Master Programme New Performative Practices

You apply to the programme with your artistic practice and a plan for its presentation. Your background can be as a performer – dancer, choreographer or circus artist – or as an artist with another professional relationship to performance practices.

Your artistic practice forms the foundation of the programme, and all courses are connected to and explored through this practice. The programme consists of two years of in-depth study, combining compulsory courses with electives of your own choice. The course contents may be influenced by the questions and concerns inspired by your practice and plan for presentation. At the programme you discuss your own practice in relation to others' and formulate you own artistic method for its presentation. 

In the programme, your artistic practice is placed in dialogue with theory, the formation of aesthetics, and philosophy. Elective courses are often offered as standalone courses, contributing to a broader critical community for discussion and reflection. To ensure opportunities for specialized study, the programme collaborates with other higher education institutions and arts organizations, both nationally and internationally.
 

You may arrive at an articulation of your own artistic practice during the NPP education by pursuing a single project over the two years of your studies. It’s also possible to include your current artistic process as part of your studies, or to arrive at a final project by following through and keeping track of what accumulates and becomes evident to you as essential to your artistic work during the education. 

Physical, live-performance practices are studied for the development of relationships to audience, perceptions of the performer's role in society, and a critical, ethically viable relationship to the continuous unfolding of live performance.

Personal history, ethnographic studies and classical academic enquiries are all supported and encouraged by the program. The individual artist's development of a personally sustainable practice is studied in dynamic relation to society's demands, understanding and respect for artistic practice. 

As an NPP student you study what constitutes your artistic practice, how that practice relates to concurrent practices in your artistic field, the boundaries of your knowledge and what conditions you need to sustain your artistic practice.

The course invites participants into contexts that recognize the history of knowledge in choreography and performance as well as into contexts that support the constructive questioning of conventions. 

If you have questions regarding the content of the programme, please contact: Tove Salmgren, Assistant Professor of Choreography in Performative Practices and Head of the Master Programme New Performative Practices. 

If you have questions regarding the entry requirements, application process, tuition fees and/or scholarships, please contact the Education Administration Department via e-mail studieinfo@uniarts.se. 

General entry requirements for programme studies at the second-cycle level in higher education or equivalent,

and

Specific entry requirements

• Passed qualification test
• English 6 or the equivalent

Eligibility through prior learning

If you don’t fulfil the formal entry requirements for the programme you may apply for recognition of prior learning, in other words that the knowledge and competence you have acquired through other activities are assessed as the equivalent of the formal merits that are required. Submit your application for recognition of prior learning with your application for the programme. Submit at universityadmissions.se under My pages/Documents/Documents/Provide educational documents. 

You may also apply for an exemption/a waiver, that allows you to proceed to the selection process even though you don’t meet the general admission requirements. Submit your application for an exemption/a waiver together with your application.

Read more about how you can show that you meet the entry requirements (that you are eligible).

Read more about recognition of prior learning.

Start your application early

Don’t delay in submitting your application! You may run into trouble if you wait until the last day and your internet connection happens to be down, or you find that your files are in the wrong format. You will not be able to apply once the last date for applications has passed. Keep in mind that your application has to be turned in by 23:59 (Swedish time).

You apply to the programme in two steps

1. Apply to the course via universityadmissions.se.   
Last day for application: 15 January 2027.
Please note! Choose “Autumn 2027” when you search for the course at universityadmissions.se. 

Please note that you need to submit supporting documents showing that you meet the entry requirements via universityadmissions.se under My pages/Documents/Documents/Provide educational documents. 

Last day to submit supporting documentation: 1 February 2027. Please note that this does not apply to any work samples that may be used as qualification test, see below. Please note that date for Stockholm University of the Arts is an earlier date then the general last day communicated on universityadmission.se. 

2. Submit your work sample via Grade Varbi (according to instructions below)
Last day to submit work samples via Grade Varbi: 15 January 2027.

Instructions for work samples via Grade Varbi

You need to upload the work samples below via Grade Varbi to prove the special entry requirement ‘Passed qualification test’ and to participate in the selection process. Only files uploaded for the current admissions round are valid for the purposes of the qualification test and selection.

If you have used AI tools/AI techniques to produce or process video, image, audio or text in any of your artistic works or submitted work samples, we expect you to disclose and describe your use and production process. 

Before uploading your documents, they must be prepared

• You must scan your original documents. If the document is in colour, scan it in colour.
• All documents must be in PDF-format.
• Please name the document/file with content and your name for example: CV_ first name_ family name

Send in the following via Grade Varbi

1. Your CV

Your CV, including a description of your education and professional experience in chronological order. To pass the qualification test, you must demonstrate that you have maintained a professional artistic practice for at least 5 years (this does not necessarily mean full-time throughout those 5 years). You will need to upload supporting documents, such as copies of contracts or certificates from employers, copies of signed references from colleagues, collaborators and/or choreographers, etc. The references must be dated and signed, and your name and date of birth must be clearly stated on all documents. You may also upload copies of programme booklets, copies of printed reviews or similar. Your CV must be written in English.

