BA Creative and Cultural Industries

The Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs) course offers a deep and captivating journey. It delves into the performing and visual arts. It explores the lively worlds of music, film, fashion, TV, gaming, and publishing. It equips students with the expertise to excel in leadership roles, drive strategic initiatives, influence policies, and promote entrepreneurship within the realm of creative and cultural sectors.

In the first year, you'll learn the basics of cultural production. You'll do this by exploring different industries and strategies. In the second year, you will develop critical thinking skills and tailor your studies by choosing specialised topics of interest. In the final year, you can either do a research project or a practical project. In addition to the core modules, you can pick extra ones from across the School of Arts, Languages, and Cultures. This will let you explore subjects such as sustainability, leadership, and business.

You will also have chances to gain industry experience. You will do this through a long placement in your third year. Both the host organisation and your academic mentor will oversee the placement.

Please note: Effective from September 2026 this course will be known as BA (Hons) Cultural and Creative Media Industries , however, existing students and students who start their studies in September 2025 will be given the option to retain the existing course title or transfer onto the new title. Student intake from September 2026 will apply to the new proposed title, and students for 2026 entry will graduate with this.

If you aspire to have a leadership career in the cultural and creative industries such as music, theatre, fashion, and publishing, or in policymaking for these sectors, this course will help you to develop a critical understanding of the industries from a national and international perspective.

By enrolling on this course in Manchester, one of the UK's most important cultural hotspots, students will have the opportunity to benefit from its cultural infrastructure, MediaCityUK, the award-winning Whitworth Art Gallery and HOME, to name just a few.

Manchester is one of the world's great creative cities. It is the birthplace for many key cultural touchpoints across literature, music, cinema, and sport, to name a few. Our course is designed to give students access to a range of business and organisations within the creative and cultural industries. With organisations such as the BBC and ITV as well as major music and theatrical venues, you will be at the centre of a global cultural hotspot.

Placements

We focus on work integrated learning throughout the course. This includes group and individual work projects. It also includes placement opportunities at some of the country's top creative organisations.

Experts in the classroom

In the course, a range of practitioners and creatives from various industries will give guest lectures. These will focus on a variety of matters across the creative and cultural industries.

Students will learn through a mixture of lectures, seminars, and tutorials, spending approximately 12 hours a week in study sessions.For every hour of university study, you will be expected to complete a further 2-3 hours of independent study.

The individual study component could be spent reading, producing written or creative work, and revising for examinations.