Professional Contemporary Arts Practice – (M.A.)

Contents

Structure

The course consists of a major practice-based artistic module running throughout the year (100 credits), and four 20-credit modules covering Cultural Entrepreneurship, Cultural Organisations in Practice, Arts Marketing and a Creative Industries Placement.

* Artistic Practice | A year-long practice-based module following a structured making process, including project proposal, research and development period, work-in-progress showing, critical feedback, and final presentation in a festival context.
* Cultural Entrepreneurship | Including business planning, fundraising, accounting, organisational structures, trading status, tax, public liability, health and safety, race equality, equal opportunities, contracts and licensing law.
* Cultural Organisations in Practice | An introduction to the UK cultural landscape, including key concepts in relation to the politics of public subsidy, how the arts are measured, and the historical and contemporary contexts in which artists work.
* Artist's Portfolio | A portfolio, website or DVD to include artist's statement, company mission statement, contextualising material (including key influences and research questions), marketing and press material, high quality images, documentation and critical reflection.
* Creative Industries Placement | 10-week placement with an arts organisation appropriate to the students' artform pathway, e.g. professional theatre, gallery, recording studio, festival or funding body. A placement brief is developed between student and host, and a final consultancy report is drawn up by the student.

Features

The course provides the professional skills for developing a considered art practice and the real-world competencies required to support and promote that work. Key to the rationale is developing better-organised making processes and more creative approaches to management, and an exploration of the ways in which these inform each other. Central to course delivery is input from visiting professionals, companies and directors, and a range of links and partnerships with arts organisations. This is reflected in the range of placement opportunities available (including the likes of FutureEverything, Forced Entertainment, Storey Creative Industries Centre, ArtGene, Scape New Zealand). Students also benefit from opportunities for mentoring from visiting artists, and the research and practice specialisms of the staff within LICA.

The course includes a high-profile showcase opportunity in a final interdisciplinary festival, through which students launch their professional practice and develop a range of skills. Students create a business plan, budget, fundraising strategy and marketing plan for the event, and fulfil roles in curating, producing, marketing, project management and design.

LICA hosts three important professional public arts venues in the form of the Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster International Concert Series and Peter Scott Gallery. Their public programmes feed directly into the course, and also host the final festival. In addition to this, resources include well-equipped recording studios, video editing facilities, rehearsal rooms and performance studios.