Arts University Bournemouth: Generating collaboration and connection

Arts University Bournemouth students in a performance of Daisy Pulls It Off. Photo: Steve Tanner

For 20 years, Arts University Bournemouth has delivered a hugely successful BA (hons) Acting course. Sitting within the renowned Bournemouth Film School, the course encourages cross-departmental collaboration, offering students experience in performance for recorded media such as film, radio and those vital self-tapes. It is this sense of collaboration that underpins the training at AUB, as it unveils its new degree. The BA (hons) Acting for Screen will commence in September, 2026. The courses will spend the first year working together, honing the fundamentals of acting. From the second year, BA (hons) Acting for Screen works on film and screen performances, and the BA (hons) Acting explores screen, stage and devised performances.

Bournemouth Film School – the biggest of its kind outside London – offers training in film-making, and the acting students gain valuable experience with roles in their films. Jonathan Carr, director of Bournemouth Film School, believes this process is a positive force for the future of screen training.

“It’s a unique teaching model that offers students direct insight into industry practice. Film production students engage with students in our acting, costume and make-up courses on large-scale BFS productions. Our teaching and learning environment, situated in world-class studios, reflects the multiple departments and disciplines on a film set.”

The acting technique is honed in an ensemble setting where teamwork is everything. Working together in rigorous voice, movement, singing, improvisation and acting classes, the students build friendships, earn mutual respect and create a tight-knit community that supports each other professionally, throughout their careers.
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Arts University Bournemouth students in performance. Photo: Steve Tanner

Graduates from AUB regularly go on to success on stage and screen, including writer and producer Ryan Calais Cameron (For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy, Retrograde). It was also where writer/performers Elliot Warren and Olivia Brady met; the pair went on to create Flesh and Bone for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won an Olivier Award in 2019. Both examples are testament to the drive for students to create and produce their own work. The Bournemouth Film School is a crucible of talent; a nest for creatives, actors and artists. Their energy and imagination are challenged and expanded, shored up by robust practical training and a sense of community.

Katarzyna Zaremba-Byrne has recently taken up the role of course leader on the BA (hons) Acting course and is enthusiastic about the role AUB can play in the development of young performers.

“It really feels that this is a place where artists can collaborate, where they can exchange energies,” she says. “It is a safe and nurturing environment. We have a big theatre studio on campus where the actors work with professional directors on established plays and new, devised pieces. We are also hugely encouraging of taking new work to the public at fringe festivals in Edinburgh and Brighton.”

Zaremba-Byrne understands the value and productivity of collaboration. She has her own award-winning company, which has toured internationally.

“The best way for people to start to be exposed to the industry is by doing work, by collaborating, by meeting people, but also by being empowered, so that they have something to say and know how to say it. Once the student discovers the value of ensemble work, of being supportive of each other and being supported, that’s when the process becomes proactive. They develop a drive to explore and create. Sometimes, I think the most important aspect is not the talent, but the energy and openness, the feeling of empathy towards each other when being in a group. Especially post-Covid lockdowns, it is so important that people feel connected to each other.”

For more info visit: aub.ac.uk