Our Managing in the Creative Economy MA programme bridges the gap between creativity and business. This unique business degree programme enables you to combine specific creative practice and skills with a rigorous business education customised for the creative industries. It has been developed by academics and creative economy practitioners at Kingston Business School to help you respond to emerging trends and opportunities to realise value in the creative economy.
The programme is designed for individuals who come from creative industries, or have graduated in another discipline, including engineering and humanities. You will need a strong motivation to look beyond the traditional boundaries of your discipline, a readiness to participate in a start-up, and a willingness to work in a multi-disciplinary and experiential environment. You will work with students from all over the world and from different creative sectors. This diversity challenges you to think differently and exposes you to differing perspectives on creativity and business.
The programme now has nine generations of graduates and an active alumni network. Our graduates work in a range of creative and leadership positions ranging from freelance work in the creative sector, through to business ownership and employment in large innovative companies in the creative economy.
The creative industries are outpacing traditional industries both in the UK and the rest of the world. In the UK, the creative industries represent 5.2 per cent of the UK economy and provide 1.9 million jobs (DCMS, 2016). With the growth of the creative industries, the creative economy has grown at a rate faster than the whole of the UK economy, and was worth £133.3billion in 2014, accounting for 8.2 per cent of the UK economy (DCMS, 2016).
An increasing number of countries has now placed the creative industries at the heart of their economic development. This creates opportunities for professionals who understand the critical success factors for commercialising creativity, and are equipped with the mix of creative and business knowledge and skills.
This unique business degree programme enables you to combine specific creative practice and skills with a rigorous business education customised for the creative industries. By the end of the programme, you will be equipped with an in-depth knowledge, understanding and skills required to successfully realise value in the creative economy context.
You will specialise and become closely involved in the practice of a specific creative industry through engagement with a real business in the creative sector. This will be the opportunity to experience practical work and realise value in a chosen creative industry:
-Advertising and marketing
-Architecture
-Crafts
-Product design, graphic design and fashion design
-Film, TV, video, radio and photography
-IT, software and computer services
-Publishing
-Museums, galleries and libraries
-Music, performing arts and visual arts
(Creative Industries Classification, Department for Culture, Media & Sport, 2015)
You will also explore the process of collaborative creativity and examine what it takes to successfully develop ideas into innovative products, service and processes. The core of the programme is a real-life business experience; working in a team, you will start and run your own creative industries business in the supportive and risk-free environment provided by Kingston Business School. Our entrepreneurship experts will guide you through the process of designing and running your own creative business, which will help you develop your creative, managerial and entrepreneurial skills.
Assessments are innovative and include a mix of individual and group project work and formal assessments, including essays, case studies, reports and presentations, role-play, games and simulations, plus the final Personal Research Project (maximum 15,000 words). You will study in a supportive environment where regular feedback is provided by both academics and professionals.
The course gives you the opportunity to gain a range of knowledge, skills and experiences:
-Develop your creative, entrepreneurial, managerial and leadership skills – participate in development of a start-up, pitch to real industry experts at our "Dragons' Den", and engage with a variety of professionals and entrepreneurial businesses.
-Experience practical work in a chosen creative industry by engaging with a real creative industries business to develop your CV and your understanding of the creative sector.
-Learn the fundamentals of business management theory and practice from the specific perspective of the creative industries, in the diverse and evolving context of the creative economy.
-Experience regular visits from industry experts and entrepreneurs, field trips to entrepreneurial businesses and events such as Frieze Art Fair that connect the creative industry to the local community and enable you to build a valuable network.
The Managing in the Creative Economy MA is designed for individuals who come from creative industries, or have graduated in another discipline, including engineering and humanities.
-Are you a creative practitioner? We will give you the opportunity to gain first-hand experience in creating a product or service and taking it to markets.
-Are you a manager in a creative business? We will help you understand the processes of managing creativity and innovation and enhance your skills as a creative leader with a good grasp of strategy and appropriate business and management skills.
