Arts management (degree)
On an arts management degree you would study subjects including audience development, management techniques, finance, quality management, event management and marketing.
Arts management graduates work in areas including artistic programming, education, policy, marketing, press and publicity, events, fundraising or administration in arts centres, festivals, theatres, orchestras, museums, galleries, dance companies, recording companies, or funding organisations.
Most universities and colleges also do course in events management, which will offer a similar training, although without the exclusive focus on the arts.
Black and minority ethnic people in arts management
Independent Theatre Council’s (ITC) Fast Track programme has offered black and Asian people a chance to train in arts and theatre management since 1997.
Postgraduate study
Arts or events management is a common postgraduate option. Sara Lock, marketing officer for Lighthouse, Poole’s centre for the arts, followed her degree in English literature with a postgraduate diploma in arts management from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. She said: "My postgraduate course was run by professionals working in the arts industry and it taught me everything I needed to know to make the move to working in theatre.
“It also meant I was able to skip up the career ladder slightly quicker and get straight into managing marketing campaigns”.
Postgraduate arts management courses are offered at many universities including Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, Birkbeck, University of London, University of Winchester, University of Northampton, Dartington College of Arts, Anglia Ruskin University, University of Greenwich, University of Bedfordshire, City University, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
You can even do an MBA (a very swanky business qualification, usually taken by people who already have industry experience) in arts management at Trinity College Carmarthen.
NB Most people currently working in arts management don’t have degrees in the subject, but gaining one could be one route to advancing your career.
Where can I study this?
- Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln
- Bournemouth University
- Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College
- De Montfort University
- London Metropolitan University
- London South Bank University
- Middlesex University
- Oxford Brookes University
- Queen Margaret University
- Rose Bruford College
- Sheffield Hallam University
- The Arts Institute at Bournemouth
- The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA)
- University of Leeds
Please note that this is not a comprehensive list. You can find more detailed information here:
