Trinity’s School of Drama, Film and Music has changed its name, following approval from College Board, to the School of Creative Arts.
Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Prof Darryl Jones, submitted a request to the College Board on October 12th, following “agreement of the School Executive” to rename the school.
In an email to students on Thursday, informing them of the change, Head of the School of Drama, Film and Music, Dr Matthew Causey, said that the decision for the change was made to “signify the interdisciplinarity of the disciplines of Drama, Film, Music and the accompanying fields of digital media and various aesthetic and cultural performance”.
Causey said that the name change will “help to communicate” to the College community of the school’s “developing research agenda in creative arts practices and their critical studies”, and bring them closer in line with the College’s “research agenda”.
The name change, according to Causey, will also help the school to seek funding and support. The email to students from Causey also places an emphasis on the benefits the name change will bring to the “student experience” as well as well as helping the school attract new students.
Causey stressed that the change will have no effect on degrees, course options, modules, assessments, the degree designation or a student’s affiliation with a particular department.
The school consists of the Department of Film, the Department of Music and the Department of Drama, and currently employs 17 full-time academic staff and well as 33 research students.
The school boasts an impressive list of famous alumni including Tom Vaughan Lawlor, Ruth Negga, and Aaron Heffernan, stars of the hit RTÉ series Love/ Hate, Allen Leech of Downton Abbey and Dominic West, best known for his role in The Wire.
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Lenny Abrahamson, who is best known as the director of Room, Frank and What Richard Did, is the filmmaker in residence for the films studies course in the Department of Film, and is closely associated with the the school.
BAFTA-winning Neasa Hardiman is also a graduate of the school, and composers such as Donnacha Dennehy and Garrett Sholdice, who are graduates from the school, have had works performed by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and in the National Concert Hall as well as around the globe.
