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Associate Professor Rebecca Pride

Associate Professor​ of Costume Production Practice | MA Historical Costume Course LeaderBA (Hons), HDFA, PGCE, SFHEA
Email me: rpride@aub.ac.uk

Overview

I graduated as a Theatre Designer from the Slade School of Fine Art in 1988, then in 2005, after 17 years working in the theatre industry I joined Arts University Bournemouth as a lecturer, becoming Course Leader for BA (Hons) Costume and Performance Design (2009–2020).

I am the Associate Professor​ of Costume Production Practice and MA Historical Costume Course Leader.

RP portrait IMG 6342

Contact:

Name: Associate Professor Rebecca Pride she/her
Email: rpride@aub.ac.uk
Phone: 01202 363268
ORCID ID: 0000-0001-8060-9091

Qualifications

Qualifications

  • EdD: Doctor of Education, (Bournemouth University), completed 2025
  • HDFA: Higher Diploma in Fine Art, (Slade School of Art), 1986
  • BA (Hons) Drama and Theatre Studies, (Royal Holloway College, London University), 1986

Teaching Qualification

  • PGCE: Postgraduate Certificate in Education, 2010

Teaching

I am the Associate Professor​ of Costume Production Practice and MA Historical Costume Course Leader.

I authored The Costume Supervisor’s Toolkit: Supervising Theatre Costume Production from First Meeting to Final Performance.(Routledge, 2018) ISBN: 9781138182585 - a valuable text book that was reviewed in Studies in Costume & Performance Vol 5, No. 2 by Corinne Heskett (2021, p. 281) and described as '...an insightful analysis of the role of the theatrical costume supervisor, which will become as indispensable tool for costume students and would-be costume supervisors around the world.' The second edition will be published in November 2026.

I curated the Drawing Theatre: Pamela Howard installation in 2016 in The Gallery (2016), creating an illustrated journal for the event that was later exhibited (and short-listed) at PQ19 as part of the ‘The Best Performance Design & Scenography Publication Exhibition.

Publications:

  • Book Review: Teaching Costume Design and Costume Rendering: A Guide for Theatre and Performance Educators, Jennifer Flitton Adams (2023). Studies in Costume & performance Vol. 9 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1386/scp_00...
  • The Costume Supervisor’s Toolkit: Supervising Theatre Costume Production from First Meeting to Final Performance. (Routledge, 2018) ISBN: 978-1-138182-58-5
  • The Costume Supervisor’s Toolkit, Supervising Theatre Costume Production from First Meeting to Final Performance (2025), available on 28th November 2025:
  • https://www.routledge.com/The-Costume-Supervisors-Toolkit-Supervising-Theatre-Costume-Production-from-First-Meeting-to-Final-Performance/Pride/p/book/9781032342757
  • Drawing Theatre: Pamela Howard Published 2016 (Editor)
By text + work, The Gallery, Arts University Bournemouth. ISBN: 978-0-901196-72-9
  • Blue Pages: Journal for The Society of British Theatre Designers 2013 (Summer edition) ‘Exploitation or Opportunity? the ethics of Higher Education Institutions promoting student/graduate volunteers’
  • The ‘Backstory’ case studies, Museum of Design in Plastics (MoDiP), AUB
  • Computer modelling of Theatrical sets. EG UK Theory and Practice of Computer Graphics (2010) Theatre and Performance Research Association Conference (September 2010) (Scenography Working Group).
  • Computer Modelling in the Set Design Workflow, Rebecca Pride, Will Hargreaves and Ian Stephenson Arts University College, Bournemouth, UK National Centre for Computer Animation, Bournemouth University, UK.

Courses

Research

Research Interests and Projects

I have just passed a Doctorate in Education and I am currently finalising the thesis for publication. My primary research question was to examine the costume fitting process within an auto-ethnographic framework from the position of Costume designer, supervisor and maker, under the title of Intimate scenography. In June 2023 I spoke on the subject of Bodies and Knowledge: Futuring costume pedagogy at the Prague Quadrennial 2023, debating and communicating my research to a wider audience.

Prior to this, my primary research focus has been developing research into effective teaching methodologies for designers and costume supervisors. This work formed the body of my PGCE thesis on the idea of developing ‘Designer thinking’ amongst student scenographers. I have also created work that examines ‘Drawing as practice’. In 2015, I co-curated an exhibition (between BA Costume and Performance design, BA Fashion and BA Textiles), entitled A Stitch in Line that examined stitch as a medium for creating art. This exhibition was sited within TheGallery at AUB.

Awards and Prizes

Notable awards/prizes

  • In 2018, the BA (Hons) Costume and Performance course that I formerly led was awarded a Queen's Anniversary Prize for Distinguished degree level education in Costume Design for the leading UK creative industries.

Memberships

Advance HE Membership

  • Senior Fellow (SFHEA)

Professional Memberships

  • Senior Fellow (SFHEA), 2017