Circular by Design was the first-of-its-kind professional training programme, developed and delivered by the Creative Futures Academy at NCAD and DCCI, to support textile and apparel designers, brands and manufacturers to make the transition to circular practises in every step of their design practice, value chain and business model.  A circular fashion industry is one in which waste and pollution are designed out, products and materials are kept in use for as long as possible, and natural systems are regenerated.

CAF is a tool that can be used to support the planning and development of programmes in the creative arts and also empowers learners to connect the curriculum to professional practice.

The Creative Attributes Framework (CAF) can be used to:

support the design and development of classes, modules and programmes in the creative arts
help articulate and connect curriculum to professional practice
demonstrate how learners continuously develop and prepare for their professional careers.

We envisage this as an agile framework that can adapt to future needs, one that can nurture and empower our creative and cultural leaders.

The CAF is intended as a flexible and responsive tool that is open to a diverse range of uses.

The CAF can be used by educators in the creative arts to support the planning, running and evaluation of their classes, modules, seminars, workshops and more. Some educators may wish to use it with students to facilitate self-assessment or co-creation of learning. Other’s may wish to use it in a very personal way, as a touchstone they turn to sporadically in order to reflexively sense-check their teaching and learning activities. It can be used as a visual aide in modules – to explain to students how and why a module has been designed in a certain way, or used within a team of educators to map attributes across a programme.

The CAF also demonstrates the abilities and strengths that learners possess from studying a creative curriculum. These attributes are all transferable no matter the career path of the learner, and helps graduates connect the dots from the curriculum to professional practice.

The Creative Attributes Framework (CAF) was developed to support academics in the development of modules and learning outcomes. It is intended as a device to help ensure that core attributes, required by creative practitioners are considered as part of the teaching and learning development process.

Creative Futures Academy engaged M-CO in 2021, to undertake research and facilitate a consultation process with key stakeholders, artists, creative and cultural organisations and industry experts to explore what a Creative Attributes Framework might encompass. This resulted in a report based with a series of recommendations and a draft framework. A sub-committee, comprised of three academic leads, each representing one of the CFA partner-institutions, was established to interrogate the findings and to finalise the attributes framework. The framework forms part of CFA’s pedagogic development practice, its use and effectiveness will be evaluated on an ongoing basis.

Over the past 18 months, Creative Futures Academy has been busy! Check out what we’ve been up to ‘behind the scenes’ below.

Over the past 18 months, Creative Futures Academy has been busy! Check out what we’ve been up to so far below.

Trapdoor @ UCD is a newly developed ‘black box’ theatre based at University College Dublin’s Belfield campus. The former UCD Dramsoc theatre venue in the Newman Building will once again take centre stage when it comes to student creativity, production and performance. It will serve as the new home of the Creative Futures Academy (CFA) in UCD, under the directorship of Professor P.J. Mathews, from the UCD School of English, Drama and Film. It will connect industry practitioners with students dedicated to flexing their creative talent.

The Writing for Stage and Screen MA offers you the opportunity to devote a considerable amount of time to write, evolve and reflect on your own creative practices. Today like never before, writers are moving between different media forms and this programme allows you to develop work across diverse platforms. Graduates of the MA in Writing for Stage and Screen are equipped to work in theatre, media, cultural and educational settings, and to further their research into theatre and screen.

In this CFA at UCD module, students focus on producing a creative output based on their current academic research, rather than conventional academic essays and assignments. Students benefit from engagement with, and mentoring by, a number of distinguished artists-in-residence as well as academics with experience in the creative arts and the creative industries.

“It gives students confidence in their ability to communicate the ideas of their research in a fun and accessible way.” Dr Nicolas Pillai, module coordinator.

“This module gives you permission to be creative. We often don’t allow ourselves or give ourselves permission to be creative, now I am tapping into skills I haven’t used in decades…” – Student, Creative Approaches 2022.

Discover more about CFA and the ongoing collaborations between NCAD, IADT and UCD, and with industry and the creative sector.

Are you interested in studying Creative & Cultural Industries through CFA at UCD? This course combines arts, humanities, management, business, law, and media studies to give students a well-rounded education.

Discover how this course prepares students for the ever-evolving creative industry and provides hands-on experience. With a variety of electives to choose from, you can create your own path!

Assistant Professor Donál Fullam and current student Olwyn Quill explain what the course is like, what you will be studying each year, and what it’s like to be an undergraduate student at UCD.

CFA is a space where some journeys begin and others evolve, allowing learners at all stages of their career to explore creative, flexible and collaborative learning.

We are a unique partnership between NCAD, IADT and UCD. Through direct engagement with industry experts, CFA identifies future skills and knowledge needed to create a sustainable and vibrant creative and cultural sector.

Feed the spark with CFA.