The University of Winchester

Location

Department

Description

The University of Winchester is an institution of higher education with fewer than 6,000 students who study a range of programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The
educational culture focuses on providing a community where students have the potential to develop their chosen careers within a supportive and informal atmosphere. The original Anglican Foundation which established the school in 1840 brought a strong commitment to public service. Thus, the core values: "intellectual freedom, social justice, diversity, spirituality, individuals matter, and creativity" underpin the University commitments, as is demonstrated, for example, by its commitment to environmental sustainability.

The cdcArts Research Centre is a focal centre for communities, professionals, academics, and researchers who believe in the capacity of the arts to effect social transformation and who wish to work through both practice and theory for that end. It proposes to provide support, encouragement, and resources to those who are seeking to use an art form or combination of forms to develop narratives that counter the prevailing narrative of neoliberal globalisation, and, further, to assist in the dissemination of these narratives into the public sphere.

Programmes

1. MA Theatre and Media for Development (MA TMFD) -

   This degree is specifically designed for graduates who seek a vocational programme to train as facilitators of cultural intervention by means of theatre and media. The MA programme focuses on vocational training of cultural activists to facilitate personal change, empowerment, and social transformation through cultural action, in particular with disenfranchised groups.

   Contexts will vary between formal and non-formal education among the urban marginalised and the rural economically poor, children at risk, and those with HIV/AIDS issues and health matters, among others. The programme includes the following:

   • A one-year full-time programme from which students graduate as facilitators of community self-development and education, using theatre and video processes;
   • A vocational training in the role of culture within current development paradigms;
   • An academic training in the applications of paradigms and theories drawn from education, the arts, and development;
   • An engagement of its students with an extended experience of fieldwork in a variety of contexts;
   • One semester studying selected aspects of development such as child rights, media imperialism, gender and structural adjustment, alongside the theory and practice of theatre and video as media of social transformation;
     
   • One semester in the field running a project which can be located anywhere in the world, applying the work from the previous semester in an actual context;
     
   • A dissertation or a consultancy which makes an original contribution to knowledge and practice in the area of cultural intervention for representation and change; and
     
   • A part-time option whereby the programme may be rescheduled to run on a part-time basis either at King Alfred's University College or hosted by a local institution or organisation in any country.

    

   Applicants to the programme are normally expected to have an upper second or first class undergraduate degree. However, people with relevant field experience in areas such as development, theatre, and /or education are encouraged to apply, even though they may not meet the formal educational requirements. Applications from a wide variety of cognate disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, economics, politics, and peace studies as well as theatre, media, and development are also welcome.

   Click here to view guidelines and eligibility criteria.

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