Theatre and Live Art Collections, UoB & Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, University of Bristol
Staging the Archive was an integrated, research-led teaching project delivered in the first term of the postgraduate taught programme. It was developed as a series of teaching collaborations with the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, aligning two taught units, Working with Difference and Past, Present and Futures, into a single connected learning experience bridging practice and theory. This structure enabled students to undertake sustained design and research projects grounded in archival material, participatory methods and public engagement, while producing both practical outcomes and critical reflection.
Working with Difference (20 credits) (PGT)
Working with Difference was a practice-led taught unit that I directed, focused on creative research and participatory design. Core themes included designing with and for diverse communities, experience and interaction design, site-based scenography and curation, and evaluation methods.
From 2018 onwards, the unit assessment was delivered through repeated collaborations with the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, alongside community partners in South Bristol. Students worked in teams to create public-facing exhibitions based on curated selections of archival artefacts, responding to the brief: design an exhibition for an audience who would not typically access the collection. The work was designed to be accessible both within and beyond the Theatre Collection gallery.
Teaching was supported by guest lectures from practitioners and researchers working in community engagement, immersive theatre and scenography, and participatory arts practice.
Past, Present and Futures (10 credits) (UG)
Past, Present and Futures was a theory-focused taught unit that ran in parallel and directly supported the practical work. Students developed a shared portfolio exploring the historical, contemporary and speculative futures of their chosen artefacts drawn from the Theatre Collection.
Students were introduced to theoretical lenses from multiple disciplines, enabling them to understand archival material as part of wider socio-technical and cultural systems. This research directly informed the design decisions and outcomes produced in Working with Difference.
Guest speakers from academic and industry contexts provided students with different conceptual frameworks and methodological approaches for analysing archives, collections and futures.
Learning Outcomes
Together, these two taught units enabled students to critically and creatively engage with participation, archiving, collections, live art, theatre and curatorial practice. Student research included collaboration with diversity specialists at the Bristol Old Vic, community carnival practitioners from St Paul’s, and fellows of the Frank B. archive, alongside sustained collaboration with the University of Bristol Theatre Collection.
