Why study here?

• You'll be taught and trained by our expert academic staff and experienced arts, museum and heritage professionals.
• You'll prepare for employment in the arts by studying arts management, museology and heritage theory whilst also gaining an understanding of overarching trends in the arts, cultural and heritage sector. 

• With our excellent links to cultural organisations, there is no shortage of access to a range of exciting and valuable work placements.
• Past placements have been at the Manchester Museum, The Whitworth, Tate Liverpool, Manchester Art Gallery, Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester International Festival, The Royal Exchange Theatre and Chorlton Arts Festival, to name a few.
• See a longer list of placement institutions. 

During the MA, you'll have opportunities to design and participate in live projects with cultural and heritage organisations in Manchester. These include curating a collection, developing exhibitions, developing heritage management plans, producing cultural events and working on creative collaborative projects.

• See past student projects.  

Not only is Manchester a great city to live in, it is increasingly becoming one of the UK’s most important cultural hotspots. Now positioned as the engine room for the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ the city is benefitting from massive investment in its cultural infrastructure. Building on MediaCityUK and the BBC at Salford Quays, recently renovated The Whitworth, new £25m arts centre HOME, Manchester welcomes the £78m The Factory production site and home for Manchester International Festival in 2017.

• MediaCityUK
• The Whitworth
• HOME
• Manchester International Festival

You’ll work closely with the University’s museums, The Manchester Museum and The Whitworth. You’ll have opportunities to get trained by experienced museum staff in different aspects of cultural professional practice (including conservation, collections management, art curating, museum and heritage education, intangible and natural heritage, audience engagement, marketing, fundraising and events management).

• The Manchester Museum
• The Whitworth

The course has a strong vocational aspect, lots of CV building opportunities, and your supervisor provides you with personal and career development support. You’ll also have access to the award-winning Careers Service of the University, which provides support and advice in career development. 

• The University of Manchester Careers Service

The University of Manchester has world-class facilities. It has the largest single-site university library in the UK along with a new £24 million learning facility. As a student of  the Graduate School, you’ll have access to excellent training within a dedicated postgraduate space where you can meet with each other, access resources, organise events and participate in a thriving academic community.

• Graduate School

We take fieldtrips to cultural organisations in Manchester, the North West of England and beyond. Regular trips include Liverpool, London, Oxford and Wales. In 2016 we also introduced an international trip to Amsterdam for all MA students of the Institute. Our previous students have also taken part cultural exchange trip to Moscow.

You’ll network with future museum and heritage professionals and arts managers on the course as well as a range of cultural and heritage organisations.