Applications for the new course – which will start in autumn 2023 – are open now.
Rose Bruford College has launched a Masters course in Queer Performance, making it the first and only MA dedicated to this. It is open to students worldwide and offers a hybrid programme via distance learning and in-person sessions, with both full and part-time options available, allowing participants to continue their work as artists outside of their studies.
Helmed by academic, artist and producer Dr Phoebe Patey-Ferguson, the 13 month course will offer broad training across different queer performance practices and will be delivered by queer artists, theatre-makers, academics, and researchers. Speaking on the MA, Patey-Ferguson said, “Queer performance is where I consistently see the most exciting ideas for what theatre and art should be, but also for what the world should be and what the future should look like. This distinctive new course is a space to hold radical imaginings for where contemporary performance practice might be going next — as well as celebrating the diverse histories of queer makers and thinkers.”
“From drag to performance art, playwriting to XR, we are launching an MA that is as inventive and multidisciplinary as the fabulous community which it celebrates,” the course director continued. “Queer performance is already everywhere — on stages, screens, streets, dance floors, galleries, fields and festivals — and now it finally has its own dedicated space in the academy at Rose Bruford College.”
Travis Alabanza – who is a writer, theatre-maker and performer as well as Honorary Fellow of the College – added, “What’s so exciting about this MA in Queer Performance is that it’s offering the chance for our work to be archived, studied and dissected – to build rigour around a practice that has been influencing others for so long. Queer performance is a space where the most risks are taken and the most adventurous work is made, and I’m so excited at the prospect of a course that gives other people a chance to find the beauty that I’ve found in it.”
Prospective students interested in the Queer Performance MA can attend online events – taking place on 24 February and 30 March – to find out more about the course. For further information head to Rose Bruford College’s website.
