BA (Hons) Performance Producing and Management

Drama at USW is rated top in Wales for student satisfaction_{National Student Survey 2022}

Producing and management are the backbone of the theatre and performance industries. This exciting hands-on course meets the need for professional producers and arts managers covering areas such as:

Producing skills
Stage management
Production planning
Finance and scheduling
Marketing and promotion
Technical theatre skills
Cultural policy

You will work on a variety of public productions, performances and events, in-house and with our partner organisations, to give you a range of valuable skills. In delivering the course we work closely with industry partners, to help develop you as a skilled, flexible, and informed creative producer with the confidence to work in a wide variety of roles within the performance industries

This course is a good choice if you are passionate about the performing arts and events sector and want to work in an offstage role ensuring excellent experiences for audiences and participants. You will develop a range of hands-on skills, will learn to communicate effectively, and will experience the multi-faceted challenges of creative producing and arts management.

Top in Wales for Drama and Dance (Guardian University Guide 2023)

A purpose-built city-centre campus in Cardiff, the home of creative industries

2024

UCAS Code	Study Mode 2024	Duration	Start Date	Campus	Campus Code
W405	Full-time	3 Years	September	Cardiff (ATRiuM)	B

The BA Performance Producing and Management enables you to develop range of skills, knowledge and insight, giving you the confidence to contribute to the creative industries and performing arts as a producer, organiser, or arts manager. Through a combination of live projects, work placements, and production and events projects, you will be gain experience in a various roles, while finding and developing your own strengths and passion within the performance industries.

Employability is at the heart of the BA Performance Producing and Management offering live projects in each year, and the opportunity to work on in-house productions and events, as well as work with our partner performing arts organisations.

Level 4

Production Skills (40 credits) – Develop lighting, sound and stage management skills, as well as filming, audio and photography that can be used for marketing and social media.

Performance Production 1 (20 credits) – Work on productions or a festival, including teamwork, promotion, finance and planning.

Professional Portfolio (40 credits) – Develop job skills and knowledge through workplace observation with a focus on key skills for selected roles.

Arts and Culture (20 credits) – Explore cultural policy and structures, including equality, diversity, access and inclusion.

Level 5

Project Planning and Applications (40 credits) – Understand Arts Council, external funder and event processes and prepare applications.

Performance Production 2 (20 credits) – Work on productions or a festival, gaining insight and skills in selected roles.

Professional Portfolio 2 (40 credits) – Undertake a workplace placement and observation with a focus on leadership, organisation and planning.

Arts Management (20 credits) – Develop skills in co-creation, fundraising and planning in association with one of our partner industry organisations.

Level 6

Production Project (40 credits) – Undertake a self-defined project, applying various skills that you have developed. This could include, for example, producing a theatre production, organising an event, or taking responsibility for an aspect of festival organisation.

Professional Portfolio 3 (40 credits) – Industry placement and observation with a focus on audience development, participation and communication.

Performance Production 3 (40 credits) – Collaborative working on a large-scale public event, to produce, organise and deliver for an audience.

Teaching

Workshops with staff bringing a range of expertise and experience.
Sessions with visiting industry guests.
Workplace visits and observations.
Work placements.
Live Projects working on theatre productions, events, or festivals.
Developing a professional portfolio.

The course will be led by the Course Leader who will support you in your studies. In addition, each student will be allocated an individual Personal Academic Coach to offer guidance and support through their studies.

Assessment

You are assessed fully through coursework in each of the three years. There are varied assessment tasks including work placement reports, practical producing projects, oral presentations, online portfolios, reflections on practice, business proposal strategies, funding applications, marketing materials and the planning and hosting of events.

Placements

We offer full support in attaining placements and have a broad network of contacts in the creative industries to introduce you to.

Facilities

We offer impressive facilities at USW Cardiff, including a 160-seat auditorium theatre with a sprung stage floor, and full lighting rig. There are also four black box studio theatres, dance studios and professional film studios with green screen and motion capture facilities on campus. In addition, there are computer suites, design studios and music recording facilities.

We regularly revalidate courses for quality assurance and enhancement

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.

