Rationale and Background
The Maestría en Artes Escénicas opened its doors in 2008 as the first program of this type in the country. With its opening it was possible to remedy the lack of postgraduate studies aimed at students of bachelor’s degrees related to performing arts in Mexico and, in particularly, in Veracruz. The program has generated performing arts professionals who have entered the regional, national and international labor market that, until a few years ago, covered its professional requirements with specialists in some of the arts and now with the profile of Master in Performing Arts , covers in an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary way professionals with a broad and updated vision of the scene that includes music, theater and dance.
Currently, the master’s degree is a national and international reference as a space to train researchers and generate knowledge in the performing arts. It has also been a model for other similar programs in the country and continues to be an option for students seeking to specialize in performing arts research and teaching. The above was confirmed through a feasibility study carried out in June 2021.
In 1959, the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) opened the first degree with a profile in dramatic literature in our country. For its part, in 1976 the Universidad Veracruzana was the first to consider theater education in Mexico in a more specialized and, at the same time, broader manner, in the sense of specifically training actors trained in all aspects of stage work. The educational models of the first open degrees in the 20th century obeyed the concepts of “profession” limited by the hierarchical division of labor. On the other hand, the 21st century models adopted by the UV Faculty of Theater operate through complex thinking, opening the areas of artistic training to their connections with scientific knowledge and those that emerge from the experience of people in their social environment.
Currently (2023) there are around 73 degree programs directly related to theater art and dance in Mexico. Most of these degrees were opened in the last 30 years or so. A good number of these degrees have made up their teaching staff with graduates of those degrees. The teaching staff is completed with professionals from other specialties, as well as academics or artists with performing arts training who have been prepared informally, in the workplace, with experience and recognition of their artistic work. In the vast majority of cases, the members of these teaching staff lack postgraduate studies in any performing specialty (theater or dance among the most common), which they make up for through postgraduate studies in humanistic disciplines or social sciences.
More than sixty years after the beginning of higher education in the performing arts in our country, with a considerable number of university schools and graduates, and in the face of the demand for academic professionals specialized in the different tasks of performing arts, among them, teaching, creation and research, there was no higher education institution that offered postgraduate training in any area of the performing arts, a task that the Universidad Veracruzana proposed. The Maestría en Artes Escénicas (MAE) program of the Facultad de Teatro of the Universidad Veracruzana was approved in December 2007 and the first generation of courses began in August 2008.
The opening of the MAE has been followed, in its specificities in the performing arts, by the Maestría en Investigación de la Danza del Centro Nacional de Investigación, Documentación e Información de la Danza «José Limón» of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, open in 2010, the Maestría en Dirección Escénica de la Escuela Nacional de Arte Teatral from the Instituto Nacional Bellas Artes, opened in 2013, the Maestría en Educación y Expresión para las Artes from the Universidad de Guadalajara, opened in 2013, the Maestría en Investigación Teatral del Centro Nacional de Investigación, Documentación e Información Teatral “Rodolfo Usigli” of Instituto Nacional Bellas Artes, opened in 2018, among others. There are currently nine master’s programs in Mexico focused on research in performing or/and visual arts, as well as 17 professional master’s programs in performing, visual or/and cultural management. Added to these programs are master’s degrees and doctorates in literature and other humanistic and social disciplines that, based on their particular interests, make room for performing arts.
To date, the MAE has 63 graduates from the first five generations, of which 36 have obtained their degree.2 The MAE program was recognized by the Programa Nacional de Posgrados de Calidad (PNPC) of the CONAHCyT in August 2011 and has maintained this recognition to date, with the level “in development”.
The MAE has favored, deepened and enriched the continuous and desirable education of academic staff in these areas, has contributed to better teaching performance and, above all, has prepared them for the research work that, in the performing arts, as happens in other areas of knowledge, it becomes essential for the renewal, elaboration and development of new knowledge and techniques for the benefit of the performing arts. The enrichment of the training of researchers and teachers has had an impact on the better training of students of degrees in theater, dance or related areas, and, consequently, on the performing arts and its research in our country.
Vision
Over the next six years, the Maestría en Artes Escénicas aims to consolidate and expand its international recognition as a high-quality postgraduate degree through exchanges of students and teachers.
In response to the guidelines of the Universidad Veracruzana, concerning sustainability and human rights, it proposes to influence so that the students’ research projects touch on these topics of social relevance.
Likewise, it projects that, in the next 6 years, the co-participation in research projects of students and professors can be strengthened, with the purpose of supporting and strengthening the LGAC of our master’s program.
Mission
Train high-level professionals in research, artistic creation and teaching, whose contributions contribute to the generation of knowledge about the performing arts, as part of the knowledge of the human and social sciences, aimed at improving and strengthening their practice in benefit of society.
Objective
The general objective of the Maestría en Artes Escénicas is to contribute to the training of professionals who have the theoretical and methodological tools to investigate the performing phenomenon from a current perspective that takes into account international trends. At the same time, the aim is for students to develop an inclusive and sensitive perspective that allows them to influence social reality and develop skills, discover rarely discussed topics, propose new approaches to the study of issues that have been studied from other perspectives and temporalities, as well as developing original treatments on complex problems in the performing arts.
Curriculum Structure
General structure of the 2023 Study Plan
The Maestría en Artes Escénicas lasts 24 months and has a flexible curricular structure whose design aims to encourage curricular adaptations according to the training needs of the students and their national or international academic mobility according to their particular trajectories. The program allows the student body to meet their training needs by opting for external seminars or courses of their choice to complement those offered in the Study Plan. This program is structured horizontally and vertically into five curricular axes that guide the study plan whose objective is to promote the development of skills. The axes of the curricular structure are the following: Basic Area, Advanced Area, Project Development Area, Specialized Seminars and Complementary Academic Activities.
The master’s degree curriculum consists of a total of 100 credits, equivalent to 810 hours.
