MA Art Curating in Practice

The University holds regular events throughout the year, including webinars and the annual on-campus Master's Expo, all of which offer the opportunity to find out more about our facilities and courses from our academic and admissions staff.

We also attend a number of education fairs both in the UK and overseas throughout the year.

For more details on how you can meet us, visit out events page: https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/masters/meet-us/

English Language Requirements

Due to the high volume of applications to this course, we will only consider applications that include standard English language test results (e.g. IELTS, TOEFL, etc.) that are valid for the course start date.Please ensure your test results meet the required standards and are within the validity period at the time of your intended enrolment.

Submitting Updated English Language Test Scores

If you choose to resubmit an English language test score to meet the requirements for direct entry onto the course, please be aware that we will continue to make offers while your new score is pending. If the course reaches capacity before your updated score is received and assessed, we may request that you defer your place to the following academic year.

Art curating is at the heart of today's museums and galleries. It provides the critical and practical tools to communicate ideas, experiences and identities with audiences using artworks and collections.

This MA is taught at the Whitworth, an internationally renowned art gallery and museum at the University of Manchester. The course combines academic excellence and critical theory with an innovative practice-based approach. You'll explore contemporary approaches to curating art for diverse audiences while developing expertise in collection management, exhibition research and delivery, artist commissioning, civic engagement and learning, and audience and digital development.

The course is delivered by leading academics from the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, curators and museum specialists from the Whitworth, and visiting curators, artists and practitioners. You’ll study in an internationally recognised institution with an award-winning transcultural programme, providing an inspiring environment that connects your studies directly to live curatorial practice.

You’ll work with collections, engage with current curatorial questions, and build professional networks. The course provides an opportunity to develop expertise in global art, its histories and curation, while exploring the ethical and museological challenges of work centred on decolonial, Indigenous and transcultural perspectives.

Whether you're just starting your career or wishing to develop professionally as a curator, this course equips you with the knowledge, practical experience and museological context to achieve your ambitions. You'll develop skills in curation, research, communication and critical thinking that are valued and transferable across the cultural industries.

The Whitworth Art Gallery

This programme is taught with the Whitworth Art Gallery , one of the University’s cultural assets. Students will be taught core course units in the Study Centre of the gallery, enabling sustained hands-on engagement with the collection, exhibition spaces, and the wider institution.

Teaching will be co-delivered with professional staff of the Whitworth to ensure maintenance of up-to-date teaching excellence in professional practice, based on collective institutional experience and expertise, and as a direct opportunity to develop employability skills.

Additionally, guest speakers from curatorial roles outside of the Whitworth will be featured in all core course units.

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 a network of galleries, museums 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. Outside the Whitworth itself, the university boasts several top-class cultural institutions, including Manchester Museum and the John Rylands Library.

We work with many of the arts organisations in Manchester and nationally. These partners enhance the course by offering lectures, site visits, and other opportunities from which students can gain direct insights and develop their understanding of the sector.

This programme has been designed to offer students a diverse range of interesting and engaging assessment methods appropriate to the theory and practice of art curation. The programme utilises a range of teaching and learning methods and activities. The most common activities will include lectures, seminars, professional workshops, and self-directed study.

Written assignments include:

• Critical essays, used to assess knowledge and understanding of curatorial theory and contexts and intellectual skills in analysis, evaluation, synthesis of sources and construction of argument.

• Practice-based assessments – curatorial projects, digital exhibition-making – assess appropriate professional competencies. These demonstrate student ability to put theory into practice, and to propose, design and implement solutions to real-world problems and demonstrate critical awareness and professional judgment.

Academic and Curatorial Staff

You will be taught and trained by our expert academic and curatorial 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.

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. As a student on the MA Art Curating in Practice, you will have teaching delivered to you within the Whitworth and have access to the collections and curatorial practitioners the gallery houses.

Additionally, 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 .

Through studying in the Whitworth, you’ll develop a practical grounding in all the core aspects of curation. It is useful for people who are looking to launch a career in art galleries, as well as those eager to advance in their existing curatorial career.

You’ll also benefit significantly from studying in Manchester itself, a city full of galleries, arts and cultural institutions. We have active partnerships with 50+ cultural institutions in and around Greater Manchester, connecting students to opportunities within them. The course can also act as a springboard for a career in research, or a range of other related, interesting and rewarding professions.

At Manchester you will have access to a number of  opportunities to help boost your employability , such as careers fairs, employer presentations, and workshops through the University’s dedicated  Careers Service . As a student at Manchester, you would have full access to this service during your studies and for two years after you graduate.