UWTSD Applied Drama students take on ‘Platfform’ event

19 June 2023

Students from the University of Wales Trinty Saint David’s BA Applied Drama course recently took part in their ‘Platfform’ event at Canolfan S4C Yr Egin.

Group of people attending conference, sat in front of large digital screen and a speaker.

Platfform is a symposium style celebration that provides graduating students an opportunity to publicly present examples and evaluations of their Applied Drama projects to an invited audience of professional creative industries practitioners from social enterprise, education, wellbeing and community work backgrounds.

Invited guest speakers from the industry, many of whom have supported the students during their degree programme through offering placement, guest lectures and professional experiences, had the opportunity to hear first-hand about the impactful dissertation projects and practical work that the students have undertaken in their final year.

This year the event was held at Canolfan S4C Yr Egin, who’s reputation for providing inspiring community, youth and participatory work – and supporting students – continues to grow.

This event was an important part of the students’ preparation for a professional career in participatory arts, providing a springboard to highlight their individual interests and creative goals in a supportive and appreciative atmosphere.

Student Faye Brightman said:

‘’I was very excited to take part at the Platform event, as I got to share one of my favourite projects I have undertaken so far in my practice.

“Being Seen, was a qualitative research project, which used various Applied Drama and creative writing techniques to explore transgender representation in television and film, and how this affects members of the trans and non-binary community.

“The project took place over two weeks, with participants working to discuss examples of positive and negative representations of trans people, how it feels to be represented versus how it feels not to be represented, along with creating a list of what they want to see from trans representation in the future.’’

Programme Manager for BA Applied Drama Jonathan Pugh said:

“The real strength of Platfform is its celebration of our students’ continuing professional journey. All of this year’s symposium attendees, some of whom were parents, some of whom were arts and wellbeing professionals, were highly supportive and excited by the student projects.

“We all learned more about the very-real need for the participatory projects via Q&A sessions and in workshops run by our graduates - who now work with Carmarthenshire’s ‘People Speak Up’. We will continue these important conversations with the arts and wellbeing sector in our new MA in Applied Theatre next year.”