Option for Placement Year
Option for Study Abroad
Option for Extended Degree
Our MA Creative and Cultural Industries Management (MA CCIM) course focuses on strategic, innovative, and interdisciplinary skills that aims to prepare you to shape, drive, and succeed in creative and cultural management careers.
This course offers hands-on experience in the creative and cultural sector. It provides core modules and different pathway options like music and festivals, cultural heritage and museums, or galleries and visual arts.
While on the MA, you explore social and cultural trends, theories and practices in management, policy, funding, enterprise, and leadership. There will be expectations to identify future strategic opportunities, channels, growth areas and tensions in the sector, as well as to shape innovative work that could generate dynamic, creative and cultural commercial success.
Responding to the contemporary creative and cultural sector, the staff on this course seek to support rigorous criticality, debate, collaboration and experiential learning approaches, embracing field trips, industry speakers, live creative briefs and experimental teaching methodologies.
This Masters course welcomes graduates from any undergraduate subject area. The MA CCIM enables you to make a step change towards an exciting career and diverse management skills valued by the creative and cultural industry.
Research Powerhouse: Art and Design at Northumbria is ranked 4th in the UK for research power (REF 2021).
The MA Creative and Cultural Management course is enhanced by our strong industry and alumni partnerships and links with pioneering organisations, third-sector bodies and grassroots initiatives. Many of our partners also employ our alumni. Links with industry include: North East Museums (NEM), Baltic Centre for Contemporary ART and National Trust.
As part of your studies, there will be an opportunity to do an 8-week placement in a creative, cultural or heritage organisation, which can encourage you to respond to real-world issues, trends, and briefs, while working towards solutions and progress. This experience can equip you with a diverse set of valuable professional and personal skills that employers look for when hiring, as well as knowledge that can aid you in developing your own entrepreneurial opportunities and distinctive offer, if setting up as a freelancer, limited company, charity, or third-sector organisation.
A cultural partnership is an understanding between institutions, such as Northumbria and strategic industry partners. The aim is to promote outputs, experiences, values and activities to the benefit of both partners and, most importantly, our students. On this course, our cultural partnerships are with regional and international organisations, museums, charities, and other educational partners, with the overall aim to:
Students studying Creative & Cultural Industries Management can benefit directly from our education partnership with Live Theatre, NEM, and The BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art.
Level of Study
Postgraduate
Mode of Study
2 years Part Time
1 other options available
School
Design, Arts and Creative Industries
Location
City Campus, Northumbria University
City
Newcastle
Start
September 2027
Fees
Fee Information
Modules
Module Information
Discover the funding options available to you.
Take a look at what Northumbria has to offer and discover what studying with us can do for you.
The School of Design, Arts and Creative Industries is a leading centre for supporting and energising creative practice and academic study. Our inter-disciplinary research and experiential education is committed to the betterment of people, place, cultures, and societies. Our programmes are defined by the way we collaborate with communities, industry, and external partners to inform curriculum, your learning and contribute to wider society. Discover more.
Applicants should normally have:
A minimum of a 2:2 honours degree. Applicants with appropriate work experience and/or a relevant professional qualification will be considered.
International qualifications:
If you have studied a non-UK qualification, you can see how your qualifications compare to the standard entry criteria, by selecting the country that you received the qualification in, from our country pages. Visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/yourcountry
English language requirements:
International applicants are required to have a minimum overall IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 with 5.5 in each component (or approved equivalent*).
*The university accepts a large number of UK and International Qualifications in place of IELTS. You can find details of acceptable tests and the required grades you will need in our English Language section. Visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/englishqualifications
Full UK Fee: £10,200
Fees are set in line with the UK Government's tuition fee cap. The University may increase fees in subsequent years in line with any changes to the tuition fee cap. Increases will be linked to inflation. For example, increases may be linked to RPIX (Retail Price Index excluding mortgage interest payments) Students will be notified of any increase ahead of it taking effect. Student fee loans rise in line with the tuition fees cap.
*if your course is longer than one year
Full International Fee: £19,850
This is the tuition fee for your first year of study. You should expect to pay tuition fees for every year of study. The University may increase fees in the second and subsequent years of your course at our discretion in line with any inflationary or other uplift. Students will be notified of any increase ahead of it taking effect.
Scholarships and Discounts
ADDITIONAL COSTS
There are no Additional Costs
* At Northumbria we are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of personal data. To view the University’s Privacy Notice please click here
Please use the Apply Now button at the top of this page to submit your application.
Certain applications may need to be submitted via an external application system, such as UCAS, Lawcabs or DfE Apply.
The Apply Now button will redirect you to the relevant website if this is the case.
You can find further application advice, such as what to include in your application and what happens after you apply, on our Admissions Hub Admissions | Northumbria University
Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.
