Arts Policy and Management MA

Arts management plays a vital role in designing, shaping and supporting the arts, helping to ensure that access, freedom and equality are achieved across all aspects of the cultural sector. Our flexible Master’s degree in arts policy and management is ideal if you are an arts manager and wish to develop your practice and deepen your understanding of the background, theories and principles of arts and cultural management. Alternatively, if you are contemplating a career in arts policy and management and aim to understand current trends and debates that inform the day-to-day running of arts organisations, it provides a comprehensive overview of the sector.

Our MA gives you a chance to explore the requirements and benefits of strategic management, leadership, power relations and policy and to analyse evaluations within art production. The programme balances theory and practice within the context of the current social, political, economic and technological environments. We invite you to develop and expand your key critical thinking skills in smaller discursive seminar groups focusing on public and voluntary sector arts organisations, but also address key commercial sector issues.

Making the most of our central London location, you can take advantage of one of the largest concentrations of art spaces, cultural organisations and festivals, with the British Museum, Wellcome Gallery, Bloomsbury Festival and West End theatres, and a wealth of other museums and galleries within walking distance. For those who want to deepen their sector experience, we offer a placement module that encourages students to work on their own research interests within an arts organisation. Past students have had valuable experiences in organisations ranging from the Greater London Authority to the Hackney Museum, and from the Big Dance Project to the Wallace Collection.

TEACHING

Teaching may include formal lectures, seminars, and practical classes and tutorials. Formal lectures are used in most degree programmes to give an overview of a particular field of study. They aim to provide the stimulus and the starting point for deeper exploration of the subject during your own personal reading. Seminars give you the chance to explore a specific aspect of your subject in depth and to discuss and exchange ideas with fellow students. They typically require preparatory study.

CAREERS AND EMPLOYABILITY

Graduates can pursue careers in the creative arts, education and museums/galleries. Possible professions include higher education lecturer, museum/gallery curator, or arts administrator. This degree may also be useful in becoming a community arts worker or multimedia specialist.