Making a creative space: developing integrated approaches to creative practice teaching

This paper will examine the development of new approaches to teaching creative arts and media practice, centring on the development of the innovative post-graduate programme the MA Creative Media Practice and the related context of Practice as Research in the creative arts being developed in doctoral research by the School of Creative and Cultural industries at the University of the West of Scotland.

Rather than providing a niche pathway to creative development this programme embraces creative diversity and seeks to encourage students to collaborate with others from a wide range of backgrounds to create new and hybrid forms and develop their individual creative identity. The nature of the creative industries sector in Scotland lends itself to such an approach and the paper will investigate creativity as a focus for coping with peripherality. To paraphrase one visiting lecturer who is a professional screenwriter: in London you can specialise and focus but to stay and make a living in Scotland you need to be able to take on more than one thing.

The four cornerstones of the MA programme are: creative collaboration; individualised creative development; industry focus and an international perspective. Core modules provide students with an interdisciplinary challenge alongside specialist options. The current focus is on extending these communities of practice locally, and globally.