Master of Arts in Arts and Society
Utrecht University
Key Information
Campus location
Utrecht, Netherlands
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
1 year
Pace
Full time, Part time
Tuition fees
EUR 2,209 / per year *
Application deadline
Request info
Earliest start date
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* EU/EEA, Surinam or Swiss students; €17,500: International students
Scholarships
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Introduction
Preparing Arts Professionals for the Cultural Sector of the Future
The cultural world is in a state of rapid transformation due to technological innovation, urbanization, economic globalization, and an increasingly unpredictable sociopolitical landscape. All facets of the arts – practice, organization, leadership, societal relevance, and internationalization (in Europe and beyond) – are affected by this transformation. Utrecht University's Master of Arts and Society will prepare you to operate as a leading figure in the global arts, media, and cultural sectors of the future.
Our Master’s program is designed to meet the urgent need for arts professionals who possess rigorous theoretical and research skills coupled with practical abilities and an acute awareness of the current state of the sector at the local and global levels. As a student in this program, you will explore, for example, the dynamics and dilemmas within existing mainstream culture and its relationship with a growing number of “alternative” cultural practices, new models of creative production and industry, and the ever-increasing role of the arts in social justice.
Program Outcome
Our Master’s program is unique in many ways:
- You will benefit from interdisciplinary program content that places a special emphasis on grassroots and participatory arts in social contexts.
- The Department of Media and Culture Studies, our program's home, is a community of world-class scholars whose teaching and research complement Arts and Society.
- You will be trained in highly innovative social research skills that combine methodological rigor, creative expression, and critical engagement with the arts practices.
- You will learn from faculty with international expertise and benefit from a curriculum with a global orientation.
- Through our organizational partnerships in Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific, North America, and Latin America, you will get a chance to meet and interact with arts professionals working in a wide variety of contexts.
- You will have a broad range of opportunities for student exchange and joint research through our numerous academic partnerships across the globe.
After Graduation
With a Master in Arts and Society you will:
- Have an understanding of the latest developments in the international discourse on arts and society, which is fed by a variety of scholars from both the humanities and the social sciences.
- Be able to formulate independent opinions and contribute to this discourse clearly and convincingly.
- Possess academic and practical skills that you can implement effectively and creatively in your future professional career. You will have acquired these abilities in class, in the library, on the Internet, in practical work, and in the field where you will have carried out research into mainstream and alternative practices.
- In your program, you will have the opportunity to actively work on your career development.
- Our Master’s program prepares a new generation of creative critical thinkers and doers for the global cultural sector: cross-sector cultural partnerships (i.e. between arts and healthcare or arts and development), transitional processes of conventional cultural institutions looking for new audiences, research into the social and intrinsic value of art, and intercultural and international collaborations.
Career Opportunities
Possible Prospects
The Master's program in Arts and Society prepares arts professionals for a range of careers:
- Arts-focused public sector enterprise and non-profit organizations
- Festival/event conceptualization and planning
- Education, community outreach, or audience development for mainstream arts institutions such as museums, galleries, theatres, and concert halls.
- Arts-based community organizing and advocacy
- Urban planning, design, and strategy
- Design thinking and creative strategy and research
- Creative management, producer
- Arts collectives and foundations
- Grant-making foundations
- Ministries of Culture
Academic Careers
The main purpose of the program is to prepare students for a professional career in the cultural sector. In principle, the two-year Research Master's in Media, Arts, and Performance Studies provides better preparation for a Ph.D. trajectory, but it is in some cases possible to continue in such a trajectory after finishing the Arts and Society program.