitate experiences that positively impact diverse participants and fuel your learning journey. Receive regular feedback on your work and discuss how to apply your skills effectively.
Assessments include coursework, exhibitions, presentations, and workshop delivery – no exams involved. In a close-knit, supportive community of staff and peers, you’ll master resourcefulness, using sustainable and natural materials.
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Teaching staff
Our expert team of dedicated and passionate lecturers are all active professionals in the sector. You will benefit from a teaching team with a significant arts practice, community and organisational experience and therapeutic awareness. They draw on their skills in Community Arts Facilitation, Arts, Health and Wellbeing and Arts-based Research to support this dynamic and contemporary course. You’ll benefit from the teaching teams professional local and national networks through masterclasses, placements and opportunities. One member of the team speaks fluent Welsh, and you are welcome to submit and receive feedback in Welsh you prefer.
Staff are:
- Heloise Godfrey-Talbot
- Becky Davies
- Emily Bull
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Placements and work experience
Placements are an important part of this degree, and you’ll graduate with a CV full of relevant experience from a diverse range of settings. You will have the opportunity to work with and have access to more than 50 partner organisations in the community and creative arts sector through projects, group and individual placements.
Students use creativity to support the wellbeing of diverse groups and individuals including those who have experienced trauma, physical and mental ill-health, disadvantage, abuse and adverse childhood experience, homelessness as well as those seeking asylum, with disabilities, neurodivergence and sensory needs.
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Facilities
Most teaching happens in our multipurpose space. It’s flexible and adaptable, meaning there’s scope for messy experimenting as well as for lectures, workshops and seminars all in the same space. You’ll also have access to a dedicated studio for specific project work.
Based at our beautiful Treforest Campus, you’ll be surrounded by green spaces – great for inspiration or for foraging materials for the next project or workshop you need to plan. Students tell us they love studying and living all in the same place. The campus has everything you’d expect including a library, cafes and bars, and a sports centre.
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ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
UCAS Points: 104 (or above)
Typical qualification requirements:
- A Level: BCC to exclude General Studies and normally include A Level Art, an Art & Design Foundation Diploma or a relevant background.
- Welsh BACC: Advanced Skills Baccalaureate Wales Grade C/B and BC - CC at A Level, to exclude General Studies, and normally include A Level Art, an Art & Design Foundation Diploma or a relevant background.
- BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Distinction Merit Merit and normally include an Art subject or an Art & Design Foundation Diploma or a relevant background.
- Access to HE: Pass the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 104 UCAS tariff points in an Art related Access or hold an Art & Design Foundation Diploma or a relevant background.
- T Level: Pass (C and above)
Additional Requirements:
GCSEs: The University normally requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics/Numeracy and English at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent, but consideration is given to individual circumstances.
You will be required to produce a portfolio of work, which should be no less than 20 pages, demonstrating your art practice. If you have not previously studied art in a formal education setting, it is recommended that you consider pursuing art classes, night school and/or independent studio practice to strengthen your portfolio and application.
An Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check on the Child & Adult Workforce and Child Barring List and subscription to the DBS Update Service is required. (Overseas equivalent required for non-uk applicants).
International applications welcomed:
We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.
English language requirements
International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.
Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.
If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.
If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.
Contextual offers
We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.
USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.
We're here to help
Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.
Fees and Funding
£9,535
per year*£16,200
per year*Additional Costs
As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.
Art materials for projects. Cost varies depending on individual projects
Cost: £250 - £1000
Occasionally students will take trips to regional galleries and creative health settings which incur a small travel cost.
Cost: Variable
Where needed some grants are available through the University as well as application to the Hardship Fund
Cost: £300 - £350
An enhanced DBS is required. The update service is recommended.
Cost: £64.74 annually for enhanced DBS and £16 for the update service.
For graduate exhibition
Cost: £80 - £100
Students undertaking placement as part of professional practice modules may incur costs associated with travel to placement and placement responsibilities e.g. materials and resources.
Cost: Variable
Students arrive with some basic art supplies for their studies. As they follow their own specialist interest, they may need specific materials for outside lectures. The course teaches and encourages economical and sustainable art practices using recycled and re-purposed materials.
Cost: Variable
You will need to pay for your work books and printing costs.
Cost: £25 - £100
Visits to community settings, undertaken as part of taught modules, where students engage in their assessed project activities.
Cost: £10 - £30
Some Placement providers will require individual students to have Public Liability Insurance.
Cost: Variable
University Quality Assurance
At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.
If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.
How to apply
Applications for the BA (Hons) Creative and Therapeutic Arts degree course can be made via UCAS and directly to the University. If applying through UCAS, take the next step: Apply through UCAS. If you are applying directly to the University, seeking advance entry, or you’re an international student, please choose the application form below for your preferred start date and mode of study (full-time).
On applying to study a BA (Hons) Creative and Therapeutic Arts degree, you will be required to upload a portfolio of your work (no more than 20 images) of your choice that shares your current and past creative practice.
Advanced entry
If you already have a relevant qualification or experience related to the course you're applying for, you may be eligible to start at a later stage of the course. For example, students from partner colleges can ‘top up’ their qualifications to a degree by joining us in Year Two or Year Three of a course. This process is known as ‘advanced entry’, you can apply directly to the University for 'advanced entry' using the application forms provided above.
International admissions
International applicants can apply to us directly. If the University has an in-country team in your region, your application will be assigned to them for assistance.
