Anna McNamara is a passionate advocate for inclusion, access and participation to and within professional training for the creative industries in higher education. Anna is invested in working with creative practitioners to develop teaching and scholarship opportunities through mentorship. An award winning teacher, she has published and presented internationally on a range of subjects including leadership and management, crisis-management, acting pedagogies, disability access to the arts, gender empowerment and equity, care in the curriculum and teaching, student experience and change making. Research topics published within acting pedagogies include play, flipped learning and student-staff partnerships.
A committed change-maker, her innovation and impact projects include her international Be the Change digital conference, and subsequent book Be the Change: Learning and Teaching for the Creative Industries, bringing together thirty five colleagues globally as co-authors. She also developed a nationwide inclusion project supporting school children and teachers, focused on supporting access for those from backgrounds currently underrepresented in the creative industries training sector, in partnership with Get Into Theatre and the Federation of Drama Schools.
Anna trained in Musical Theatre at the Guildford School of Acting before moving into teaching, gaining an MA in Education. As a performer she appeared professionally in numerous commercials, voiceovers, photographic shoots, pantomimes, concerts, cabarets and galas. She has produced, directed, choreographed and provided movement direction and enjoyed a long association with the Battersea Arts Centre (BAC).
Anna is researching a PhD in acting pedagogies and holds teaching qualifications in dance, drama, and singing and music. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and a Principal Fellow of Advance HE (PFHEA) in recognition of her sustained record of effective strategic leadership in academic practice and academic development as a key contribution to high quality student learning. She also serves as an assessor for the Advance HE Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE). In 2017 Anna was awarded the University of Surrey Vice Chancellor’s award for Teacher of the Year for her innovative work in creating online learning programmes of study and for elevating the student voice.