Audiences, Engagement, Participation MA

Course overview

This Masters course centers on challenging established notions of engagement and participation in the arts and culture to discover how to lead and manage a more audience-centred approach to arts management and cultural policy. You'll examine how policy makers, cultural organisations, and artists conceptualise the role of audience in contemporary cultures and economies on both a local and global scale. You’ll learn how to research arts audiences and evaluate visitor experiences. This will help you develop your professional practice as well as engage your intellectual curiosity.

The arts have enormous potential to effect positive change in society. However, participation data has uncovered a lack of diversity in the age, ethnicity, education level and socioeconomic background of audiences in the cultural sector, alongside a decline in overall levels of arts engagement. This sits alongside efforts to address accessibility and structural inequality for both audiences and the creative workforce.

This course allows you to respond and contribute to the highly topical debate surrounding strategies to increase engagement and participation, while pursuing your own interests and career ambitions. Through a combination of theoretical analysis and research, you’ll explore the possibility of creating a more genuinely participatory culture while developing your own skills in techniques and practices of engagement.

You’ll explore theoretical concepts such as co-creation and participatory governance, alongside investigation into community and participatory arts practice, the implications of digital engagement, and conceptual design of audience experiences. Through a wide variety of optional modules you can cultivate applied skills in a range of disciplines, such as digital storytelling, creative production and heritage management.

Applying

Entry requirements

A bachelor undergraduate degree with a 2:1 (hons) or higher.

Applications from a wide range of subject areas are considered, including:

• Business

• Fine Art

• Theatre

• Politics

• Sociology

• Heritage Studies

• Media

• Journalism

Any social sciences or humanities degree subject is suitable for entry providing there is evidence of a passion for, and commitment to the course.

Applicants must demonstrate understanding of the course by responding to the five questions in the personal statement section of their online application. Applicants without a degree may also be considered, if they can demonstrate significant relevant industry experience.

An offer of a place on this programme is subject to meeting our academic entry requirements, as well as your submission of satisfactory responses to the questions we ask in the supporting statement section of the application form.

International

Our admissions team are experienced in considering a wide range of international qualifications. If you wish to discuss whether your qualifications will meet the necessary entry criteria, contact the School’s admissions team.

You can also check the accepted qualifications for your country or region.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in any component.. For other English qualifications, read English language equivalent qualifications.

Improve your English

International students who do not meet the English language requirements for this programme may be able to study our postgraduate pre-sessional English course, to help improve your English language level.

This pre-sessional course is designed with a progression route to your degree programme and you’ll learn academic English in the context of your subject area. To find out more, read Language for Arts and Humanities (6 weeks) and Language for Social Science and Arts: Arts and Humanities (10 weeks).

We also offer online pre-sessionals alongside our on-campus pre-sessionals. Find out more about our six week online pre-sessional and our 10 week online pre-sessional.

You can also study pre-sessionals for longer periods – read about our postgraduate pre-sessional English courses.

Career opportunities

This course will prepare you for employment in areas such as cultural policy, arts management, arts marketing, audience development, and arts education.

You’ll gain a variety of in-depth subject knowledge from this course, as well as valuable transferable skills such as project management, audience research, programme design and evaluation, as well as freelance consultancy. You’ll develop skills that support work in public policy, community development and visitor experience.

There is a wide variety of careers and employability support available across the University to help you with your career.

Graduates from similar courses have continued with their research and progressed to PhD study.