Leeds City College

What Our Students Say

“I think it’s the fact of being able to progress your creativity and be able to work on very new ideas – so whether if you’re going to do like a music video, a documentary, a short film, those sort of like projects where you just get something new, something you haven’t even done before, um it helps to expand your mind into something completely different and work into something that’s not the same thing as you’ve done before.”

Scott, Creative Media

“You get so much experience, like you’re not just doing one side of journalism you’re doing all different things – so one day you’ll be doing some magazines and then the next you’ll be filming in the TV studio so it’s just great to get to experience all kinds of journalism so then you get to decide which part you want to go into.”

Alannah, Creative Media

“The equipment is equipment that I’ve never actually used before coming to college and you know I had to learn about it, but when I did actually learn about it and get to grips with it a bit it really helped me be able to create new sounds on my instruments and stuff like that, and be able to kind of work with them a bit instead of just using old 2001 amps from my old school, so it was pretty nice to be able to use actually new modern equipment.”

Tom, Music Performance

Did you know!

Over 700 people watched our Summer 2023 production, Tears of Argentina

Our back of house and performing arts students collaborate on performances

Our students benefit from links with Leeds Playhouse, Opera North and Northern Ballet

Students frequently perform at local arts festivals, including at the First Direct Arena

About Creative Arts

Create Your Way

Let your creativity flow with one of our exciting creative arts courses. Whether you want to perform or produce, our Visual Arts, Creative Media and Digital Arts, and Music Performance and Production departments can help bring your creativity to life.

Our courses cover a multitude of creative mediums – art, photography, graphics and textiles media, TV and film, games design, animation, journalism, musical theatre, dance, acting, DJing, studio engineering, backstage work and theatre design. Whatever your interest – we can help you express your creativity, your way.

Taught at our wonderful Quarry Hill Campus, you will learn in our fantastic facilities. Step into the spotlight on the stage of our Chroma-Q Theatre where you can perfect your act supported by industry-standard lighting and sound. If being in front of the camera is more your style, you can practise your delivery in our television studio. Want to run the show? Learn all about behind-the-scenes technology in our production suites.

As well as learning in our suites, classrooms and theatre, we have multiple studios – all designed for specific areas. From makeup to gaming, recording to photography, graphics to dance – Creative Arts here means serious business.

Beyond the campus, we enjoy close partnerships with the local and regional Arts sector. Leeds Playhouse, Leeds Grand Theatre, The Northern Ballet and Leeds Conservatoire are all just a short walk from Quarry Hill. Head up the Headrow to discover Leeds Art Gallery and the Henry Moore Institute. Pay a visit to our Mabgate Campus to explore the gallery and HE Creative Arts, or pop into CLAY and East Street Arts – all on its doorstep.

Facilities

Art Studios	iMac Suites	Television Studio
Textile Studio	Graphics Studio	Industry-standard Theatre
Print Room	Mac DAW Production Suites	Makeup Studio
Photography Studios	Recording Studios	Costume Room
Photographic Darkroom	Ensemble Room	Prop and Set Making Workshop
Animation Suite	Gaming Suites	Lecture Theatre

Visual Arts:

The Visual Arts Department delivers courses in art, photography, graphics and textiles to over 500 learners. Our Quarry Hill campus is home to wonderful facilities and a highly skilled staff team who have a broad range of specialist skills and sector knowledge. We deliver a varied curriculum at Levels 1, 2 and 3, which includes both practical and academic skills, to predominantly 16-19 learners. We have strong progression opportunities throughout, including opportunities to our growing Access and HE provision.

Based in the heart of a culturally creative city, we are extremely proud of the experience that we offer our learners and make the most of the connections we have.. We are committed to providing work experience and focus on developing personal and employability skills to prepare our learners for their future life and work. Above all else, we provide an environment for our learners to develop their own creative independence to prepare them for their next steps and support them in discovering where those steps may take them.

Contact: Kirsty Allison, Head of Visual Arts

Kirsty.Allison@leedscitycollege.ac.uk

Creative Media and Digital Arts:

Creative Media and Digital Arts is a department of more than 400 learners and 30 teachers delivering media, TV and film, games design, animation and journalism at our state-of-the art Quarry Hill Campus. We deliver a varied curriculum at Levels 1, 2 and 3, which includes both technical and academic skills, to students mostly aged 16-19. Our highly skilled team of specialist teachers and support staff takes pride in developing our students’ personal and employability skills to prepare them for their future life and work. Our ultimate goal is to enable our learners to become independent, skilled individuals who excel in the industry specialisms they have chosen.

*Unfortunately Digital Media Level 1 will not be running in September 2024. Please see our level 2 Creative Media Skills course or other level one courses available at Leeds City College on the website.

Contact: Sarah Robinson, Head of Creative Media and Digital Arts

Sarah.Robinson@leedscitycollege.ac.uk

Music and Performance Production:

To put it simply we bring the noise! Performers, technicians, engineers, designers and musicians combine to create one of the most energetic and lively departments in Leeds City College. Based out of our fantastic facilities here at Quarry Hill, we work across the city with creative organisations and venues. The 500 students and staff in our department share a creative energy, flair and practical problem solving attitude to all the work that we do. Be it musical theatre, dance, acting, DJing, studio engineering, backstage work, theatre design or being part of our 28 bands, students can explore their own creative practice and plan for a long and successful career in the arts.

Contact: Richard Lee, Assistant Principal Creative Arts

Richard.Lee@leedscitycollege.ac.uk

Safeguarding

We are committed to making sure all students and staff are protected from harm. All staff are trained in safeguarding and child protection, and our dedicated Safeguarding team is on hand for advice and support. Don’t stay silent, we are here for you.
Find out more

Course Pathways

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Employment Statistics

There are 1,134 jobs in the media sector in Leeds, which means this sector has increased by 1% compared with 2018. (EMSI, 2019)

There are now 1,222 jobs in the graphic design sector in Leeds, which means this sector is currently 35% above the employment national average. (EMSI, 2019)

Average salaries of the careers in this subject area are: