2024/25 Taught Postgraduate Programme Catalogue

MA Audiences, Engagement, Participation

Total credits: 180

Entry requirements:

Entry Requirements are available on the Course Search entry

School/Unit responsible for the parenting of students and programme:

School of Performance and Cultural Industries 

Examination board through which the programme will be considered:

Programme specification:

This degree centres on challenging established notions of engagement and participation in the arts and culture to discover how to lead and manage a more audience-centred approach to arts management and cultural policy. You'll examine how policy makers, cultural organisations, and artists conceptualise the role of audience in contemporary cultures and economies on both a local and global scale. You’ll learn how to research arts audiences and evaluate visitor experiences. This will help you develop your professional practice as well as engage your intellectual curiosity. 

The arts have enormous potential to effect positive change in society. However, participation data has uncovered a lack of diversity in the age, ethnicity, education level and socioeconomic background of audiences in the cultural sector, alongside a decline in overall levels of arts engagement. This sits alongside efforts to address accessibility and structural inequality for both audiences and the creative workforce. 

This course allows you to respond and contribute to the highly topical debate surrounding strategies to increase engagement and participation, while pursuing your own interests and career ambitions. Through a combination of theoretical analysis and research, you’ll explore the possibility of creating a more genuinely participatory culture while developing your own skills in techniques and practices of engagement. 

You’ll explore theoretical concepts such as co-creation and participatory governance, alongside investigation into community and participatory arts practice, the implications of digital engagement, and conceptual design of audience experiences. Through a wide variety of optional modules you can cultivate applied skills in a range of disciplines, such as digital storytelling, creative production and heritage management. You will also be able to engage with leading centres for research, policy, practice and debate based at the University of Leeds that are on the forefront of audience research and engagement such as the Centre for Cultural Value and the Cultural Institute.

Leeds has a thriving cultural scene and is home to large-scale events like Leeds International Film Festival, Light Night, and Transform Festival. Our local connections allow you to interact with a range of partners including Leeds Museums & Galleries, Opera North, Hyde Park Picture House, and many other local arts and community organisations.

This course comprises a balanced mix of teaching and learning methods, including interactive lectures, small group seminars, small group tutorials, practical workshops, and case studies. On this course you’ll be taught by our expert academics, from lecturers through to professors. You may also be taught by industry professionals with years of experience, as well as trained postgraduate researchers, connecting you to some of the brightest minds on campus and working in the field. By the end of the course you should be able to demonstrate in-depth, specialist knowledge and understanding of techniques relevant to audience engagement and cultural participation. You will gain valuable transferable skills such as project management, audience research, programme design and evaluation, relevant to cultural sector work in freelance consultancy, cultural policy, community development and visitor experience. 

Year1 - View timetable

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]

Compulsory modules:

Candidates will be required to study the following compulsory modules:

Optional modules:

Candidates will be required to study 60 credits from the following optional modules:

Last updated: 05/02/2024 12:10:37

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