Art and Social Practice MA

This unique course, the first of its kind in the UK, builds on this country’s significant history of community-based and socially engaged art initiatives addressing social and environmental issues. You will be encouraged to take creative practice beyond the institution to build on your own interests, networks and communities. Creative skills are developed in an effective and targeted way, and grounded in critical understanding and theory.

Why study MA Art and Social Practice at Middlesex University?

Middlesex University hosts some of the UK's most experienced and renowned practitioners with cross-disciplinary experience in the fields of community-based and socially engaged art practice.

The MA Art and Social Practice builds on Middlesex University's historical roots in the progressive Hornsey College of Art, at the forefront of encouraging artists to engage and participate with communities and institutions to positively impact the world around them. It will provide you with a productive environment for debate and critical enquiry across creative disciplines where ideas can be shared and collaborations fostered. Visits to external projects, organisations and events together with virtual interactions with peers from other universities will connect you with others immersed in parallel fields of study to extend your horizons, widen your knowledge and forge connections for the future.

This practice-based course is one of the few postgraduate programmes in the UK specifically designed for cultural practitioners who wish to make a difference by developing their work in an outward-facing way. You will leave the course well-equipped to pursue self-initiated projects and commissions or develop your work through the cultural and community sectors.

Course highlights

• Experienced practitioner-led teaching.
• Off-site project work based on your own interests, contacts and communities.
• A programme of lectures, seminars and external visits to inform and enhance your practice.
• Studio space for both full and part-time students.
• State of the art facilities and workshops with contemporary and traditional equipment, archives and a full range of digital tools including software labs, 3D printing and media studios.
• An active research context with staff specialism in social practice.
• An university context that supports interdisciplinary working.
• Access to London's thriving scene of social engagement, cultural activism and urban renewal.
• International university partnerships offering opportunity for exchange and placements.
• Collaborative events such as the Art and Social Practice virtual symposia and seminars with University of Highlands and Islands to share work in progress and ideas with peers across institutions.
• As a student of this course you'll receive a free electronic textbook for every module.

What will you study on the MA Art and Social Practice?

This new course is divided into five modules taken over three semesters (if studied full-time). Each module is designed to be flexible, allowing you to bring your own interests to the assignments while extending the boundaries of your current artistic practice through experimentation, research, analysis and creative exploration.

What will you gain?

You will gain experience in conducting your work in the public domain, as well as instigating, negotiating and developing projects through engagement with the wider community. These transferable skills will be an asset to whatever form of outreach work you choose to take up as an artist or cultural professional following the course.

How is the MA Art and Social Practice taught?

This course is taught through tutorials, lectures, seminars and workshops delivered by academic and professional practitioners with a diverse range of skills and expertise. The focus is on engagement with outside agencies, however students are supported through all processes of development, negotiation and delivery of this work.

Seminars, discussions, visits to outreach projects and input by experienced project partners active in the cultural and community field help stimulate ideas, providing a wider context against which individual projects are developed. One-to-one tutorials help students to develop an individual programme of work built around their own interests, networks and communities, while extending existing artistic skills and competencies.

The MA Art and Social Practice does not have formal placements; rather, students negotiate with or build groups with whom they wish to work. As well as cultural institutions and SMEs it is also possible to work within a more formal organisation, such as a school or hospital.

Assessment

Assessment is through the realisation of your major project outcome in an appropriate setting and coursework, including production of a journal, presentations and project documentation.

The assessment criteria consider your ability to:

• Develop, realise, document and communicate your practical project
• Plan, realise, document and effectively communicate process-based work relating to the needs of groups and individuals external to the institution
• Critically reflect upon socially engaged art practice in differing contexts
• Understand the ways in which socially engaged art operates within the wider social and cultural sphere.

How will the MA Art and Social Practice support your career?

You will be well prepared for an independent career as a socially engaged artist realising your work through fundraising, commissioning and the instigation of new SMEs and/or charities.

The MA Art and Social Practice will also prepare you for employed work in the outreach departments of cultural institutions, or for taking a creative role within community or development organisations.