VA7007 -
Framing the Creative Industries (Core,30 Credits)
The module aims to develop your understanding of the Cultural and Creative Industries and their role and function within social, cultural, economic and political contexts. You will explore the theoretical and practical underpinnings of industry management in relation to policy, political economy and socio-cultural literature, policies, and professional and industry sources. Using global, national and local case studies, you will examine topics such as creative and knowledge-based economies, creative cities, cultural value and cultural regeneration, linking theory to the current creative and cultural environment and practices such as those in the Newcastle-Gateshead region. You will be encouraged to critically evaluate discourses and debates in the sector relevant to your developing professional practice as cultural managers, with particular reference to contemporary issues such as globalisation, digital technologies, diversified audiences, labour conditions and sustainability.
From this framework you will begin to formulate knowledge and ideas for your Masters dissertation. You will begin to learn about how to conduct research, choose research methodologies and analyse research information. With guidance from your tutor and fellow students, you will develop a formative and preliminal proposal for your dissertation, and this plan will be refined throughout the following semesters.
VA7009 -
Music, Festivals & Events (Optional,30 Credits)
This module will immerse you in the contemporary world of festivals, events and music management. You will be equipped and encouraged to critically evaluate economic, cultural, social, environmental and urban issues in the sectors relevant to your developing professional practice as a cultural manager. You will explore the importance of topics such as digital technologies, artists, audiences, marketing, risk, impacts and money to the industry. You will be challenged to think critically and creatively about the why, who and how of music, festival and events management, as a specialist area of the cultural and creative industries sector. Sessions will include hands-on planning and programming as well as instruction and seminars by experienced professionals
More informationVA7011 -
Cultural Heritage and Museums (Optional,30 Credits)
This module explores the principles, policies, institutions and practices of heritage management. You will be encouraged to critically evaluate current discourses and debate in the museums and heritage sectors relevant to your developing professional practice as cultural heritage managers. Through seminars, site visits and expert guests, you will develop your knowledge of the context and practices of museums, historic houses, monuments and archaeological sites. You will engage with contemporary issues and challenges within the museums and heritage sector, encountering and analysing the different ways that heritage and culture are perceived, studied and communicated in different institutions and environments. You will analyse and put into practice some of the important skills required in this sector, such as policy review, communications/marketing and programming/education, helping to develop your employability and enterprise skills.
More informationVA7012 -
Galleries and Visual Arts (Optional,30 Credits)
This module will give an entrepreneurial and management focus to your creative interest in visual arts. You will learn how to facilitate arts and cultural expressions in community and commerial art settings, developing skills in organisational management, partnerships and fundraising, gallery administration, planning of exhibitions and programmes, digital technologies and cross-media marketing. You will be challenged to think critically and creatively about the why, who and how of visual arts and gallery management, as a specialist area of the cultural and creative industries sector. Sessions will include hands-on planning and programming as well as instruction and seminars by experienced professionals.
More informationVA7040 -
The Arts, City Development and Rural Planning (Optional,30 Credits)
City planners have long been interested in the role of the arts as a vehicle for realising their social and economic objectives. And artworks, festivals and socially-engaged art projects have increasingly been integrated in rural development also (across academia and practice). Giving focus to the potentialities of their role in positioning and translating the arts, this module explores the remit of cultural managers in the complex urban and rural situational context of social inequality and environmental catastrophe.
Specifically you will consider how place-based and policy-related initiatives have inter-related with the work of cultural managers to date, and model how these working relationships could develop in the future. Drawing on the North East of England and other case studies from the 1990s onwards, you will consider the way the arts have been integrated within development strategies with particular focus on how artworks, cultural buildings, and festivals have been commissioned to ameliorate post-industrial decline. You will give attention to the tensions arising from these so-called ‘culture-led regeneration’ strategies – between economic and social agendas and consider the role of the arts manager in relation to what the arts do, and can do, for our future.
You will develop methods, skills and attributes for developing, delivering and evaluating art and artistic projects in the social, economic and environmental context of the city-region. You will identify and reflect on the values that are attributed to the arts in this context and consider how cultural managers can develop ways of working with other regional professionals to respond to the complexities of our human-nature environment. To do so you will consider how relational theories and methods can inform the practice of cultural management in the planning context; consider how academic work can inform future practice; and how practice can inform academia.
Illustrative topics include: culture-led regeneration; cultural planning; neo-endogenous development; philosophical pragmatism, planning and the arts; public art; socially-engaged art practice.
VA7041 -
Curating Asian Art (Optional,30 Credits)
This module is designed to equip you with a range of critical, theoretical and practical approaches to curating Asian art. It introduces you to histories of curating, as well as contemporary debates, drawing on art forms and collections from India, Tibet, Southeast Asia, China, Japan and Korea. Through seminars, expert guest lecturers, museum tours and a curatorial project you will develop your knowledge of the ideologies, politics and practices involved in curating Asian art. You will analyse different ways in which Asian art has been appropriated, interpreted, represented and exhibited at different historical periods and in different cultures, and will be encouraged to critically evaluate a range of displays. You will engage with contemporary ethical debates relating to the exhibition of sacred/religious material in museums, the increasingly important role of communities in interpreting and developing collections, as well as arguments for and against restitution.