-Have you got years of experience? If you have substantial experience, you could benefit from undertaking the personal research project that will help you to apply your new skills and expertise to your specialist sector and enable you to identify new opportunities in the creative economy.
Below are the core modules for this course:
Modules
-Mapping the Creative Economy
-Design Thinking for Start-ups
-Experiencing the Creative Industries - Professional Practice
-Conducting Collaborative Creativity
-Managing a Creative Business
-Personal Research Project/Gaining Insights
The MA in Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship should be attractive if you either wish to develop a business arising from an existing creative practice or to understand how to create the infrastructure and environment for new creative businesses.
This programme offers a number of pathways:
It's an ideal Masters if you want to develop a business in one of these fields, or in new areas of the creative industries. All students bring a business idea to the programme to use as a live case study.
The Masters is taught in partnership by a number of departments within Goldsmiths and with key individuals and organisations in the creative and cultural industries sector.
Our collective approach is to integrate entrepreneurship within the development of creative practices and to take a ‘creative’ approach to the development of new businesses and the infrastructure that supports them.
This programme is designed to allow you to continue to innovate, but also to provide the requisite business/entrepreneurial skills and attributes to commercialise your creative and cultural practices and/or knowledge.
You’ll be able to build on a historical and theoretical understanding of cultural and creative industries and the development of a cultural economy to create your own creative initiatives, which might be research-based, policy-based, practice-based, or a combination of any or all of these. Through the programme you will develop techniques to move your creative and critical thinking to entrepreneurial thinking.
This programme has an exit route at Postgraduate Diploma level.
The programme contains four taught modules and a further dissertation/portfolio component.
You'll have a range of choices throughout the degree enabling you to design a pathway that is most relevant to your academic, business and career ambitions.
All students take modules I and III, and you can choose between options offered for your chosen pathway for modules II and IV.
Attendance is mandatory for all taught sections of the programme. To encourage collaborative learning we try to teach all students together wherever possible, irrespective of their particular pathway.
Module IV: Entrepreneurial Practices and Modes of Production
Either: Assigned pathway module
Delivered by the partner departments – these modules deal with creative sector issues and case studies within a specific discipline. Please see the relevant MA Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship pathway page on the website for more information on options given for this module.
OR Work Placement
You will undertake a work placement within an SME, Producing or Research Organisation within the cultural and creative industries. There will be initial taught/tutorial sessions on managing an internship and experiential learning and assessment would be by an analytical report on the ‘culture of management’ of the organisation. In some pathways this will be augmented by classes in specific skill areas (such as marketing) as you are likely to be working in skill-specific departments of organisations.
Module V: Dissertation or Project/Portfolio
The content and research imperatives of the dissertation/portfolio can be developed in tutorials with staff to address your individual needs. It could range from an entirely written document researching a particular area of the cultural and creative industries to a fully developed proposal for a new business.
You can expect to develop an independence and integrity in developing creative ideas. You will be able to apply entrepreneurial approaches to creative projects and demonstrate an understanding of different business models to establish a creative enterprise. You will also develop team-working and leadership skills, and effective business and communication skills.
The programme will enable those who have previously studied an area of creative study/practice, such as music, media, theatre and performance, design, or computer games, to start a career developing a business arising from an existing or new creative practice.
This may relate directly to a 'product' or 'process' arising from you own practice or to a form of 'expertise', 'consultancy' or 'knowledge'. The programme will also equip those who wish to work within organisations that develop the infrastructure and environment for new creative businesses with the capacity to flourish in a variety of contexts.
Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths.
In addition to our generalist MA in Creative Writing, we offer three MA programmes that allow you to focus on fiction, fiction for young readers or poetry.
These three discipline-specific programmes allow you to focus on your chosen writing area and benefit from all the same opportunities offered on the MA Creative Writing. You will simply take fewer optional modules and undertake a longer dissertation.
Taught by published, working writers including internationally acclaimed poets, novelists and editors, you will be supported to develop your personal writing style. You will discover how to make your writing more effective, how to break bad habits and how to assess your work professionally. You will graduate with the skills needed for professional writing practice, and with an understanding of the professional context in which these skills are marketed.
