FOR PERFORMERS AND THOSE WHO MAKE PERFORMANCE POSSIBLE THE PLACE THE PROGRAMMES THE PATHWAY THE PASSION TAKE YOUR PLACE 2016 Backstage in our Paul McCartney Auditorium, you can see some of our degree level students in the integrated roles needed to make a performance happen. Oliver Bush working as the lighting designer (studying Theatre and Performance Technology) Katy Lord providing stage management (studying Theatre and Performance Technology) Alfie Heywood assisting costume design and make-up (studying Theatre and Performance Design) Connor Dye one of the performers in the show (studying Acting) Alice Smith working as the costume designer (studying Theatre and Performance Design) Sophia Hardman working on live sound (studying Sound Technology) Guy Turner playing in the pit band (studying Music) Sophie Lane working as the manager for the musician (studying Music, Theatre and Entertainment Management) THE PLACE 02 Contents The Place What was our challenge and what is yours? 03 How did we respond to the challenge initially? 03 Hearing from the best 04 What do we do now? 05 Our curriculum 05 Our teachers 08 Our resources 10 Do we meet the challenge? 14 Will you join us? 16 An international outlook 17 Student support 18 Doing your own thing 19 Life in Liverpool 20 Where you live 22 The Programmes Foundation Certificates Acting and Musical Theatre 25 Commercial Dance 27 Popular Music and Sound Technology 29 Degrees Acting 31 Applied Theatre and Community Drama 33 Dance 35 Music 37 Music, Theatre and Entertainment 39 Management Sound Technology 41 Theatre and Performance Design 43 Theatre and Performance Technology 45 These programmes are awarded by The Pathway Entry requirements 49 How and when to apply 54 What happens after you have applied 58 What it costs 59 How to find us 61 Open days 61 Supporters 62 03 THE PLACE Our Founding Principal/CEO, Mark Featherstone-Witty, explains what we do and what we can offer you from this page to page 16 1 Sustained work for performers and those who make What was our performance possible. This was the challenge that started our creation 21 years ago… and challenge and remains the challenge. It’s your challenge too: how can you spend your working life being paid for what what is yours? you are passionate about? 2 How did we respond to the challenge initially? We approached the survivors – performing arts people who had made their mark and sustained a working life. Some were giants. They were asked to identify the essential skills that helped them survive; skills often learnt the 1. A third-year hard way, because they learnt without the benefit of a place like ours. dance Their observations and advice helped us create and focus the curriculum. performance in the Paul Pre-eminently, there was Paul McCartney. With his backing and spending McCartney some £20m, we transformed his old school into a higher education institution Auditorium dedicated to performers and those who make performance possible. 2. Mark Featherstone- Witty, our CEO I know a fair amount about working in music and there’s and Founding much more to it than writing and performing. There are Principal pictured with many jobs that need to be done to bring any creation to people – Paul McCartney, design, production, management and marketing are just some of our Lead Patron ‘‘ ‘‘ them. We know there are many forms of success. Supporting 3. Woody Harrelson’s performance, there is a breadth of employment, which generally masterclass in isn’t recognised. When we worked on our approach, we wanted to January got 2015 off to a bring a variety of skills together – which is what we have done. great start for our students Paul McCartney THE PLACE 04 Hearing from the best Some of the 120 leading practitioners, who participated in our initial survey, became our Patrons. The full list is on the inside back cover. Here are some observations we took to heart: Joan Armatrading 3 “I wish I had some training, because it would have made life easier. If there had been training, I would definitely have gone for it in both the guitar and the piano. Understanding contracts is very important. I signed my first contract but I couldn’t tell you any part of what I signed. Everyone had the knowledge and they kept it to themselves.” Sir Cameron Mackintosh “As a theatre producer, working internationally, it has struck me that not every nation realises the importance of the entertainment, leisure and cultural industries. Most people in England, for instance, would be surprised to learn that show business is one of our largest exports. It is clear to me that our industry increasingly needs artists who are versatile enough to cope with the exceptional demands of current shows, my own amongst them.” Sir George Martin “I’d like students to be aware of what other people do, to integrate, to interplay with them. I think the reaction of one person with another in live music is one of the most important things of all. A common understanding between everyone in the music business is essential. I think the recording engineer must appreciate what it’s like being a musician; the musician, similarly, must understand what it’s like being an engineer. I think if they have an appreciation of what each other does, then they’ll work better together.” The advice continues. Once we opened 2 3 4 our doors to students, we kept the dialogue going with leading practitioners who have been contributing to our students’ learning by participating in or leading classes. We’ve recognised many of their contributions by making them Companions or Honoured Friends. You’ll find the full list on the inside back cover. 5 Patrons and Companions aren’t the only people who have contributed. Every year 8 significant people give one-off master Companions classes and once again you’ll find the 1. Will Young full list on the inside back cover. 2. Ann Harrison, Entertainment We also have Associates attached to lawyer 7 6 each discipline we teach, who advise us. 3. Trevor Horn, Music producer 1 4. Thelma Holt, Theatre producer 5. Joe McGann, Actor 6. Ralph Koltai, celebrated theatre designer 7. Matthew Bourne Master class with: 8. Sir Ian McKellen 05 THE PLACE What do 1 we do now? After all that consultation and continuing dialogue, we could see that we needed to get three things right: 1 a unique curriculum 2 engaging teachers who you would want to be taught by 3 providing industry standard resources 2 1 Our curriculum It is unusual to talk about a single curriculum when we teach eight disciplines, but this makes us special, as is the way that we integrate A STUDENT’S VIEWPOINT these together within an overall curriculum. “The collaborative environment at LIPA was one of the main reasons I chose to What does this mean? It means regardless of the discipline you most want to study here. By having courses focused on pursue, you will be sharing your learning with students studying other disciplines. both performance and making The key word is collaboration. We believe we have taken collaboration further than performance possible, I’m able to work anyone and it’s this which makes us distinctive. with all the different departments required Collaboration in practice. Every performance event requires performers, light, to put on a show. As someone who wants sound, design and build and promotion. Invariably this means a team, a team to become a stage manager, the training I working constructively together to achieve a shared goal – the show. The skills am getting is essential.” needed to mount a show are different and yet important. Aside from shows, there Johanna Jensen, 3rd Year BA (Hons) are many other performing arts projects to collaborate on – from running a radio Theatre and Performance Technology station to organising performance art installations. THE PLACE 06 Since everyone plays a vital part, it’s inappropriate for sets of people with specific skills to treat the 4 others as if they are relatively unimportant. Everyone contributes, so everyone deserves parity of esteem. That is why we say we exist for performers and those who make performance possible. So, for example, if you are a sound technology student here, you have musical talent to work with and in turn, if you are a musician, you have engineers and producers at hand. Bands need managers and performances need promoters. This collaboration reflects the professional world you will enter when you leave us. If you learn how to collaborate when you are with us, making inevitable mistakes, you gain the experience you need for when mistakes can affect a career. Let’s take another example: indie rock pop trio The Wombats. It’s not only the three musicians that formed the band that met here: they also met their manager, their tour lighting designer, their front of house engineer and their tour manager: all were students on making performance possible programmes. 3 We bring in professionals. Some give discipline, will learn how the business one-off master classes, some lead works, both in your discipline and more seminars and workshops and some may broadly. When we talk about work, we provide extended teaching on one of your don’t just mean being employed by performance projects. You could find other people. You may decide to start yourself taking direction from a your own enterprise so you need to be commercial dance choreographer or a prepared not only to search for West End director. We bring in casting employment, but also to create It makes sense when you are learning, for example, agents and talent scouts from record your own.