MA Arts and Culture

The master's programme in Arts and Culture focuses on culture in the making. Culture can refer to the products of intellectual and artistic creativity, such as scholarly and literary texts or works of art. It also indicates the cultural practices that shape the everyday life of people and is expressed in their individual tastes and forms of association with one another. Finally, culture is at the heart of the processes through which people explicate and contest ethical, aesthetic, and political meanings and values. You will study how cultures change, and how these changes are related to societal problems and debates, as well as to global challenges such as climate change and increasing social inequalities.

The Master's programme Arts and Culture offers three specialisations:

• Arts and Heritage: Policy, Management, and Education/Kunst en Erfgoed
• Contemporary Literature and Arts: Cultural Interventions and Social Justice
• Modern Political Culture: Ideas and Discourses in Context

The Master's programme Arts and Culture focuses on how cultures change. We are interested in how these changes are related to societal problems and debates, as well as to global challenges such as climate change and social inequalities. To understand and practically address these issues and problems you develop a humanities perspective on cultural practices. Drawing on disciplines such as art and literature theory, history, philosophy, and anthropology, you will learn how humanities research is of fundamental importance in dealing with the issues faced by present-day societies. Examples include the ways in which history enables citizens to shape, preserve or challenge their national heritage and culture; how the arts can contribute to critical thinking and action; and how contested present-day political ideas are the result of long and intricate genealogies. The program addresses a broad scope of topics and approaches that not only draws on Western (i.e. European and North American) perspectives but reflect the global character of today’s societal issues and debates.

The Master's programme Arts and Culture has three specialisations. Each in their own way, they seek to demonstrate how the humanities and the qualitative social sciences provide a fundamental perspective for analyzing and understanding the most pressing questions of our own age.

Customise your programme

You will write your master's thesis on a topic of your choosing that is related to your specialization. You will receive supervision from our academic staff and will receive individual feedback on your work throughout the academic year. You will be further supported through a thesis course that will help you develop your academic skills as well as practice applying research designs and methodologies. You will also have the possibility to conduct an internship or extra-curricular internship.

What will you learn

You will learn how to recognize, evaluate, and utilize different (trans)disciplinary theoretical approaches and research methods. These combine approaches from the humanities and the qualitative social sciences, including critical discourse analysis, philosophical reflection and analysis, archival research, close reading and interpreting of texts and artifacts, as well as ethnographic fieldwork. You will not only "learn to understand", but also learn how to engage with and practically address the issues that you aim to understand.

The master’s didactic approach adheres to the problem-oriented and interdisciplinary teaching and learning formats that characterize teaching at FASoS. Throughout the curriculum, you will have the opportunity to develop contacts with the world beyond academia, in your research as well as through internships.

In the specialisation in Arts and Heritage, you will approach art and heritage from different perspectives. You will learn more about the scientific and social significance of art, culture and heritage and will acquire in-depth knowledge and understanding of the theory and practice of cultural policy, cultural education, and the management and marketing of arts and heritage. This specialisation is also offered in Dutch. Here you can find an overview of the courses and curriculum.

The specialisation Contemporary Literature and Arts: Cultural Interventions and Social Justice offers you the opportunity to study 21st century literature and arts from an interdisciplinary perspective. You will examine how contemporary literature and arts intervene in issues of social justice, such as racial injustice, class and gender inequalities, climate justice, the rights of migrants and refugees, the discrimination of LGBTQ people, ageism and ableism. Here you can find an overview of the courses and curriculum.

As a master’s student in Modern Political Culture: Ideas and Discourses in Context, you will explore present-day phenomena of political culture by going beyond their surface appearance and reaching into the past to explain their incubation and gestation. For that purpose, you will engage with three interrelated areas of modern political culture: (1) political ideas (ideologies and sets of beliefs); (2) political languages (discourses and rhetoric); (3) political symbols and rituals (e.g. statues, monuments, commemorations, festivities, and election campaigns). Here you can find an overview of the courses and curriculum.

Arts and Heritage: Policy, Management and Education

Employers in the arts and heritage sector often look for a combination of a general arts and culture background with a specialisation in cultural policy, management or education. As a graduate of Arts and Heritage, this will be you.

As a graduate of this programme, you will also possess professional, analytical and other academic skills that employers are looking for. As well as this you will know how to answer questions regarding the policy, appreciation, interpretation, use, conservation, education and management of arts and heritage in a meaningful way.

Career prospects

As an Arts and Heritage graduate, you can look for work in:

• art institutions, e.g. theatres, museums, art centres (e.g. Curator, Collection manager)
• galleries and auction houses (e.g. Exhibitions manager, Communications manager, Project manager or assistant)
• governmental or cultural organisations (e.g. Policy advisor, Cultural manager, Programme coordinator)
• cultural industries and cultural tourism (e.g. Sales executive)
• media (e.g. Editor, Journalist, Critic)
• academia or education (e.g. Researcher, Teacher)

Contemporary Literature and Arts: Cultural Interventions and Social Justice

After graduating from the specialisation Contemporary Literature and Arts, you will be qualified to work in a wide range of professional careers in the arts and cultural sectors at all levels, and in particular in publishing houses, literary and art agencies, literary and art magazines, journalism, and non-profit organisations.

You can look for work in:

• art institutions (e.g. copywriter, project assistant)
• education (e.g. art teacher)
• business (e.g. project manager)
• marketing and communications (e.g. public relations and communications manager)
• politics (e.g. project manager political parties)
• media (e.g. assistant editor, journalist)
• government (e.g. policy analyst, research assistant)

Modern Political Culture: Ideas and Discourses in Context

After graduating from the specialisation Modern Political Culture you will be qualified to work in a wide range of professional careers, such as in:

• think tanks
• non-governmental organisations
• political parties
• local, regional, and national government institutions
• international organisations
• lobbying and political activism
• journalism and publishing houses
• educational and research institutions