You will undertake independent and extended research and practice in a specialised area of Creative Writing and over the course of the programme you will secure the skills and knowledge required for a career in professional publishing, the creative industries, or to continue in academia. Whether you choose to specialise in fiction, fiction for young readers or poetry, you will take a core module that explores theoretical and research-based issues faced by creative writers, as well as an extended creative dissertation.
We will prepare you for your career after you graduate, whether it is as a published writer, a career working in the professional arts sector, or continuing with your academic studies. We regularly invite writers, who have previously included Emma Donoghue and Kazuo Ishiguru, to give guest lectures and workshops, as well as speakers from different sectors of the creative industries. You will be encouraged to make the most of Roehampton’s connections with the literary world through events such as networking evenings where you can make professional contacts with invited publishers and agents.
The department has thriving partnerships with Wimbledon Bookfest and Barnes Children’s Literature Festival, as well as with local schools, providing you with the chance to volunteer or undertake paid work experience during your time at Roehampton. Our in-house publishing imprint, Fincham Press, means you could see your work published or be involved in publishing the work of your peers.
You will be taught how to write fiction of the highest professional calibre by examining two primary forms, the short story and the novel, building a portfolio of fiction. The emphasis is on craft, technique and practical guidance, and you will engage with a variety of storytelling tools and models. You will be introduced to a wide range of approaches in short and long form fiction enabling you to develop your writing practice as well as thinking about your own social and cultural experiences and identities.
Modules
You will focus on the practice and theory of writing fiction for children, engaging with both visual narratives and young adult narratives. You will explore the historical and theoretical debates in Children’s Literature, and the working methodologies of established practicing writers, enabling you to contextualise your own creative practice. You will be taught through seminars, one to one tutorials and workshops, where you will draft, develop and critique your own and your peers’ work.
Modules
You will explore both traditional lyric poetry and alternative, innovative poetic practice through seminars, workshops and one to one tutorials. You will acquire a good understanding of contemporary British and international poetry and will become confident in employing a wide range of poetic forms such as the sonnet, the prose poem and poets’ theatre, as well as exploring different schools of poetry. You will learn how to craft your poems through writing exercises and close-reading which will equip you to deepen your individual poetic practice.
Modules
Students go on to employment as professional writers or in media-related occupations such as journalists, archivists, librarians, editors, copywriters and arts managers. Additionally, the programme provides essential preparation for advanced academic study of Creative Writing at PhD level or for teaching Creative Writing.
The MFA (Master of Fine Arts) Creative Writing programme at the University of Surrey is a two-year, full-time course of study that offers you a unique opportunity to enhance your creative, critical and professional skills as a writer.
Teaching is research-led, so you will be mentored by passionate, dynamic writers and academics with multidisciplinary expertise, as well as our Distinguished Writer in Residence and Poet in Residence.
Our MFA Creative Writing programme will expose you to the practical skills and challenges involved in a specific branch of creative practice (such as poetry or screenwriting) and offers the option to gain hands-on experience in a creative industry relevant to your own practice, to better prepare you for a wide variety of careers, including writing, publishing, communications, marketing, advertising, journalism, teaching, or to undertake a PhD.
In your first year, you will study alongside students in the MA programmes in Creative Writing and English Literature, where you will hone your research skills to produce critically informed creative work and deepen your practice as a writer.
To prepare for your second year, an academic advisor will offer guidance on choosing an appropriate form of Situated Professional Practice and your summative creative portfolio proposal.
During your second year you will work on producing an extended creative portfolio and critical commentary, as well as complete the Situated Professional Practice of your choice.
This programme is studied full-time over two academic years. It consists of eight taught modules, a professional placement, a critical commentary module and a creative portfolio project.
Example module listing
The following modules are indicative, reflecting the information available at the time of publication. Please note that not all modules described are compulsory and may be subject to teaching availability and/or student demand.
