Arts Management is a complex and exciting discipline. Once mastered, it provides you with skills that can be applied to many areas of the arts and reach audiences in evermore innovative ways. Explore strategic, collaborative, and pioneering approaches with this challenging MA, which will equip you with the contemporary knowledge, research skills and business acumen you need to succeed worldwide.
At Middlesex, we recognise that there are a wide range of career paths and further study options for those with an interest in Arts Management. That's why we developed our course to be flexible and interdisciplinary, with options to tailor your MA to suit your individual interests and needs, whether that's arts marketing, events, communications, entrepreneurship or further study beyond this programme.
You’ll be taught by leading practitioners and academics from our Business School and Media and Performing Arts departments, with opportunities to collaborate with students across a range of disciplines and tasks. Through a combination of theoretical and practical learning you'll develop a critical understanding of arts management in practice and the impact of research on audiences and industries worldwide
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MA Arts Management covers key subjects related to the management and structure of the arts and cultural industries, with a particular focus on the relationships between creativity and management.
There are three compulsory modules on this course and a range of additional module options covering more specialist areas of Arts Management. To complete your MA you will take a 60 credit Independent Project module, with guidance from a supervisor you will produce a research or practical project of considerable depth and complexity.
This module aims to introduce the internal and external environments for arts management practice, including shifting global trends and the arts ecosystem. You will study organisational structures and cultures and how this impacts up arts management. This module is taught in Terms 1 and 2
This module deals with the changing ways arts organisations raise income to support activity, and it covers commercial, public and philanthropic income and how to communicate and build relationships with these different funders, investors and customers. This module is taught in Terms 1 and 2.
This is a double module that allows high level enquiry into your chosen area of arts management practice through traditional academic research or practice-based enquiry. This might include a practical project or placement inside an arts organisation. This module is introduced from Term 1 and formally taught in Term 3 for full-time students (Term 6 for part-time), with a deadline in early October of your final year of study.
This module is designed to introduce the practice and theory of arts event management to those with no prior experience. This module is taught experientially and will involve running two or more live events during the year through team work, and therefore may be most suitable for full-time students.
Further information to follow.
This module is studied jointly with interactive design students and examines the nature of work in the creative industries and how to work as a freelancer. It involves developing a business plan for one of the assessments. It is taught intensively in Term 2.
Further information to follow.
This module is concerned with both entrepreneurship and the creative economy. You will think critically about the challenges and opportunities facing new ventures in the sector, both in terms of specific business models and the broader socio-economic context.
This module is designed to introduce the practice and theory of arts event management to those with no prior experience. This module is taught experientially and will involve running two or more live events during the year through team work, and therefore may be most suitable for full-time students.
This module is highly practical involving product design and is most suitable for students with a design background. It is studied with students on the interactive media programme. It is taught intensively in Term 1.
This module is studied jointly with interactive design students and examines the nature of work in the creative industries and how to work as a freelancer. It involves developing a business plan for one of the assessments. It is taught intensively in Term 2.
This module is jointly taught with the Creative Entrepreneurship programme that focuses on understanding the process of developing and starting a creative business. It will include a combination on contextual and practical study and is most suitable for students who are planning a venture in the near future (perhaps for your Independent Project).
This module is studied jointly with Media Management students and is a theoretical and contextual module that explores contemporary shifts in the wider creative industries and how this impacts upon practice in our field. It is taught intensively in Term 1.
This module and the Strategic Marketing Communications module (below) must be studied as a 30 credit pair across Terms 1 and 2. These modules are delivered by the Business School and are studied with Marketing students, they explore aspects of marketing communications, including using emerging digital approaches.
This module and the Digital Marketing module (above) must be studied as a 30 credit pair across Terms 1 and 2. These modules are delivered by the Business School and are studied with Marketing students, they explore aspects of marketing communications, including using emerging digital approaches.
See the course specification for more information about typical course content outside of the coronavirus outbreak:
Optional modules are usually available at levels 5 and 6, although optional modules are not offered on every course. Where optional modules are available, you will be asked to make your choice during the previous academic year. If we have insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, or there are staffing changes which affect the teaching, it may not be offered. If an optional module will not run, we will advise you after the module selection period when numbers are confirmed, or at the earliest time that the programme team make the decision not to run the module, and help you choose an alternative module.
As a student on our MA Arts Management you’ll be learning with our expert and diverse team through a blend of industry masterclasses and tutorials as well as the following methods:
Interactive seminars and problem-based learning are at the heart of the approach on this MA. You will take an active learning approach in class, discussing your reading and project work with your fellow students and tutors, analysing case studies and applying theoretical approaches to real world problems
Specialist staff will work with you to develop your independent practice and vocational skills.
This essential skill for succeeding in a highly networked industry is embedded in most of the modules on the MA. Teams work with arts sector clients and contacts to develop professional projects, and build your professional network from the moment your begin your MA study
You will be taught by practitioners, academics, and industry professionals from a range of creative industries and departments across the University. With a growing reputation for world-leading research in media, the arts, business, law and performance, you’ll benefit from our teaching staff’s influence in the industry, with regular guest-lectures from high-profile creative business leaders and access to the very latest theories and debates on professional practices in Arts Management.
There are no exams on the MA Arts Management. Instead assessment prepares you for work in the cultural industries, including developing research skills, report writing, delivering presentations, working in teams and completing practical projects. The Independent Project module can be completed through dissertation or through a combination of written and practical work, for example an internship or completion of a practical industry project.
If you’re a new student for January 2021, your teaching will start online due to national lockdown restrictions. We plan to start in person teaching on campus sometime after mid-February when the lockdown ends. When restrictions are lifted, we’ll be teaching you in different ways to make sure you get the best learning experience possible. You’ll learn through live sessions with teaching staff and have the chance to study independently too, with access to all the online resources you need through our globally available student portal.
