BA (Hons) Culture, Criticism and Curation

BA Culture, Criticism and Curation provides you with a broad humanities-based education in the arts. On this course, you will explore the breadth of contemporary cultural theory and practices, covering a range of disciplines. These include theory of art, design, architecture, fashion, film, performance, media and literature. The course balances the learning and teaching of cultural theory alongside the development of your curatorial and project-based practice. On BA Culture, Criticism and Curation, the term curation refers to the curating skills required to curate exhibitions, including historical research and the contextualisation of art practice. It also includes the broader meaning of curating as applied to arts events organisation from planning film festivals to local street events, making zines, video essays or using archives. For curatorial or project-based working, you will also be asked to consider how to communicate narratives and ideas audio-visually and/or digitally. Criticism relates to the history and theory of arts criticism as well as the critical thinking at the heart of cultural practices. Developing these skills will help you progress as critics, arts organisers, writers and teachers.

Critical thinking, research, communication and problem-solving are at the heart of the course. These areas underpin written assignments, presentations and projects. Over three years, you will work on curatorial projects and produce academic journalistic writing and other practice-based outputs. You will develop your knowledge and skills, so you can seek work after graduation in the expansive fields of criticism and curation. This may include roles in galleries, museums, archives, theatre, arts and heritage management, the media or teaching.

On BA Culture, Criticism and Curation, the term curation refers to the skills required to curate exhibitions, including historical research and the contextualisation of art practice. It also includes the broader meaning of curating as applied to arts events organisation from planning film festivals to local street events. You will also be asked to consider how to communicate narratives and ideas when curating or planning. Criticism relates to the history and theory of arts criticism as well as the critical thinking at the heart of cultural practices. Developing these skills will help you progress as critics, arts organisers, writers and teachers.

Through the teaching of the BA Culture, Criticism and Curation team, you will encounter a varied range of approaches. Some tutors come from academic backgrounds, while others work in journalism, curation, exhibition design and events management. Several also teach on the MA Culture, Criticism and Curation course, a number are PhD supervisors while others are PhD students. Some tutors also have close external relations which benefit the course for example with the Guardian Media Group, the National Trust and the National Portrait Gallery.You will also work independently and with your peers, as well as visit external museums, galleries and archives.

BA Culture, Criticism and Curation develops your knowledge and skills to give you a wide choice of further education and career paths. You can go on to work in arts and heritage management and administration; in museums, collections and archives; as researchers within academic, commercial and not-for-profit organisations; in television, radio and new media; in theatre and cinema; and in teaching and arts entrepreneurship, in London and beyond.

You might also want to pursue postgraduate study. Many BA Culture, Criticism and Curation students have taken MA courses in a range of fields, including curating contemporary art and design, art history, the theatre in London, business and the arts, cultural theory, and historicism.

BA Culture, Criticism and Curation alumni activity demonstrates the breadth of career paths undertaken by graduates of the course. We have previous graduates working with Bristol City Council, an architectural practice in Hatton Garden, an online fashion business and the British Library. Graduates have also gone on to study on MA programmes at Central Saint Martins as well as The Courtauld Institute of Art, Goldsmith’s and University College London.