A Creative Writing MFA degree builds on the work of a traditional MA but distinguishes itself in a number of ways:
For students to achieve an optimum balance between theory, practice and critical reflection, MFAs traditionally last at least two academic years and this is common practice both in the UK and the USA.
The MFA in Creative Writing is designed to assist aspiring writers to:
These educational aims accord neatly with the defining principles of Creative Writing as set out by the QAA’s NAWE Creative Writing Subject Benchmark Statement.
As a student on the MFA Creative Writing, you will benefit from the expertise of a vibrant, multidisciplinary group of academics and published authors.
You will also have access to a number of conferences, seminars and workshops hosted throughout the year. These events cover a range of topics to broaden your thinking in the fields of literature, language and linguistics, cultural studies and creative writing. Writers to have recently visited the University of Surrey include the novelist Monica Ali and the poet and critic Rod Mengham.
Each year’s cultural activities begin with a poetry lecture on campus by a visiting speaker and feature readings by students at the Guildford School of Acting.
The annual Surrey New Writers’ Festival – affiliated with the Creative Writing graduate programs at the University of Surrey – aims to engage with writing and creativity in dynamic ways, and involves readings, book signings, performances, panel discussions and talks by writers, thinkers, editors and literary agents.
The year’s activities culminate in the annual Morag Morris Poetry Festival, held in Guildford, which combines readings and performances by prominent, innovative and up-and-coming poets with the opportunity for Creative Writing students to present their own work in public.
This event is organised and hosted by our poet-in-residence – a position that is held by a different poet each year. English at Surrey also has a close relationship with English PEN, the charity dedicated to promoting literature and human rights.
We often give our students the opportunity to acquire international experience during their degrees by taking advantage of our exchange agreements with overseas universities.
In addition to the hugely enjoyable and satisfying experience, time spent abroad adds a distinctive element to your CV.
Our MA Cultural and Creative Industries programme reflects contemporary knowledge, theory, practice and research at the forefront of academic and professional study in the creative industries, aiming to produce graduates who have the skills and competencies needed to meet the dynamic challenges of this sector.
The creative industries are one of the fastest growing employment sectors in the UK. Our MA Cultural and Creative Industries programme reflects contemporary knowledge, theory, practice and research at the forefront of academic and professional study in the creative industries, aiming to produce graduates who have the skills and competencies needed to meet the dynamic challenges of this sector.
Supported by leading-edge research and professional practice in this area, the programme offers a balance of theory and professional study. We will provide you with a range of conceptual and professional knowledge that will enable you to identify emerging areas of opportunity within the creative industries. You will become a flexible and reflexive practitioner with the skills and knowledge to adapt to the changing demands of the creative workplace.
You will develop your conceptual understanding of key theories as well as awareness of contemporary issues and debates within the cultural and creative industries, and discuss the challenges facing professionals and policy-makers. You will explore the effect different political, economic, social and cultural contexts have on the way in which these industries operate, and you will develop your skills and critical understanding of work in cultural and creative organisations in a wide variety of contexts so that you can apply critical thinking to professional scenarios to further your effectiveness in your chosen career.
You will also learn about the practice and theory of digital creativity and the skills and knowledge needed to manage digital and social media in a creative context as well as exploring the innovative ways in which creative practitioners are connecting with their audiences, embracing digital, immersive and mixed media methods.
As well as gaining valuable practical and professional skills and industry work experience, you will undertake an individual piece of research. This will act both as a critique of the current state of your chosen field of interest and as a vehicle for the development of your own professional skills appropriate to your future career ambitions.
A key part of the MA Cultural and Creative Industries and what makes this programme stand out, is its industry facing nature, including a professional placement module. We engage directly with external partners from the cultural and creative industries and make use of our home in the heart of Cardiff. You will benefit from strong links with Creative Cardiff. We involve creative industries businesses, organisations and practitioners at the forefront of the field in workshops, field visits and as guest lecturers throughout the programme.
The programme is suitable for graduates seeking a career in the cultural or creative industries or for professionals wishing to enhance their existing knowledge and career prospects. The programme will also prepare students for doctoral research in the cultural and creative industries broadly defined.