We’re planning different scenarios for teaching so that we can be flexible. While we’re social distancing, we’re aiming to teach you through some small group sessions on campus, with other interactive teaching as well as larger lectures delivered online and recorded sessions available to you on-demand. If you’re unable to make it to campus at first, or we need to limit access to campus in the future, your course can be delivered fully online.
The table below shows current plans for your learning across a typical week, including scheduled live online teaching and an indication of what we hope to teach face to face, where you can make it to campus. While some weeks might look different to this, due to how we schedule classes and make arrangements for any face to face sessions (for example, in some cases these could take place every two weeks with an increased number of hours), the table gives you an idea of what to expect based on the overall number of teaching hours on your course.
You’ll receive final arrangements for your teaching and a full course timetable before you start.
Scenario 1: course delivered fully online | |||
1. | Live learning | Contact time per week, per level: | 6 hours |
2. | Self-paced learning time | Average hours per week, per level: | None |
3. | On demand resources | Average hours per week, per level: | 4 hours |
Scenario 2: course delivered with a mix of online and face to face learning with social distancing in place | |||
1. | Live learning | Contact time per week, per level: | 10 hours |
2. | Self-paced learning time | Average hours per week, per level: | None |
3. | On demand resources | Average hours per week, per level: | None |
4. | Face-to-face sessions | Contact time per week, per level: | 5 - 10 hours (depending on selected modules) |
Read more about our scenarios for returning to campus and what they might mean for your teaching and learning experience, and how you’ll be able to access student support.
Future plans for teaching
We’re developing our timetable for face to face teaching with current government advice on social distancing to keep you safe. If social distancing requirements are lifted, we’ll start to safely move back towards our usual teaching arrangements with more opportunities for face to face learning. Some learning and support might stay online in this scenario. If more restrictions are put in place, or there is another lockdown, we’ll be prepared to deliver your learning and support fully online, with alternative arrangements made for any required placements. We’ll always give you notice of any changes that we make.
Definitions of terms
Support
You’ll have a strong support network available to you to make sure you develop all the necessary academic skills you need to do well on your course.
Our support services will mainly be delivered online and you’ll have access to a range of different resources so you can get the help you need, whether you’re studying at home or have the opportunity to come to campus.
You’ll have access to one to one and group sessions for personal learning and academic support from our library and IT teams, and our network of learning experts. Our teams will also be here to offer financial advice, and personal wellbeing, mental health and disability support.
Read our guide to what’s been happening in your subject area recently and more about what to expect this autumn.
Our graduates are highly attractive to employers across the entire spectrum of arts and creative industries worldwide. Our graduates go onto work in such fields as management, marketing, outreach, production and fundraising. Last year our graduates took up roles running theatre outreach, doing interactive marketing and planning creative projects.
Work placements are proven to increase your success in the job market, as well as being a fantastic experience. Work placements can be built into your Independent Project Module Last year our students were offered work placements at the Courtauld Gallery, London Chamber Music Society and Brick Lane Gallery providing them with first-hand experience whilst being supported by one of our dedicated Placement Officers throughout the process.
Dr Beaven joined Middlesex University Music Department in 2014, bringing more than two decades of experience in the creative industries. Previously, she was a senior lecturer in Arts Management at the Arts University Bournemouth, teaching on the MA in Cultural Management at the University of Winchester and was a researcher in the Cultural Management Applied Research Group at the University of Greenwich. Her arts management experience ranges across a variety of art forms and both larger organisations such as the music venue Blackheath Halls and over many years as a freelancer working on events and projects with the Museum of London, Barbican, Common Ground and BBC Radio 4. Drawing on her research focus of work in the music business, Dr Beaven's PhD was a longitudinal study of musician start-ups. She also has an interest in the effects of technology on the industry and is carrying out a Research Council-funded case study of a Kickstarter-supported album recording and release.
Dr Slater leads the module on Arts Marketing and runs a specialist arts management consultancy. Recent clients include Darlington Theatre, The Audience Agency and York Bishop’s Palace.
Julia Haferkorn joined Middlesex University in 2014, after having worked in the music industry for 20 years. Initially at classical music publisher Peters Edition, she promoted the music of John Cage, Mauricio Kagel and Brian Ferneyhough. She founded the artist agency Haferkorn Associates Ltd (1998) and, with Ed McKeon, the production company Third Ear Music Ltd (2010). She has worked with a range of new music artists, including the Arditti Quartet, Apartment House, Matthew Herbert and Icebreaker, and has set up concerts and tours all over Britain and world-wide. In 2014 she was appointed Co-Artistic Director of the British Composer Awards. She has given talks, tutorials and/or lectures for Sound and Music, at the Cheltenham International Music Festival’s Composer Academy, the Finnish Institute, the University of Kent, and the Royal Academy of Music, London.
Dr Fribbins is a composer whose music is performed, broadcast and recorded internationally. He studied with the German composer Hans Werner Henze and at the Royal Academy London, Royal Holloway and Nottingham universities. He has produced more than thirty concert works for a range of ensembles and orchestras, much of it widely performed and recorded, and principally published by Music Haven. He also directs a weekly series of concerts at Kings Place, London.
We’ll carefully manage any future changes to courses, or the support and other services available to you, if these are necessary because of things like changes to government health and safety advice, or any changes to the law.
Any decisions will be taken in line with both external advice and the University’s Regulations which include information on this.
Our priority will always be to maintain academic standards and quality so that your learning outcomes are not affected by any adjustments that we may have to make.
At all times we’ll aim to keep you well informed of how we may need to respond to changing circumstances, and about support that we’ll provide to you.
Start: January 2022
Duration: 1 year full-time, 2 years part-time
Code: PGN2P4
