MA Arts Management, Policy and Practice

Fees for entry in 2027 have not yet been set. For reference, the fees for the academic year beginning September 2026 were as follows:

• MA (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £14,700
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £29,900
• MA (part-time)
  UK students (per annum): £7,350
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £14,950

The fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Fees for entry are subject to yearly review. The University reserves the right to increase your tuition fee by up to 7% each year for courses lasting more than one year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our educational and wider student experience. Postgraduate fees information .

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

International student CAS deposit

Self-funded international applicants are required to pay a deposit of £2500 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. Some applicants will be required to pay a higher deposit. More information on tuition fee deposits .

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

• Learn more about - student finance options for UK students.
• Learn more about - fees and finance for international students .
• Graduates of The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University can receive a 10% discount on their master's degree tuition fees as part of our Manchester Alumni Loyalty Discount scheme.

This unit introduces students to arts management as a set of contemporary practices and an interdisciplinary field of study. Students explore how arts managers work within a range of case study organisations to shape programmes, develop audiences and build infrastructure. The unit equips students to examine arts organisations critically and to understand how they interact with their social, cultural and economic contexts. This unit underpins the development of the students’ own professional practice as arts managers.

(Any fieldwork is subject to government guidelines)

 

- To develop knowledge, critical understanding and appraisal of relevant management models and approaches to strategic development, programming, planning and delivery of arts and culture
- To provide overview and insight into the various types of and settings for arts management functions and acquaint students with the range of professional opportunities in the creative and cultural sector
- To identify the skills and practices required for careers in arts management, cultural policy and professional practice, and to provide opportunities to learn and develop these skills
- To stimulate critical debate, innovation and entrepreneurialism in relation to management principles and practices for the arts, and to consider how these might inform broader management practice

Each week there will be a short lecture introducing the main themes of the week and seminar discussion activities exploring the set reading and individual preparation. Alongside seminar activities there will also be fieldwork tasks, field-trips, workshops and talks by guest speakers. A key element of the module is group-work on a case study analysis of an arts organisation within the region.

• Use and develop critical approaches to the study of arts management in order to interrogate and explicate professional practice
• Analyse the development of 'arts management' as a set of cultural practices
• Demonstrate direct experience of practices, procedures and policies in arts management
• Show awareness of current issues in the field

• Undertake self-directed learning in the theory and practice of arts management
• Conduct independent, critical fieldwork in arts management and cultural industries
• Analyse and evaluate complex data and statistics relevant to arts management practice

(All fieldwork is subject to government guidelines)

• Draw on appropriate tools in the analysis of arts management practice
• Communicate complex research findings into arts management through clear written and verbal articulation, supported by appropriate technological tools
• Achieve an advanced and critically informed level of group work

• Plan and deliver effective presentations to specialist and non-specialist audiences
• Retrieve, select and critically evaluate information from a variety of sources, including libraries, archives and the internet
• Orchestrate group work in disciplinary and multi-disciplinary contexts
• Develop and use effective time management strategies to balance individual assessment and group work.

 

Group project portfolio

30%

Essay

70%

 

Feedback method	Formative or Summative
Verbal feedback on development of project portfolio in group tutorial (week 7)	Formative
Written feedback on final project portfolio	Summative
Verbal and written feedback on essay plan in tutorials (week 9)	formative
Written feedback on essay	summative

 

Bjorkegren, D. The Culture Business: Management Strategies for the Arts-Related Business. London: Routledge, 1996.

Bowdin, G.A.J., McDonnell, I., Allen, J. and O'Toole, W. Events Management (Second Edition). Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2006.

Byrnes, W. Management and the Arts (Fourth Edition). Oxford: Focal Press, 2009.

Chong, D. Arts Management. London: Routledge, 2002.

Hagoort, G. Art Management: Entrepreneurial Style. Utrecht : Eburon, 2005.

Hesmondhalgh, D. The Cultural Industries (Second Edition). London, Los Angeles and New Delhi: Sage, 2007.

Pick, J. and M. Anderton. Arts Administration (Second Edition). London: Spon, 1999.

Radbourne, J. and M. Fraser. Arts Management: A Practical Guide. St Leonards: Allen & Unwin, 1996.