You will develop the critical judgment, reflective practice and skills appropriate to planning and developing strategies for curating Asian art. The module introduces you to research methods that you will draw upon in the development of your assignments and personal research. You will learn how to deepen your enquiry through sustained questioning into aspects of curating Asian art that interest and inspire you. You will learn how to exchange and balance your experiences and ideas on the theme of curating Asian art with your peers. You will also learn to conduct research at post graduate level and the skills to become a strong independent learner.
SM9727 -
Creative Industry Business Start-up (Optional,30 Credits)
This module is an optional module for students on the MA Creative and Cultural Industries Management who are thinking of starting up a creative industry business after graduation The focus of this module is to support you in developing your business idea into a real-life venture. To do this we will introduce you to venture creation topics with a focus on sales and marketing through weekly lectures. You will then apply these topics in creating a business plan for your own venture.
As well as learning how to develop your own venture you will explore what it is to become an entrepreneur. To support you in becoming an entrepreneur will also cover topics which will support the development of your entrepreneurial capabilities. Example topics which may be covered are:
Venture development topics
Lean start-up
Business model canvas
Developing your product/service portfolio
UK Company law and business structures
Developing business strategies
Customer profiling and market segmentation
Marketing for venture creation
Digital marketing
Sales processes for venture creation
Entrepreneurial capabilities topics
Goal setting and growth
Developing critical reflection techniques
Developing a growth mindset
Experiential and self-directed learning
Principles of coaching
VA7008 -
Work Placement (Optional,30 Credits)
This module enables you to learn first-hand within a cultural or creative industry organisation. It will enhance your knowledge of how a cultural or creative industry organisation functions, and your ability to critically analyse its structures and processes. You will observe the principles of organisational management through your placement duties within a working organisation. You will gain an appreciation of how an organisation’s governance, structures and systems are influenced by values, motivations, practices and working cultures on the ground.
More informationVA7013 -
Cultural and Creative Industries Management Portfolio-Dissertation (Core,60 Credits)
The Portfolio-Dissertation provides you with the opportunity to demonstrate ability as reflective practitioners and critical scholars, examining and engaging with a topic relevant to the field.
The Portfolio-Dissertation allows you to demonstrate enhURCanced employability by developing expertise in a specialist topic and applying useful methodologies to answer a research question. The module is designed to allow flexibility of approach and outcome, reflecting the multi-disciplinary context of cultural and creative industries management and the diversity of subject backgrounds with which each of you enters the programme.
You will select the form of Portfolio-Dissertation to suit your own individual research and practice interests. To do so you complete a learning contract with the approval of the module tutor and supervisory team orientating you towards:
EITHER A literature-based research dissertation, requiring a synthesis, critical review, exploration and further development of an academic issue or professional topic - using existing academic and scholarly literature and, if relevant, the interpretation of primary or historic sources OR An applied research dissertation, requiring a qualitative or quantitative application of research methods enabling you to explore a problem centred enquiry, combined with scholarly review of relevant knowledge. The applied dissertation normally involves you in developing an evidence base and interpreting primary data, you may undertake observational data collection, or may engage in secondary analysis of existing data. OR ALTERNATIVELY
A work or practice-based portfolio-dissertation, locating the academic issue or topic within the material developed during paid / voluntary work, reflecting the student’s own practice or other relevant activity. This portfolio-dissertation involves a evidencing a major project incorporating reflection on your managed practice or event, supported by a shorter academic dissertation (7500 words). Projects may include events, commissioned reports, or website design.
All dissertations will have a strong underpinning of theoretical and research context and will require a thorough literature review.
VA7053 -
Leadership and Management in the Cultural and Creative Industries (Core,30 Credits)
In this module, you will consider strategic leadership and management theories and the key business models applied in the different sectors of the cultural and creative industries. You will also reflect on your own management and leadership skills and development needs in the context of your own creative work now and in support of your future professional development in the creative and cultural industries. . The emphasis throughout the module is on working relationships and how cultural leaders and managers of the future can develop their practice and respond to the complex challenges of our time.
You will identify and reflect on the unique leadership and management skills, capabilities and understandings required to deal with such complexities. Cultural and creative organisations examined will include public-sector supported organisations and institutions at one end of the scale to micro businesses and individual creative businesses at the other end. You will consider the political, social and economic environment within which leadership and management practices areshaped and interrogate the way that cultural and creative sector leaders and managers respond to and work within this changing environment. You will be encouraged and supported to consider your own leadership and management skills development needs in support of your own career progression.
The following alternative study options are available for this course:
Sep start
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Most courses run as described on our website and in our marketing materials. Occasionally we may need to make changes, for example due to a change in the law or regulatory requirements, requirements of a Professional, Statutory or Regulatory Body, or our quality assurance processes. Where a change is significant (in line with the Competition and Markets Authority's guidance on "substantial changes"), we will consult with affected students in advance where the change is being decided, and will explain the reason for the change and inform you at the earliest opportunity.
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