Master in Cultural Management

Cultural Management is a discipline bringing together art, economics, and administration, whilst creating a new meaning in society. A cultural manager is a versatile professional who, being at the center of changes, plays the roles of mediator and enabler, manager and implementer, representative or thinker, and many more in order to bring art, culture, and the audience together.

Why study cultural management?

Today’s world needs people with a broad understanding of different fields and an ability to apply a varied skillset. But there is more to life than getting things done; culture and the arts can provide a solid framework for working ethically and sustainably towards a range of necessary and desirable outcomes.

Cultural Management is for those interested in working in art and culture to encourage and manage diversity across different groups and areas of society. Our MA programme is designed to provide the knowledge and skills to move forward as arts professionals in a rapidly changing world. Our programme embraces all fields of culture and arts, having universal and wide perspectives: we support development of facilitators and mediators to work in the cultural sector, as well as in emerging positions across different fields.

EAMT Cultural Management programme has:

• International scope
• Universal perspective to all fields of culture and arts
• Unique joint curricula between business and arts education institutions
• Flexible and tailor-made approach
• Innovative teaching methods
• Practical orientation with strong academic basis
• Diverse variety of teachers

The renewed two-year cultural management master’s programme creates facilitator-managers

The two-year master’s in cultural management, offered in English, is a joint initiative with the Estonian Business School to deliver an international student-centred programme. Comprehensive content is introduced by top experts from across Europe with an emphasis on applying new knowledge in practice. The Master of Arts in Cultural Management offers new insights and approaches to building competencies through academic knowledge and practice for people interested in new ways of connecting the arts with every aspect of society. Students of the programme are trained as facilitators and mediators to work in the cultural sector, as well as in emerging positions across different fields.

The right programme for you

The renewed curriculum is built on challenge-based learning whereby you will be encouraged to use a personal challenge or project as the practical basis of your studies. Challenge-based learning offers many benefits that facilitate active learning in step with real work environments. If you already have a project or a challenge, for example, from your current workplace, you can use this as a focal point in your studies with support from your teachers, mentors, visiting experts and your fellow students. Learning experiences allow you to explore, discuss, and build connections towards solutions to real-life challenges. You also have the option to connect your own project directly to your final thesis, further increasing the connection between theory and practice. The programme builds on a strong academic base to provide you with the skills to analyse projects and situations in a balanced and holistic manner.

International experts

Our programme is delivered by top experts invited from our extensive international community of professional and collegiate contacts from Estonia, Finland, the UK, France, Spain, Germany, Poland and elsewhere.

Active alumni community

The programme has over 90 graduates working as leaders, managers, consultants and entrepreneurs, as well as professors and teachers involved in the academic development of the cultural management field on an international level.

Graduates work in the private and public sector – government organisations, universities, theatres, museums, NGOs, foundations and private sector companies – with 98% employed in the field of culture and creative industries. For example, our graduates have been taking positions such as:

• Music – head of a music institution, music editor of a festival, managing director of a choir, producer of concert organisation, freelance conductor and choral manager, director philharmonic organisation, music teacher and music manager of a congregation, independent entrepreneur/music manager for various artists, manager of an orchestra, et al)
• Theatre – head of a theatre, youth work manager of theatre, marketing manager of theatre, head of the performance department, freelance performing arts manager,, marketing assistant of a theatre et al)
• Education – various positions from teaching to administration in higher arts education institutions, professional mentor, et al),
• Film and media – music editor for weekly newspaper, sales executive of global content streaming platform etc)
• Museum – head of a museum, museum communication manager, event manager, development manager et al)
• Literature – adviser for literature of governmental institution, key account manager of libraries, marketing specialist of a library et al)
• Fine Arts – curator of exhibition, communication manager for architecture organisation, communication and development of art auction

Professional networks and international projects

To facilitate and broaden opportunities for students so they can engage with new developments in the field of culture, exchange best practices and strengthen their pedagogical capacity, the programme is a member of several professional networks.

• European Network of Cultural Administration Training Centres (ENCATC)
• EU ERASMUS Exchange Programme
• NORDPLUS Exchange Programme
• ActinArt – entrepreneurial network
• REMAM – Erasmus+ project on mentorship

A Master of Arts in Cultural Management at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre will take your career in culture to the next level.

The Master of Arts in Cultural Management is a tailor-made programme for anyone interested in becoming a member of an international network of cultural and arts managers.

Our studies are organised to allow you to balance your studies with your work life. The courses are designed so that you have the opportunity to use a variety of non-traditional learning tools and methods. Although strong academically, our programme relies heavily on connecting real-life experiences, learning by doing, experiential learning, future design, design thinking and challenge-based learning. We put a strong emphasis on learning from each other, building a community of learners and using a feedback loop to improve learning experiences and strengthen the ownership of learning among our students.

Studies for each new group of students will commence at the end of August. The programme will take off with an intensive learning seminar organised outside Tallinn to immerse all the new students in the working culture of the programme. These 4 days are dedicated to building strong commitment to the programme and each other and enable studentship and community building.

Usually, the intensive learning seminar takes place in the centre of Tallinn, at the EAMT building or at Estonian Business School. The schedule for each semester is announced at least a couple of weeks before the beginning of the semester via email and on our website.

Throughout the semester, studies are organised into the following components:

• I Intensive learning seminars: Comprises lectures with a variety of lecturers, facilitators and instructors, group work and time to work on your projects. Each intensive learning session lasts 4 days and usually takes place during the 3rd week of the month.
• II Individual work: After each intensive learning seminar, you are expected to work on your projects and integrate the topics and insights gained during the intensive learning seminar, as well as run through individual assignments. This is the time for working at your own pace with the material received during the seminar as well as doing your own research for your focus project. (4th week of the month)
• III Online courses and study visits: The second week after each intensive learning seminar is dedicated to online learning, some courses are offered during these weeks in online e-learning environments. Alternatively, extra seminars, for example, elective courses, study visits, fieldwork etc. could be organised (1st week of each month)
• IV Working with a mentor and your team: During the third week you will once again integrate the topics learnt during the intensive learning seminar and individual learning week with the help of reflection partners: group work peers and mentors. The time is used to work on your focus project and to prepare for the next intensive learning session (2nd week of month).

Studies are organised as a combination of obligatory and elective courses, each within four-week cycles.

The first year ends with a defence of your solution(s) within your focus project, the design and content of which will integrate the application of knowledge, skills and tools gained throughout the year. The project is presented to the committee and will be evaluated based on pre-existing criteria.

As a rule, the first three semesters are quite intensive, following the learning cycle explained above, while (apart from a couple of seminars), the fourth semester is allocated for you to work on your MA thesis.

The second year starts with an intensive period – the international study visit – usually lasting one week and taking place abroad. During the study visit, we explore and learn while conducting fieldwork – visiting cultural organisations and also running our own small research project on-site.

As part of our individual approach to all students, you may be eligible for advanced standing in recognition of previous studies and work (VÕTA programme).

We believe in students taking ownership of the learning process; therefore, our programme emphasizes facilitating extracurricular activities such as work placements, study visits, cultural intervention organisations within EAMT and beyond, free elective courses outside our programme and abroad, volunteering, and participation in conferences. For all of these, there are funding schemes available (on application) but it is your initiative to make full use of these options.