Course objectives
In the context of contemporary developments around artistic creation in public space, this course questions the ways in which dramaturgy, scenography, relationships with audiences and staging can draw on the performance context and, more particularly, the variations provided by public spaces, including urban, peri-urban, natural and industrial.
The two years of the course have different objectives and content:
The first year is geared towards acquisition of the knowledge, skills and know-how required to work as an artistic assistant on projects in public space.
The second year goes further into artistic research, preparing students for team management and developing a professional career as a creator and producer of projects in public space.
Learning outcomes
Extend knowledge of the arts and artistic creation in public space
- Build analytical capacities and critical vocabulary
- Develop a professional perspective and artistic practice
- Understand the cultural, political and symbolic issues associated with art in public space
- Understand public spaces as places of staged performance
- Understand and experiment with the relationship with audiences and populations for arts in public space
- Understand the technical challenges, standard practices, regulations and safety rules associated with performances in public space
Locate your artistic discourse and analyse your practice
- Expand your practice by connecting with other disciplines
- Master the technical vocabulary and basics of new artistic practices and techniques
- Position yourself in the field of contemporary artistic research
- Analyse your experimentation and creation protocol
Work as an author of an artistic project
- Carry out fundamental artistic research
- Write and design a narrative or performance for public space, develop the dramaturgy of your artistic project
- Define the scenographical and technical needs of an artistic project
Work as a producer of an artistic project
- Know how to build a working team for a creative project
- Design team supervision and project management methodologies
- Set up the organisation and technical management for a creative project
- Ensure that you and others stay safe, and manage venue and equipment security
- Develop independence and adaptability
Promote your skills and build your career
- Know how to position yourself professionally and determine your career strategy
- Determine your artistic production and dissemination strategy
- Maintain knowledge of your socio-professional and technical environment
- Grow and extend your professional network in Europe and internationally.
Course organisation
The course is spread over two years, corresponding to four university semesters. Teaching is given, in part, in Marseille at the Cité des arts de la rue where FAI-AR is based, and, in part, in partner venues in France and occasionally internationally.
The first year is primarily dedicated to collective artistic teaching and research, which is occasionally shared with partner art schools.
This includes:
- Theoretical teaching primarily provided by teachers from Aix-Marseille University during the first semester
- Artistic practice workshops, which aim to equip students and focus on specific techniques or issues, such as the role of the body in public space, working with sound or staging.
- Practical modules, to apply the fundamentals discussed in workshops by various collective role-playing exercises.
- Artistic research modules,which can be individual (fundamental research) or developed around a specific approach or topic proposed by a teaching artist (creative research laboratories).
Creative research laboratories
Creative research laboratories use artistic role-playing in a collaborative framework around a topic or professional practice, developed from previously established work instructions. This tests knowledge and teaches practical understanding by confronting theory with practice. Here, learning is based on sharing an experience and a research process, rather than on “ways of doing things” and the aesthetics of the artist teachers. There are 3 to 5 creative research laboratories for every year group, each lasting 2 to 3 weeks, under the supervision of recognised artist(s), at the Cité des arts de la rue, or at partner venues elsewhere in France or internationally.
Following on from the first year, which mainly features collective and cross-disciplinary modules, the second year focuses on each apprentice developing a personal creative project.
This project is designed as a training process, positioning the apprentice as creator and manager of a project for public space. From the first director’s statement to presentation of a draft performance of the project at the end of the course, each student works to establish a team, build a production and organise residencies by working with professional partners.
Combined with independent work, teaching provided in this second year includes:
De modules d’accompagnement au développement du projet personnel de création : écriture d’une note d’intention, dramaturgie et essais performés, production et fiche technique…
- Modules to support development of the personal creative project: drafting a director’s statement, dramaturgy and performance tests, production and technical data sheet, etc.
- Modules focused on the professional development of project managers: making a budget, production scheduling, dissemination, etc.
Assessment
The FAI-AR course leads to a double qualification:
- An institutional diploma recognised in the professional sector, covering all course teaching,
- A Master’s degree, “Dramaturgie et écritures scéniques en espace public” (dramaturgy and scriptwriting for public space), issued by Aix-Marseille University, based on the part of the higher education programme for which ECTS credits are awarded (around 1,400 hours).
All of the higher education modules are assessed.
Depending on the objectives of each teaching unit, assessment is carried out by those best qualified to observe the results, whether teachers, panels, tutors or the teaching coordination team.
Assessment methods may vary depending on the teaching, and include continuous assessment, written assignments, interviews, reports, oral presentations and performances.
