Music and Creative Writing BA (Hons) at Bangor University

This exciting course course is run by the School of Creative Studies and Media in collaboration with Bangor’s world-class School of Music. The course is aimed at students who want to study Creative Writing (for example: fiction, poetry, scriptwriting) and combine this with the study and/or practice of Music. This course course will equip you with a lively grounding in the practical and critical skills required in these exciting creative fields.

The School of Creative Studies and Media at Bangor specialises in three key areas: Creative Writing, Professional Writing, Journalism; Media, Film and Cinema Studies, New Media; and The Entertainment Industries and Performance Arts. The School has research interests in all areas of the Creative Industries, with research programmes running in several key areas: Creative Writing, Critical Writing about Creative Writing, the dimensions and enhancement of Creativity, Publishing and Bookselling, Hollywood and European Cinemas, New and Digital Media, Performance and Nation, Creative Mobile Technologies, Celtic Film and Media, Creative Industries Policy and Management, Children's Picture Books, Postcolonial Film and Media, Creative and Critical Understanding, Digital Versatile Disk, Critical Responsiveness for Creative Practitioners, Interactive Television and Podcasting.

Why choose Bangor University for this course?

• The School of Music at Bangor has dedicated facilities, and is world renowned as both a research and teaching School.

• The University has a dedicated School of Creative Studies and Media building situated overlooking the beautiful Menai Strait and housing its own digital cinema, performance space, creative writing and journalism room and WIFI meeting area. It is also the home of a number of national and international research, development and outreach programmes in creative writing and creative industries. The University has a fully equipped Media Centre, with editing suites, new media suites, production studios and media equipment available to students.
• Bangor has been the location of a number of festivals, is a regular site for visiting creative writers, musicians, film- and media-makers and dramatists, and encourages students to engage widely with such areas as new media, journalism and cross-arts activity.
• We are committed to teaching in small groups and the majority of our modules are delivered through weekly workshops or seminars.
• This course is strengthened by Bangor's close links with many outside bodies, including the international creative writing community, in the USA, Australasia and Europe (i.e. fiction, poetry and scriptwriting specialists), and those working in the field of Music. Staff are practising professionals, who work on joint projects and act as advisers to research councils, arts councils and other bodies.
• Sponsorship and scholarship opportunities are available on a competitive basis.
• Final-year projects are often carried out in collaboration with a company and could include working in a team with students from creative arts degree courses.

Employability and Creative Studies and Media degrees

Creative Studies and Media courses offer a number of career paths for you to choose from once you graduate. They emphasise the importance of creative exploration, and actual university-level critical understanding. These things - the ability to be creatively adaptable, consider the tools at hand and apply creative thinking, the importance of innovation and a combination of practical and critical knowledge - make Creative Studies and Media graduates ideal employees or, indeed, creative entrepreneurs in their own businesses.

Creative Studies and Media courses have seen graduates involved in both academe and in industry, including work in:

• Creative Writing, Professional Writing and Publishing;
• Performance and the Theatre, both on and behind the stage;
• Print and/or Broadcast Journalism;
• Actors, presenters and in television programme production;
• Advertising and the Marketing industries;
• Radio, as presenters, as well as in programme production;
• Digital, Web and New Media production;
• Multi-media industries.

A number of graduates have likewise continued to Postgraduate study.

Some have followed careers in teaching, lecturing, politics and public relations.