During IDEAschool’s Bachelor of Creative Practice (BCP) programme you will learn through hands-on engagement with the ideas and technologies associated with Design, Fashion, Music, Screen Production and Visual Art.

The programme will teach you a wide range of technical skills that are essential to successful practice in the creative industries today. You will learn software as well as traditional methods of creating Design, Fashion, Music, Screen Production and Visual Art. You will be challenged to develop your powers of creative thinking and idea generation. These, together with developing mastery of media techniques, will enable you to make work that is both professional and personally satisfying. In the second and third years of the degree you will drive your creative direction with increasing independence.

IDEAschool has a suite of up-to-date and well-appointed workshops and technologies along with the expert tuition to help you navigate and master them. Course content reflects the cultural concerns specific to Aotearoa New Zealand as well as wider contemporary global trends and influences. EIT | Te Pūkenga and IDEAschool maintain strong relationships with the local and national creative communities and connects with these to create opportunities for you beyond the classroom.

As a graduate of the BCP you will be able to:

• Apply specialised skills and learned principles to generate creative and workable concepts and works based on an understanding of contemporary and historic contexts and on research by creative practice.
• Synthesise and resolve ideas and solve problems in a selected creative discipline by utilising investigative tools with creative processes, methods and technologies.
• Critically analyse research to support and enhance the development of ideas and to position your own work within the conventions of the creative arts and within contemporary Aotearoa and global contexts.
• Apply leadership, professional practice and collaboration skills in working both individually and collaboratively in multi-cultural and/or multidisciplinary teams to manage and implement projects/briefs.
• Create works that are relevant to and reflect a stance in relation to cultural, ethical, political, social, economic and environmental factors.
• Maintain professional currency by engaging in continuing inquiry, self-education and experimentation to sustain your creative skills and manage your creative practice.

Subject areas at Level 5 include:

• Graphic Design: Adobe Creative Suite industry standard software including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere, After Effects (dependent on projects)
• Drawing Technology
• 3D Design/Sculpture: wood, clay, metal, plastics
• Spatial, Object and Architectural Design
• Print: silkscreen and press printing
• Paint: acrylics, oils, new media, art and design history, art theory

By weaving your way through the various projects that form this degree, you will learn the key skills, techniques and theory needed to become professional visual artists and designers. Some projects are individually focused, others are collaborative, some are prescribed, others demand self-directed learning – and all projects are situated within the context of the local, national and global visual arts and design world.

Subject areas at Level 6 and 7 include:

• Design, Fashion, Music, Screen Production and Visual Art

Year one

There are four projects at Level 5, all four are core to the degree. These projects are largely prescribed, involve both individual and group learning and include the key foundational creative skills, techniques and theory required at degree level.

Year two

You will complete five projects at Level 6. There is an opportunity in the second semester for you to choose between two options: individually working towards an external outcome (such as a competition) or a group project with an external client.

The Level 6 projects are increasingly self-directed, ensure the development of a stronger global understanding of creative industries and include increasing professional skills such as basic marketing and business management, as well as legal issues relative to the individual creative practice.

Year three

You will complete three projects at Level 7. There is an opportunity in semester one to choose between two response options: studio time or work experience and in the second semester one project.
In the final semester, you will work towards a large, publicly accessible end of year exhibition, performance, screening or fashion show.