2. Biography/Relevant professional experience

Upload a description of relevant professional experience in line with your expectations of the programme, in English. Maximum 500 words.

3. A letter of motivation

Answer the following questions:

• Why are you applying for this programme?
• What expectations do you have on the studies?

The letter must be written in English. Sign with name and date of birth. Maximum 500 words.

4. A statement on your artistic field

Upload an account of how you currently identify and experience your artistic field. The statement must be written in English. Maximum 1000 words.

5. A proposal for presenting your artistic practice

Upload a proposal for a presentation of your artistic practice. The proposal must be written in English. Sign with name and date of birth. Maximum 1000 words.

6. A film of your previous work (maximum length 10 min and 150 MB, format mov, mp4 or avi)

Upload a video to a previous job in a maximum of 10 minutes (max 150 MB). You may need to resize the video before uploading it.

Read more here about how to convert your film

Proceed as follow to upload work samples via Grade Varbi

•    Register by providing name and e-mail address. NB! Please enter your name exactly as it appears on universityadmissions.se.
•    Fill in you contact information.
•    Please note! Fill in the application number you received when submitting your application to the course via universityadmissions.se.
•    Submit the requested documents/files.
•    Please name the document/file with content and your name for example: CV_ first name_ family name.

Confirmation that you have submitted your work samples via Grade Varbi

When you've submitted your work samples you will receive a confirmation to the e-mail address that you’ve stated. If you don’t receive a confirmation e-mail, you should first check your spam filter. If the confirmation e-mail is not there, contact Grade Varbi's technical support.
Phone: +46 520 580 050 (weekdays 08:30–12:00 and 13:00–16:30)
Support Talentech, of which Grade Varbi is a part: Talentech Help Center 
Enter: Company name: Stockholm University of the Arts; Candidate; Subject: E.g. Problem uploading a file; Product: Grade Varbi; Area: Candidate/Application.

Important dates for your application 

• Last day for applications: 15 Januari 2027.
  Please note! Choose “Autumn 2027” when you search for the course at universityadmissions.se.
• Last day to submit supporting documentation for entry requirements: 1 February 2027. Please note that this does not apply to any work samples that may be used as qualification test, see below. Please note that date for Stockholm University of the Arts is an earlier date then the general last day communicated on universityadmission.se. However, you can supplement with certain qualifications later.*
• Last day to pay the application fee or prove that you are not required to pay the fees: 1 February 2027 (read more under Application and tuition fees below). Submit passport/identification card on universityadmissions.se under My Pages/Documents/Provide identity documents.
• Admission results 1: Published on My pages on universityadmissions.se 1 April 2027.
• Last day to reply to possible course offer: 15 April 2027. 

*5 July 2026 is deadline for you who need to submit proficiency test in English. Please upload a certificate confirming that you are currently studying or a certificate of registration for a recognised language test, along with your application.
Deadline for Diploma of Bachelor’s Degree and transcript of records for you who are currently studying the last term of your Bachelor’s Programme, is by the time for course start. Please upload a certificate confirming that you are currently studying, along with your application.

The assessment of entry requirements and selection take place in several stages.

The assessment of formal merits/grades is primarily carried out by the Swedish Council for Higher Education and the Educational Deparment. The assessment of artistic merits is primarily carried out by an admission group from SKH consisting of teachers from the field. 

Recognition of prior learning is assessed by an appointed teacher. 

A student representative may also take part in the admissions process and, in that case, has the right to attend and speak, but not the right to vote.

After each stage of the selection we call applicants who will proceed to the next step. Everyone is informed of whether they will proceed or not.

Here you will find detailed information about the selection process

If you are a citizen of Sweden, another EU or EEA country or or Switzerland you are not required to pay application or tuition fees. Some other groups are also exempt from the requirement to pay application and study fees.

If you are not a citizen of Sweden, another EU or EEA country or or Switzerland you are required to pay application and tuition fees. The level of the study fees depends on which course/programme they are for, and the level is set in order to cover the actual costs of the course/programme in question. SKH has some possibilities of offering scholarships that cover the study fees for Bachelor´s and Master´s programmes.

If you are required to pay an application fee, the Swedish Council for Higher Education needs to receive your payment by the last date for paying the application fee. The application fee is SEK 900. If you are required to pay the application fee and the Swedish Council for Higher Education has not received your payment by the last date for paying the tuition fee, they will not process your application. Read more here.

The tuition fee for the Master’s Programme New Performative Practices starting in the autumn of 2025 is SEK 189,500 for the first semester and SEK 758,000 for the programme as a whole.

Note! For the Master’s Programme New Performative Practices it's possible to apply for the Swedish Institute scholarship. Read more ablut the Swedish Institute scholarship.

Scholarships to Cover the Tuition Fee

If you are obliged to pay a tuition fee you can apply for a scholarship which covers the tuition fee. The scholarship does not cover any private costs during your studies. Please note that you still need to pay an application fee (900 SEK). The application fee is non-refundable.

Read more about tuition fees and scholarships.