Course summary

Arts University Plymouth is an arts university for the 21st century, preparing students who are uniquely placed to provide creative solutions to the complex global challenges of a changing world. Formerly known as Plymouth College of Art, we were granted full university title in Spring 2022. We are now the city of Plymouth’s first and only specialist arts university, allowing us to offer our students a dynamic and unique learning experience. If you want to pursue a creative degree at Arts University Plymouth but feel you have yet to acquire the experience and range of skills necessary, our Extended BA course will prepare you for entry to one of our BA (Hons) undergraduate courses. This four-year route offers an exploratory year, developing your insight into a range of art, design and media skills and approaches, before focusing on your Commercial Photography degree. BA (Hons) Costume Production offers a fresh approach to the study of design, realisation and construction for costume. Working from classic and contemporary texts, music and storytelling, students will become skilled at producing bespoke costumes for a range of performance genres, whether for stage, screen or live action events. This is made possible through dedicated Workshop Labs that provide extensive resources, alongside support and guidance from expert technicians, where you can experiment with computer-aided design (CAD) right through to laser cutting, moulding, casting and digital fabric printing. On this course you will work on live projects with professional designers and performers, providing essential experience of industry practices; this may take the form of heritage, stage and film work. Opportunities to enter national and international competitions enable you to place your skills in a wider social and cultural context. Collaboration is a continual theme throughout this course, and during your studies with us, you will work alongside other creatives from BA (Hons) Film Arts, BA (Hons) Commercial Photography, BA (Hons) Graphic Communication and BA (Hons) Animation & Games. Your learning will be delivered by a dedicated team of creative professionals who have worked for theatre and TV companies that include Netflix and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and on West End productions. You will also gain insight into industry from visiting professionals such as Paul Farnsworth (Lend Me a Tenor), Cathy Tate (Into the Woods) and Susannah Buxton (Downton Abbey). In TV and film, our students have contributed to the BBC’s Diamond Jubilee Parade, Netflix’s Bridgerton and the BBC’s EastEnders. They have also worked behind the scenes of smash hit touring productions of Strictly Come Dancing, Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty and The Bank Robbery That Went Wrong. Our course encompasses cultural, social and political contexts for costume, enabling students to create costumes for public exhibitions and commissions from heritage societies such as the National Trust and The Box, Plymouth. Students from this course have been awarded work and internship opportunities at prestigious institutions, including Glyndebourne Opera, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Scottish Opera. Our horizons are global, and opportunities for studying abroad at one of our international partner institutions are also available.