Fine Art and Theatre (Placement Year)

Lancaster's degree in Fine Art and Theatre, taught by the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA), gives you the opportunity to study art practice alongside the contemporary theatre performance.

Your Fine Art courses will provide you with the opportunity to integrate Art Practice with Art History/Theory at a high level. Throughout your degree you will develop creative and technical skills in painting, drawing, sculpture, digital art and their hybrids. We have no ‘house style’ so you will develop the practice and ideas that best reflect your aims and values as a young Fine Artist. Your tutors will be professional artists and publishing historians/theorists and the mix of academic and creative skills gained at Lancaster makes you highly attractive for postgraduate study and employers.

Studying Theatre at Lancaster gives you the opportunity to learn about innovative twentieth and twenty first century theatre and performance through an exciting and varied mix of theoretical and practical approaches. You will gain critical and creative skills that open up possibilities for working in theatre, while making you attractive to a wide range of other employers.

You'll begin your degree with core modules including Modernism in the Arts, An Introduction to Theatre Studies and Fine Art Practice. In your second year, you'll study subjects such as Studio Practice, Performance Composition and our LICA interdisciplinary module Critical Reflections. You will then complete your degree by choosing from a selection of Fine Art and Theatre modules on offer such as Advanced Studio Practice, Contemporary British Theatre and Applied Theatre Practice.

Your Placement Year Sometimes known as a year in industry, your placement year will take place between your second and final year of study and this will extend your degree to four years.

A placement year is an excellent way to... • try out a role that you may be interested in as a career path • start to build your professional network (some placement students are offered permanent roles to return to after they graduate) • develop skills, knowledge and experience to put you ahead of the field when you graduate

You'll spend your third year in a paid, graduate-level position, where you’ll work for between nine and twelve months in the type of role that you might be considering for after you graduate. A very wide range of companies and organisations offer placements across all sectors. As a full-time employee, you’ll have a detailed job description with specific responsibilities and opportunities to access training and development, the same as other employees.

Our Careers and Placements Team will help you to secure a suitable placement with expert advice and resources, such as creating an effective CV, and tips for applications and interviews. You will still be a Lancaster University student during your placement and we’ll keep in touch to check how you are getting on.

The university will use all reasonable effort to support you to find a suitable placement for your studies. While a placement role may not be available in a field or organisation that is directly related to your academic studies or career aspirations, all offer valuable experience of working at a graduate level and gaining a range of professional skills.

If you are unsuccessful in securing a suitable placement for your third year, you will be able to transfer to the equivalent non-placement degree scheme and continue with your studies at Lancaster, finishing your degree after your third year.