Our Creative and Cultural Industries Management Masters focuses on innovation and leadership in the creative and cultural industries

The MA Creative and Cultural Industries Management course offers a practical learning approach. Our flexible programme enables you to select a sector to focus on. This will allow you to specialise in one topic, whilst also taking core creative industry management modules.

The course content will explore the challenges involved in combining culture and management. You will develop ways to help improve the range of creative talent in the marketplace without disrupting creativity.

This Master's course welcomes graduates coming from any undergraduate subject area including our Media and Communication Course. This course allows you to change career direction and focus more on cultural leadership and enterprise.

You will select your specialism during the course induction phase, choosing from:

• Music, Festivals and Events
• Cultural Heritage and Museums
• Galleries and Visual Arts

This Creative and Cultural Management course is enhanced by our strong partnerships and links with leading organisations in the industry. Many of our partners now also employ our previous graduates. Our links with industry include; Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums, Baltic Centre for Contemporary ART and National Trust.

You will also have the opportunity to do an 8-week placement in a creative or heritage organisation. This will provide you with the experience of real time working, giving you a career edge. This work experience can further equip you with the skills and knowledge employers are looking for.

Throughout this course you will explore and consider the tensions and challenges inherent in the bringing together of cultural activity and management practice, helping find ways to bring creative talent to a marketplace without impairing the creative process on the way.

The ability to spot opportunities and to be entrepreneurial are skills that the course seeks to nurture and develop at each level, to best equip you to enter the professional world of work – whether it be creating your own cultural enterprise or working with existing ones.

Assessment methods include written essays and reports, as well as presentations, ‘live briefs’ and project work. The final dissertation is a student led piece of work that provides the opportunity to establish yourself as an expert in the field you have selected to specialise in.

Placements

The eight-week placement is part of a core module, during which you’ll participate in and observe management and systems within a cultural or creative working environment. While you’re there you will develop an idea for a project that ignites your passion, and is also relevant and potentially beneficial to the organisation itself.

You will be expected to identify an appropriate host organisation for your placement, but there is a lots of help and guidance available from your tutors and the Faculty Placement Office.

The range of possible placement organisations is as wide and flexible as possible, to allow you to tailor the experience to your interests and career aspirations.

Our teaching team are all actively engaged with specialist practice and research in the cultural sector, and remain active in their fields of expertise. That specialist knowledge is reflected in all teaching and learning activities and is evident in areas such as cultural leadership, cultural enterprise, networking and relationship management, stakeholder and audience engagement, project planning and management.

You will benefit from their active partnerships and relationships with the region’s key cultural organisations, whilst surrounded by excellent examples of culture-led regeneration from those who put these policies into practice.

Our team will be on-hand at every step of your degree, ensuring you leave with confidence and a full understanding of all aspects of this fast-moving field.

Throughout the duration of your course you will have access to all of the resources you will need to guide you through your learning experience.

This includes facilities such as our University Library – which is ranked in the top three in the UK – in addition to other facilities such as our well equipped working space, The Hub, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Diverse facilities such as Gallery North @ University Gallery and dedicated performance studios offer research and learning space to enable you to develop your creative skills.

Technology is central to supporting your everyday learning activities, whether you are a campus-based or distance learning student.

Throughout your course you will have access to our e-learning platform, Blackboard, which offers access to collaboration tools and video/audio-enhanced features, electronic feedback, discussion boards, blogs and student websites.

We provide a supportive and informal learning environment, offering feedback at all key stages of your course.

The MA Creative and Cultural Industries Management course, which is part of our Visual and Material Culture research cluster, blends management theory with arts, culture, heritage, visual culture, humanities, sociology, geography and policy studies.

Throughout the duration of your studies you will be encouraged to develop your own research skills to advance your understanding of the complex contexts and debates of the cultural and creative industries, and how these practices apply from a range of theoretical perspectives.

You will conduct increasingly independent investigations in response to set tasks, or investigate your own topics of interest within the sector, leading to a self-directed dissertation that will be focused around a subject area of your choice.

You will also be encouraged to take your place as a partner by contributing your knowledge to our learning community.

Emphasising cultural leadership, enterprise and entrepreneurship, the skills and knowledge you will learn on this course will help you develop the professional competencies required to successfully pursue a career within cultural and creative industries management.

As an MA Creative and Cultural Industries Management graduate you will be part of an active global network that is enriched and supported by our partnerships with leading cultural providers in the region and beyond.

The ability to tailor your learning will also provide enhanced career edge, allowing you to focus on the areas of this course that closely match your own interests and career aspirations.

Throughout the duration of your course you will benefit from our close relationships with the cultural sector and cultural partnerships such as Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, LIVE Theatre, New Writing North, Tyneside Cinema and National Trust. Your eight-week placement will leave you with added insight into the day-to-day workings of the cultural and creative industries, and how your skills and knowledge apply in a real-world environment.

This course will prepare you for employment across a wide range of the cultural and creative industries, in positions within visual and performing arts, architecture, museums and galleries, heritage, music, broadcast, cultural practice, historic environment, education and social policy, cultural events, sport or local authorities.

The employment patterns within the cultural sector are constantly evolving, with freelance, self-employment, enterprise, project and portfolio working being increasingly common ways of working. This course will equip you with highly developed interpersonal skills, intercultural awareness, leadership and management understanding and competencies that will allow you to successfully work within this sector.  

This course will also equip you with the necessary foundation to progress your qualification to PhD level.

Visit our alumni Facebook group to gain a better understanding of the students, networks, issues and job opportunities explored in this programme.