MA Arts Management, Policy and Practice / Course details

Our interdisciplinary MA in Arts Management, Policy and Practice provides the knowledge and skills to manage and coordinate arts organisations, programmes and events across the creative and cultural industries. You will explore the fundamental aspects of what it means to be an arts manager, covering business and financial management, audience development, marketing, programming and cultural policymaking.

You will develop your knowledge and understanding of the history, theory and practice of arts management and acquire direct experience and insights through opportunities to hear from and work with arts managers from across the sector through guest lectures, workshops and placement opportunities.

With a practical, hands-on element and a strong theoretical grounding, you will be immersed in theory and practice, promoting critical thinking around contemporary management practices. These provide the foundations for a career as an arts manager, administrator or artist within the creative and cultural industries.

This course is an entry-level qualification for graduates, as well as offering professional development for mid-career practitioners. It offers flexibility and opportunities for specialisation while ensuring a thorough grounding in essential principles and methodology of arts management.

Students will develop their knowledge and understanding of the history, theory, and practices of arts management and cultural policy while gaining direct insight and experience into the many different management and administration areas.

It provides a solid foundation for careers in different areas of the creative and cultural industries, and caters for arts practitioners, as well as aspiring managers.

Culture in Manchester and Links with Industry

Manchester states within its local cultural strategy that it aims to become the most culturally democratic city in the world and has an arts offering to help it achieve this ambition.

Along with the biennial Manchester International Festival, and its new home, the Factory, a multi-million-pound large-scale arts production house and venue, the city-region of Greater Manchester has a host of brilliant arts organisations, including theatres, orchestras and music organisations, a network of galleries, museums, libraries and heritage sites, as well as digital and outdoor arts, festivals, studio collectives and community-based groups.

We are lucky to be based at the heart of a vibrant cultural ecosystem, with these organisational partners and our own campus-based cultural organisations, including the Manchester Academy, Contact Theatre, and university museums, Manchester Museum and the Whitworth Art Gallery.

Throughout the MA in Arts Management, Policy and Practice, we work with many of the arts organisations in Manchester and nationally. These partners enhance the course by offering lectures, site visits, and work placements, from which students can gain direct insights and develop their understanding of the management strategies and approaches employed by professionals in the sector.

Work Placement

While undertaking the MA in Arts Management, Policy and Practice, students can apply for a 20-day work placement on a project or programme within a creative/cultural organisation and work with professional arts managers and artists. The Institute for Cultural Practices has many partners offering placements each year, such as the Science and Industry Museum, HOME, Contact Theatre, and Manchester International Festival.

Placements take place between November and May and are supported by academic mentoring, supervision, and placement mentors. They form part of the elective course options and are assessed in semester 2 via placement reports.

The opportunity to undertake a placement within an organisation can provide MA in Arts Management, Policy, and Practice students with a hands-on opportunity to apply and develop their theoretical knowledge and practical skill set of management through immersion in real-life scenarios and situations, from fundraising to audience development.

Please note that the number of placements on offer varies yearly. Students can also self-organise their own industry placements, subject to the approval of the course unit convenor.

You will learn through lectures, seminars, workshops, and group work, with guest lectures and practical sessions by professionals from cultural institutions in Manchester.

The course includes visits to key sites and venues in the north-west.

In the second semester, students can specialise in arts management through elective modules in financial management or audience development. Optional units are available in creative producing, placemaking, digital technology, and global cultural industries.

Students receive group and individual tutorials, including dissertation supervision, and access research-and-practice-based skills training through the ICP Research and Training Programme. Each student has academic advisement and access to tutors' office hours.

Academic Staff

You will be taught and trained by our expert academic staff who are recognised nationally and internationally for their research as well as their work as arts managers, artists and practitioners. Students will have first-hand access to cutting-edge research concerning management in the creative and cultural industries and real-world knowledge to take with them after graduation.

Academic Staff include:

Dr Ryan Humphrey - Lecturer in Arts Management and Cultural Policy and Director for the MA in Arts Management, Policy and Practice

Dr Humphrey specialises in community arts management and cultural policy. His research considers the relationship between cultural policymaking and issues of participation, engagement and social justice. Alongside his academic career, he has also worked as an arts manager for several organisations leading on the development and delivery of inclusive arts programmes for children and young people.

Dr Andy Hardman - Lecturer in Creative and Cultural Practices

Dr Hardman specialises in creative research practices and approaches to collaboration and engagement in museums. Away from the university, Hardman is a practising filmmaker and runs a film production company that specialises in working with national and international museum and heritage partners.

Dr Catherine Roberts - Lecturer in Creative and Cultural Industries

Dr Roberts specialises in heritage management practices and experiential learning. As a practitioner in regional and national museum learning programmes for over 15 years, Roberts has undertaken project consultancy for UK and European heritage and educational projects. They are currently leading on the Institute for Cultural Practices Heidelberg Exchange Programme.

Abigail Gilmore - Professor of Cultural Policy

Professor Gilmore specialises in research around culture, policy and place governance. Between 2012-2018 they were the co-investigator on the AHRC Connected Communities large grant project 'Understanding Everyday Participation articulating cultural values. In 2020-2022 they were CO-I on a national UKRI project 'Covid-19 impacts on cultural industries and implications for policy' and between 2023-2025 held a part-time secondment to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as UKRI Policy Fellow in Cultural Placemaking and Levelling-up

You will be assessed through a variety of methods, depending on the units you take. These may include written assignments such as essays and policy analyses, and individual or group oral presentations.

The course itself provided me with the tools which I draw upon regularly and apply in practice. The content of the lectures significantly informed and framed my thinking. They gave me the chance to discuss ideas and approaches in a safe environment. The course content itself was broken down into digestible pieces with reading to prepare you for weekly lectures that lead on to an essay for each module. 

Oliver Bliss, Relationship Manager Engagement and Audience, North, Arts Council England, MA Arts Management, Policy and Practice Alumni 2013

Studying this master's course helped me to build a bridge between these theoretical concepts and practical ways of how to implement them while understanding how they shape cultural policy and the cultural sector as a whole. Throughout my postgraduate studies, I enjoyed the opportunity to write essays about topics that I am passionate about, for example, I wrote about participatory decision-making, urban regeneration, social network analysis, DIY culture and the music industry.

Markus Hetheier, MA Arts Management, Policy and Practice 2018  

The course gave me an excellent theoretical foundation as well as relevant practical experience. The modules Arts Management and Cultural Policy introduced me to key questions surrounding audience research, impact evaluation, urban and rural arts, sustainability, resilience and more. The insights won back then continue to inform my thinking today.

Nadja Degen, MA Arts Management, Policy and Practice 2015

You will benefit from our extensive library and study facilities for master's students , as well as a wide range of cultural assets.

These include the Whitworth, which is home to world-famous collections, including masterpieces by Durer, Turner, Blake, Van Gogh, Gauguin and Picasso, and is used extensively in teaching and learning.

Manchester Museum houses one of the UK's most important collections, including artefacts of particular relevance to ancient historians. The John Rylands Research Institute and Jodrell Bank also provide research and practice opportunities through their collections, exhibitions and events.

Find out more about our facilities .