BA History of Art

This course unit will introduce students to concepts and practices in Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) from the perspective of social development. Through a study of the key theories and relevant contemporary examples, the course will provide students with a critical understanding of the cultural, social and economic value and ecology of different CCIs, nationally and internationally.  

The course unit will focus on the relationship between artistic and socio-economic values. This will include studies on public-private relationships, accessibility, well-being, intellectual property, diversity, inclusion, equality, popular and high-culture, fair-trade, capital, digital culture, technology, power, and labour conditions. It will enable students to understand the intersection between Cultural and Creative Industries markets and politics, economy, and human and social development. 

The course unit consists of three parts:  

Part I: Cultural Value and Cultural Industries: theoretical references on cultural value and critical studies in Cultural Industries;  

Part II: Culture and Economic Development: an overview of the theoretical framework on Economic Development (and its possible dialogues with cultural and artistic value); 

Part III: Policies in contemporary themes on Cultural and Creative Industries and Multidimensional Development: including Culture and Urban Development; Culture and Human Development (Wellbeing); Culture and Diversity: Gender, Race and Ethnicity; Cultural Wars; Cultural Rights; Culture, Identity and Globalisation. 

• Develop knowledge of the theoretical framework surrounding the field of Cultural and Creative Industries and Economic Development.  

• Establish a critical ability to read and interpret the historical debates and critically assess the different interpretations of the impact of the Cultural and Creative Industries on artistic and socio-economic development. 

• Develop tools of theoretical knowledge and contextual analysis so as to be able to actively participate in current debates relating to cultural value and multidimensional socio-economic development. 

 Weekly one-hour lecture/two hour seminars with directed learning and presentations to be prepared from week to week, including presentations by guest lecturers.  

The course will have a Blackboard site with all elements of the minimum specification including: 

1. Aims, Objectives, Timetable and Mode of Assessment 

2. Course Materials 

3. Reading lists 

4. Guidance on assessment 

5. Group project discussion board 

• Comprehension of the fundamentals of Cultural Industries and economic development studies.  

• Understanding the application of the basic economic thought to the arts, cultural and creative industries, from an interdisciplinary perspective.   

• Demonstrating an ability to engage with contemporary debates on how culture can lead a strategy for socio-economic and human development.  

• Gain an understanding of how the multidisciplinary view the socio-economic development can be related to artistic value (and how to communicate it through a written piece). 

• Apply skills and ideas learned during the course unit to interpret the role of the Arts in a social context as well as its implications in policies while remaining aware of the complexity of the issues. 

Write essays and literature reviews that demonstrate a BA level 1 competence in the organization of evidence and argument. 

• 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. 

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

Belfiore, Eleonora., and Oliver. Bennett. The Social Impact of the Arts :  An Intellectual History. 1st edition. 2008. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2008 

Bourdieu, Pierre, Richard Nice, and Tony Bennett . Distinction: a Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste . Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2010. 

Brook, Orian, Dave O’Brien, and Mark Taylor. Culture Is Bad for You : Inequality in the Cultural and Creative Industries. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2020 

Crossik, G., & Kaszynska, P. Understanding the value of arts & culture: The AHRC Cultural Value Project. Arts and humanities research council, 2016 

Mazzucato, Mariana (2018). The Value of Everything. London: Penguin, 

Oakley, Kate., and Justin. O’Connor. The Routledge Companion to the Cultural Industries. London ;: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2015 

Throsby, D. (2001). Economics and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  

Sen, Amartya (2001). Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.