Distinctive features
Most modules are delivered through a mix of workshops, lectures and seminars or tutorials which complement the practical and academic elements of the programme. To encourage collaborative learning, you will be taught in organised lecture and seminar/workshop sessions and there are ample opportunities for one-to-one tutorial and specialist support throughout the programme, both from academic staff and from industry specialists.
In lectures, you will be given an overview of a particular aspect of the module content. You will have opportunities to ask questions and be reflective in these sessions. Workshops and seminars provide you with the opportunity to practice techniques, discuss ideas, apply concepts and consolidate your understanding of the lecture topic.
In addition to timetabled classes, we invite creative industries businesses, organisations and practitioners to take part throughout the programme as guest speakers, to provide contextual, first-hand knowledge of current debates and trends and enabling you to relate the knowledge provided in class sessions to real-world examples.
In order to successfully complete the programme, you will be required to work during and outside formal teaching sessions, and to make good use of the facilities provided.
We recognise that the majority of our students undertake postgraduate qualifications to improve their prospects in the job market. Our MA Cultural and Creative Industries will give you the opportunity to follow a wide variety of careers in any number of cultural, creative or associated sectors. You may want to consider work as a freelancer or start your own creative business. Other options include working within an SME, or as an ‘embedded’ creative in a non-creative business. You may decide to pursue policy-making or go down an academic career path and pursue further study.
This flexible Masters is an opportunity to investigate and combine strategies for developing creative work – an inclusive and forward-thinking composition degree that acknowledges many different definitions of the term.
You will devise a coherent yet bespoke programme of study from an extensive list of options, and have the opportunity to uniquely blend practices from popular music, sound art, contemporary composition, ethnography and multi-media work. These modules help you engage with a variety of rigorous intellectual, critical and technical skills that will inform your work and culminate in a substantial creative project.
Depending on your module choices, you have access to the Electronic Music Studios (which offer advanced facilities for electro-acoustic composition, multichannel work and live/interactive performance) and the new Goldsmiths Music Studios (which offers a HD Pro-tools recording system and large format analogue desk). You will have the opportunity to write for and collaborate with your fellow composers and performers, and in-house ensembles; and furthermore develop collaborative and interdisciplinary projects in conjunction with other departments.
The programme is exceptionally useful for students preparing for further postgraduate practice-as-research projects, or for those wishing to develop a distinctive portfolio of work for entry into the creative industries.
Core modules
You choose one of the following modules:
Option modules
You choose three modules from a selection that currently includes:
Creative Project
Our programme will build your confidence and technical ability in composing creative prose and/or poetry, while deepening your critical awareness of the cultural, literary and theoretical history of text production.
Teaching is research-led, so you benefit from the individual expertise and passion of a vibrant, multidisciplinary group of published authors and academics, including our Poet in Residence and Distinguished Writer in Residence.
The MA Creative Writing programme will hone your research and writing skills to produce critically informed prose or poetry, and creative criticism. We will help you to locate your work in its literary and cultural context, and you will have the chance to reflect on your creative process and the finished work.
You will have access to a yearly calendar of events hosted at the University created to broaden your thinking, and develop your writing skills such as the Morag Morris Poetry Lecture, the annual Surrey New Writers’ Festival and the Surrey Poetry Festival.
The MA in Creative Writing provides a strong foundation to embark upon a career in writing, communications, publishing, marketing, advertising, journalism or teaching, or to undertake a PhD.
This programme is studied full-time over one academic year and part-time over two academic years. It consists of eight taught modules and an extended portfolio.
Example module listing
The following modules are indicative, reflecting the information available at the time of publication. Please note that not all modules described are compulsory and may be subject to teaching availability and/or student demand.
The MA Programme in Creative Writing will prepare graduates to undertake a PhD programme in the relevant field.
It will also provide students with the transferable skills of creative writing, critical thinking, textual analysis and communication that are attractive to a wide range of employers, from the cultural industries to marketing and advertising to tourism and leisure to the civil service and public/private partnerships.
