MA in Arts and Cultural Management
London, United Kingdom
DURATION
1 up to 2 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline *
EARLIEST START DATE
Request earliest startdate
TUITION FEES
GBP 27,996 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* first application deadline
** UK students: £12,468 per year | International students: £27,996 per year
Introduction
Delivered from one of the world's cultural capitals, this MA is designed to meet the complex needs of today's arts and cultural managers and professionals. With its distinctive mix of theoretical, and arts-based knowledge and skills development, you will learn how to apply creative leadership and ethical principles in managing artistic excellence, cultural heritage, audience diversity and financial sustainability, at local and global levels.
Key benefits
- Kick-start your career through focused teaching.
- Insights into management, planning and leadership.
- Gain knowledge of arts and culture across national and international contexts.
- Strong links with London's cultural organisations.
- Lectures and workshops delivered by, and in partnership with, leading arts and cultural industry professionals.
- Emphasis on creativity and arts-based learning.
Course essentials
This innovative master’s course is specifically designed to meet the needs of arts and cultural professionals and managers in different kinds of arts and cultural organisations. You will engage in theoretical and practical debates surrounding different aspects of arts and cultural management, including audiences, access, finance, cultural policy, cultural production, cultural value, leadership and so forth. You will learn the vital importance of creativity, given the increasingly global nature of competition, as well as the opportunities and challenges posed by new technologies. Our Arts & Cultural Management MA is suitable for you, whether you are new to the field or if you already have relevant professional experience. You will be passionate about culture and arts and interested in working in any of the following cultural organisations, including museums, art galleries, festivals, theatres, performance arts venues and cultural policy bodies.
The course works in partnership with a range of arts organisations from across the city to bridge the gap between theory and practice and offer you unparalleled exposure to the practicalities of cultural management. Through our required modules (particularly the module Cultural Management: The Experience) and some of our optional modules, you will engage with experienced cultural professionals and managers working in leading London-based arts organisations during talks and project-group activities. Whilst the MA does not include an internship, we have a dedicated member of academic staff who assists students interested in acquiring practical experience through sharing information about competitive internship opportunities offered by our cultural partners or other organisations across London.
In parallel to the programme, previous students from within the Department have succeeded in independently securing internships at a wide variety of arts and cultural institutions, including the National Theatre, Barbican Centre, British Council, British Film Institute, Hayward Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Screen Digest, The British Museum, CIDA (Cultural Industries Development Agency), MTV, Donmar Warehouse, Google and the V&A Museum. This gives you a sense of the exciting and formative experiences that some of our students have independently completed, in parallel with their studies at King’s. As part of the Research Approaches and Dissertation module, students have the opportunity to apply for a selective-entry Collaborative Dissertation with a Cultural Partner pathway, organised with external arts, media and heritage organisations.
The collaborative dissertation project enables students to work with a cultural partner on a live research brief that informs their final MA dissertations. Previous dissertation partners include Battersea Arts Centre, Black Live Theatre, Arts Council England, Dash Arts, King’s Cultural Institute, Live Cinema, Glyndebourne, Mahogany Opera Group, Lambeth Archives, OnRoad Media, Royal Society, Arts Cabinet, Iconem, and Greater London Authority.
Admissions
Curriculum
Structure
Required modules
You are required to take:
- Arts & Management (30 credits)
- Cultural Management: The Experience (30 credits)
You are also required to take:
- Research Approaches and Dissertation (60 credits) choosing from the following pathways:
Choosing from the following pathways:
- Traditional Dissertation Pathway
- Collaborative Dissertation with Cultural Partner Pathway
- Creative Research Project Pathway
Optional modules
In addition, you are required to take 60 credits from a range of optional modules, which may typically include:
- Collecting Cultures: Managing collections in museums and collecting organisations (15 credits)
- Exhibitions, Identities and Politics: in Museums, Galleries and other Cultural Spaces (15 credits)
- Cultural Policy (15 credits)
- Contextualising Creativity (15 credits)
- Creatives: Working in the Cultural Industries (15 credits)
- Culture and the City (15 credits)
- Cultural Markets (15 credits)
- The Aesthetic Economy and Aesthetic Markets (15 credits)
- Art and Globalisation (15 credits)
- Readings of the Music Business (15 credits)
- International Heritage (15 credits)
- Entertainment Industries (15 credits)
- Children, Media Industries and Culture (15 credits)
- Future Memory: Creating Connected Worlds (15 credits)
- Gender and Sexualities in East Asian Media (15 credits)
- Immersive Media and Extended Realities (15 credits)
- The Entrepreneurial Opportunity - Arts and Culture (selective entry) (15 credits)
- Festivals: Arts, Public Spaces and Community (15 credits)
- Gender, Media and Culture (15 credits)
- Cultural Memory (15 credits)
- Conflict, Diplomacy & International Relations (15 credits)
- Gaming Industries and Cultures (15 credits)
You may choose a maximum of 30 credits of modules from within the Faculty of Arts & Humanities and the Modern Language Centre, or, exceptionally, from a range of modules offered by the Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy (notably the Department of Education and Professional Studies, and Department of Management), or the School of Law, subject to approvals.
If you’re a part-time student, you’ll take Arts & Management and Cultural Management: The Experience in your first year. You will also take up to 30 credits of optional modules. In your second year, you’ll take Research Approaches and Dissertation (one of the pathways). You will also take up to 45 credits of optional modules. A total of 60 credits of optional modules are to be taken over the two years of study.
King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, the modules offered may change. We suggest you keep an eye on the course finder on our website for updates.
Please note that modules with a practical component will be capped due to educational requirements, which may mean that we cannot guarantee a place for all students who elect to study this module.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
We expect the graduates of this new MA to move on to arts and cultural managerial and other roles (e.g. producer, audience development, marketing officer, communications specialist, event coordinator, researcher, exhibition coordinator and policy officer) in a wide variety of institutional contexts and international locations.
Graduates from this programme have thus far gone on to a wide range of roles in the cultural and creative industries, for example, in museums and galleries, arts funding, performing arts management, freelance research, creative business development, arts administration, publishing, art marketing and local governance. Several of our students go on to do further academic research.