MA in Creative Industries

Creative Industries, or Cultural industries, is considered a new field of study in comparison with traditional ones like Economics or Medicine, for instance. This already makes Radboud a unique university. Besides, the programme has a particular approach to Fashion Studies which was the reason I had chosen this course.

I like the fact Nijmegen is considered the greenest city of the Netherlands, having all kinds of green areas spread around the city. Another impressive feature of Nimma is the diversity of cultural events. Apart from the two cinemas at the city centre, there are two huge concert halls, events such as international film festivals (GoShort and InScience), music festivals (Popronde), not to mention a couple of independent programmes that go on every day. I am also super excited to know ‘C’, the forthcoming culture hall that will be released in January 2018 at Radboud campus.

I was looking for a programme that would act as a bridge between my bachelor and other fields of study, so I was very excited to discover a newly explored field called 'Creative Industries'. The main two programmes worldwide that offer a specialisation on this field are located in London and in Nijmegen, precisely. The decision was easy for me; I figured a smaller city in the Netherlands would be a smoother transition, and I think I chose wisely.

I like the 'coziness' of the city, (and its sunsets, I must add!). The city centre is very lively and welcoming (as well as pretty), something that is greatly appreciated when you're new in town. What I love about my life here is how easy everything is!, you can do anything by bike, chill at the 'beach' anytime, or enjoy the parks or a beer with friends in a regular basis; it’s a very pleasant routine that makes my everyday outside my studies really enjoyable. My favourite spots in the city are the Arthouse Lux and Hotel Credible (they have the greatest nachos in town), and I love to walk by the little streets that go from Grote Markt to the river, they're full of cute design shops and great places to grab a bite. Also, if you're a jogging fan you can discover the city this way, great views assured!

It is an interesting story that brought me to Nijmegen for my Master's studies. After finishing my Bachelor's, a friend from Latvia and me did a Leonardo da Vinci internship in Sicily. I remember this one evening, when I complained to my friend that there is no Master’s programme which covers the subjects I find interesting, like fashion, tourism and media. Some months later, this girl started her studies at Radboud and sent me a message saying: “Hey, Anna! Guess what? We will have a new Master's programme called Creative Industries that includes all subjects that you’re interested in. You should apply!” ...and so I did. Every time I tell this story, I still cannot believe it is possible. Things like this don’t happen without a reason, right?

I have three favourite courses: Tourism, Fashion and Creativity in Arts Education. All of them are very well-planned. Tourism course gives many new insights in the branding of places and cities. Think about the typical branding of Australia that is widely known as the place of sun, beaches and wild animals that you won’t find anywhere else. Or Paris not only as a very historical and beautiful city, but also as a fashion capital and place of sophisticated cuisine. We have several guest lecturers and we go to a tourism-related events like the vacation fair in Utrecht to do an assignment there. I really like the practical approach of the Tourism course, which allows us to talk to people from the field instead of simply reading an article and then write about it. The fashion course is interesting with the fact that we study fashion through philosophy: we apply philosophical concepts to fashion and see how they are applied within fashion industry. It demands a lot of analysing skills and critical thinking about things that you’ve probably never thought about before. Since my Master's thesis is related to fashion, this course gave me some very useful insights. Creativity in Arts Education is exciting because of the very enthusiastic professor and the actual field work, where you go to a school to interview arts teachers and observe their classes.

I would like to believe that my potential employer will see me as a valuable applicant due to my Radboud experience. Studying in an intercultural environment had a unique impact on me as an employee.