It is designed to build confidence and technical ability in a variety of modes of imaginative writing, and to provide students with a clear-eyed grounding in contemporary and historical contexts of text production and circulation, including practical advice on the workings of the publishing industry.
Devoted to assisting students to understand and meet the challenges of producing high quality creative writing in poetry and prose, the programme also provides advanced understanding of the contexts, theoretical paradigms, methodologies and modes of interpretation that are vital in a full understanding of literary production.
The main aims are to:
As a Master’s level programme, it also aims to instil in students the capacity for carrying out independent research.
As a student on this Masters, you will benefit from the expertise of a vibrant, multidisciplinary group of published academics and authors.
You will have access to a number of conferences, seminars and workshops hosted throughout the year. These events cover a range of topics to broaden your thinking in the fields of literature, language and linguistics, cultural studies and creative writing.
Writers to have recently visited the University of Surrey include:
Novelists
Poets
Critics
Each year’s cultural activities begin with the Morag Morris Poetry Lecture on campus by a visiting speaker and feature readings by students at the Guildford School of Acting.
The annual Surrey New Writers’ Festival and Surrey Poetry Festival – both affiliated with the Creative Writing programmes at the University of Surrey – aim to engage with writing and creativity in dynamic ways, and involve readings, book signings, performances, panel discussions and more.
This graduate program is delivered by the University's Creative Writing team, all of whom are published authors and poets:
We often give our students the opportunity to acquire international experience during their degrees by taking advantage of our exchange agreements with overseas universities.
In addition to the hugely enjoyable and satisfying experience, time spent abroad adds a distinctive element to your CV.
Are you passionate about creativity and cultural expression? Do you want to work in a highly flexible studio or do you want to learn while you’re at work? This programme offers you the space to be part of a multi-disciplinary creative studio team and learn from leading industry educators, artists and designers.
This programme offers two different work streams: Professional Development or Creative Labs.
The Professional Development work stream is designed for school teachers of creative subjects who want to update, extend and apply their existing academic, practical and creative skills. The focus is self-criticism and reflection skills, classroom and curriculum innovation, enhancing professional practice and career development. It consists of a 60 credit work-based review of learning that takes place primarily on site. This means that you engage and participate in critical reflection, design thinking workshops, regular community of practice group meetings, and produce a learning portfolio for formative and summative evaluation.
The Creative Labs work stream provides opportunities for practicing creatives such as artists, designers, photographers, animators, educators, performers, directors and producers to extend and apply their existing practical, creative and collaborative skills in interdisciplinary studio environments, with a focus on enhancing creative practice and career development/change. It consists of a 60 credit project course that takes place in Unitec’s photography, art, design, performance and media facilities and studios and/or in industry and community settings. Creative practitioners engage with staff and peers in studio critiques, and work towards an exhibition, publication or live event that contributes to the cultural life of the campus and city.
Graduates of the Postgraduate Certificate in Creative Practice have the option of progressing and cross crediting into the highly sought after Master of Creative Practice.
Are you passionate about creativity and cultural expression? Develop advanced academic, practical and creative skills through an exhibition, publication or industry project and access multi-disciplinary creative studios supervised by industry leading educators, artists and designers. The Postgraduate Diploma in Creative Practice offers a highly flexible studio or industry based programme based at Unitec’s Creative Industries cultural hub.
The Postgraduate Diploma in Creative Practice enables artists, designers, photographers, animators, educators, performers, directors, producers and other creative thinkers to advance their professional careers within Unitec’s Creative Industries cultural hub.
In the first semester, a combination of taught, negotiated or studio courses allow you to tailor the learning experience to your specialist creative research interests, whether these fall into traditional (graphic design, industrial design, photography, animation, visual arts, performance) or hybrid domains (service design, experience design, design for social innovation, performance or production design, transmedia, interdisciplinary practice).
Your second semester involves conceptualising, proposing and implementing advanced creative research. You will be supervised and mentored by academic staff and/or industry professionals. Creative projects may take place on campus or be integrated into a relevant workplace.
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