MA Creative and Cultural Industries

This course unit will combine a comprehensive critical overview of political economy and sociology of cultural and creative work, with a practical understanding of the challenges and opportunities for contemporary work and employment in the creative industries. It will consider issues of inequality, diversity and inclusion; human resources, enterprise & entrepreneurship; professional and organisational development, and employment law & practice. 

Assessment will involve the development of a portfolio of practical tasks including contract development, scenario planning and human resource strategies, and a critical reflective essay. 

• To introduce and critically evaluate a comprehensive set of contemporary topics and issues relating to work within the creative and cultural industries through literature and case study examples 

• To provide a theoretical basis for the scholarly analysis and study of creative and cultural work 

• To establish key practical considerations for managing and leading creative and cultural enterprises 

• Through critical, research-led approaches, to identify and apply key tools and strategies for promoting fairness and social justice for work within the creative and cultural industries 

Themes and content will include:  
Week 1 - Paying artists and creatives 

Week 2 - Creative justice: fairness, inclusion and inequalities in the CCIS 

Week 3 – Creative entrepreneurialism and social innovation  

Week 4 – Leadership or partnership? managing organisations and humans 

Week 5 – Working freelance – managing time, contracts, tax and other survival strategies 

Week 6 – Advocacy, collectivism and networks 

Weekly one hour lecture and two hour seminars with directed learning and presentations to be prepared from week to week, including presentations by guest lectures. Students will be directed to conduct fieldwork in preparation for the class in specific weeks. 

The course will be supported though Blackboard resources and the use of synchronous and asynchronous materials and teaching tools.  

• Develop comprehensive understanding and be able to critically evaluate a range of contemporary issues and debates relating to work in the creative and cultural industries 

• Consider and be able to apply practical plans, tools and strategies to support creative entrepreneurship and enterprise and to promote fair and just conditions for creative and cultural workers 

• Undertake self-directed learning and skills acquisition  

• Conduct independent data and case study analysis  

• Develop appropriate methodological and analytical skills  

• Initiate practical and creative solutions to specific criteria  

• Learn and apply practical tools and strategies for management and enterprise in the creative and cultural industries 

• Retrieve, select and critically evaluate information from a variety of sources, including libraries, archives, and the internet  

• Communicate information and ideas effectively in a professional, as well as an academic, environment  

• Critically evaluate personal performance through monitoring and analytical reflection  

• Demonstrate independent learning ability suitable for continuing study and professional development 

• Essay Proposal surgery and written comments (formative)
• Academic advisor meeting (formative)
• Turnitin (summative)

Abbing, H (2002) Why are artists poor? The exceptional economy of the arts, Amsterdam University Press 

Aldridge, M. and Evetts, J. (2003) Rethinking the concept of professionalism: the case of journalism, British Journal of Sociology 54 (4): 547–564 

Anamik, S (2017) Race and the Cultural Industries, Wiley 

Beugre, C (2017) Social Entrepreneurship: Managing the Creation of Social Value, Routledge 

Banks, M. (2017) ‘Creative Justice: Cultural Industries, Work and Inequality. London: Rowman & Littlefield International 

Brooks, O, O’Brien, D and Taylor, M (2020) Culture is Bad for You, Manchester University Press 

Bujor, A and Avasilcai, S 2016. The Creative Entrepreneur: A Framework of Analysis, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Volume 221, 21-28 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.05.086.  

Hesmondhalgh, D. and Baker, S. (2011) Creative Labour: Media Work in Three Cultural Industries, London: Routledge. 

McRobbie, A. (2016) Be Creative, Cambridge: Polity Press.