Course description
An innovative programme which enables graduates to acquire the knowledge and understanding, skills and aptitudes necessary to undertake advanced practice and research in the curation of contemporary art, design, event and museum collections.
It provides excellent links with leading galleries, museums, cultural and heritage organisations.
The course focuses on the concepts, working methodologies, professional practices and work related skills of curatorship within the contexts of art, media and culture. The principal aim of the programme is to equip graduates with the advanced practically applied knowledge skills required to meet the discursive, organisational, management demands of the 21st century.
Both full and part-time routes are offered within this programme. Also single modules may be taken as 'stand-alone' for those wishing to acquire new skills or professional development.
Course Content
Stage 1
The course programme is taught over 3 semesters commencing in September of each year.
Postgraduate Certificate (PgC) 60 credits
* Genealogies of Curating (MACUR01) and
* Mechanics of Curating (MACUR02)
These modules critically examine and explore the theories and origins that contribute to the forms of contemporary curating. Curatorship curating and collections management is placed within a range of historical contexts. The principles and practices of curating in contemporary art and design galleries is analysed with field trips to regional cultural institutions.
Stage 2
Postgraduate Diploma (PgD) 60 credits
* Curating a Region (MACUR03)
* Visions of Curating (MACURO4)
Stage 2 focuses on contemporary art and design infrastructures in the North East to understand and identify contemporary curatorial concerns with regard to regionalism and regeneration. The vocational and professional skills needed for individual and collaborative development in curating are investigated with the option of work placements and self-directed project work to give insight into professional practice. An inspection of non-gallery related strategies enables the possibility for advanced strategies to be developed beyond existing practice.
Stage 3
Masters (MA) 60 credits
* Curatorial Practice (MACUR05)
Stage 3 is self-negotiated and enables students to achieve the Masters degree with a practical project and report.
Teaching and Assessment
Teaching will be largely through lectures, seminars and visits. Assessment will be through essays, module journals (to include visual information) and presentations. Assessment for the final project in Curatorial Practice will include essay, module journal and a visual and textual presentation.
Career Opportunities
Graduates are equipped to pursue employment in a range of curatorial institutions and event management.
They will have a diverse range of critical skills including: an advanced understanding of the historical contexts of curating, processes of selecting and exhibiting, professional organising and management, the methodologies and pragmatics of collecting, of interpretation, of artists and related practitioners, of audiences, of research, of individual and collaborative team work - the core skills for the development of art and design within the social sphere.