The entry criteria below reflect our standard entry requirements for the course for September 2023. However, all applications received by the University are reviewed holistically and individually. Entry criteria for September 2024 is changing and will be published on ucas.com from 8th May 2023. Entry criteria for September 2024 will be updated on our website from the end of October 2023.

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 it’s a 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. Here is a link to our Contextual Admissions Policy.

Other qualifications and experience

We can also consider combinations of qualifications and other qualifications not listed here may also be acceptable. We can sometimes consider credits achieved at other universities and your work/life experience through an assessment of prior learning. This may be for year one entry, or advanced entry to year two or three of a course where this is possible.

To find out which qualifications have tariff points, please refer to the UCAS tariff calculator.

If you need more help or information or would like to speak to our friendly admissions team, please contact us here

Applicants in the UK

Selection for this course is based on a suitable application. If you do not meet the entry criteria you may also be required to attend an interview to help us assess your suitability for the course.

Applicants outside the UK

Selection for this course is based on a suitable application and submission of a portfolio of your work which the Course Leader confirms is suitable for an offer to be made.

Typical A-Level Offer

BCC - CDD to include a relevant subject (this is equivalent to 104-80 UCAS tariff points)

Typical Welsh BACC Offer

Pass the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate Diploma with Grade C/D in the Skills Challenge Certificate and BC - CD at A Level with a relevant subject (this is equivalent to 104-80 UCAS tariff points).

Typical BTEC Offer

BTEC Extended Diploma Distinction Merit Merit - Merit Merit Pass in a relevant subject (this is equivalent to 112-80 UCAS tariff points).

Typical Access to HE Offer

Pass the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 80 UCAS tariff points

Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee will remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course.

August 2024 - July 2025 Fees

Full-time UK: TBC
Full-time International: TBC

Student Perks

At the University of South Wales, you’re investing in so much more than a degree. We strive to provide our students with the best possible experience, no matter what you chose to study. Whether it’s access to top of the range mac books and PCs, state-of-the-art facilities packed with industry-leading equipment and software, masterclasses and events led by industry experts, or a wide range of clubs and societies to meet likeminded people, better tomorrows start with extra perks.

Each course also has their own unique student benefits to prepare you for the real word, and details of these can be found on our course pages. From global field trips, integrated work experience and free course-related resources, to funded initiatives, projects working with real employers, and opportunities for extra qualifications and accreditations - at USW your future, is future-proofed.

Click here to learn more about student perks at USW.

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.

Funding

Funding to help pay for (or cover) course tuition fees and living costs

Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

To learn about course fees, funding options, and to see if you are eligible for financial support, visit our Fees and Funding pages.

UK students

Apply via UCAS if you are a UK residing applicant, applying for year one of a full-time undergraduate degree, Foundation Year, Foundation Degree or HND and you have not applied through UCAS before. If you are applying to study part-time, to top up your Foundation Degree or HND, or to transfer to USW from another institution, please apply directly.

International and EU students

Apply directly to the University if you live outside the UK.

Admissions statement

This course ensures that our graduates have a highly developed range of transferable skills, enhancing their employability and career potential. Graduates can further their studies by applying for one of our postgraduate degrees.

The types of job roles graduates can go on to attain are:

Creative theatre producer
Arts manager
Fundraiser
Marketing officer/manager
Events organiser
Festival producer
Venue manager
Audience development officer

Our Careers and Employability Service

As a USW student, you will have access to advice from the Careers and Employability Service throughout your studies and after you graduate.

This includes: one-to-one appointments from faculty based Career Advisers, in person, over the phone or even on Skype and through email via the "Ask a Question" service. We also have extensive online resources for help with considering your career options and presenting yourself well to employers. Resources include psychometric tests, career assessments, a CV builder, interview simulator and application help. Our employer database has over 2,000 registered employers targeting USW students, you can receive weekly email alerts for jobs.

Our Careers service has dedicated teams: A central work experience team to help you find relevant placements; an employability development team which includes an employability programme called Grad Edge; and an Enterprise team focused on new business ideas and entrepreneurship.