So I think we are unique in the way that we offer
degrees, to prepare people to work in the creative
economy, in a creative context, in an art school.
The most immediate benefit of this is that we
follow the 'Thinking Through Making' principle of art schools. Learning requires feedback,
feedback from actions. So wherever possible, all
the assessments and tasks, projects, are ones that students will get involved and actually
do something. Not just write about it. For example, project management module, will
use Hack Space to actually design a new product
but more importantly work out how you would manage
the design of that new project. The digital media
suites will be used to create storyboarding and
mixed media narratives to support the pitching of an idea or a marketing campaign. We'll
use user experience software, wireframing, to look at digitally designing websites.
We have lots of students in different degrees here, so on the creative entrepreneurship
module, students will be paired off with someone say
working in furniture or working in fashion or
art and then they will write a marketing plan maybe or a business plan or an event plan,
something collaborative. So again, the opportunity is to work directly with
students in the disciplines that they will eventually join. We also have a mentoring
system, where we pair you up with somebody already working in the sector that you are
aiming at and they can act as a sounding board, to help develop your future career.
The BA Creative and Cultural Industries degrees have a number of components. The first component
involves studying and understanding the creative economy itself. So we look at the context
and competition of firms involved in the 13 or
more creative sectors. We look at their history, their development and the role that technology
has played in disrupting how they operate. The second element involves the specialisation
selected for each degree. So we have three specialisms. Each specialism prepares you
to work in a particular role inside the creative economy.
So art direction involves mediating between the artists and the business,
helping a company realise and execute its visual communication strategy.
Design marketing will focus on digital experiences, so
you will learn how to audit a website. Curation, exhibition and events is events
management in the creative economy. So in each degree, art direction, design
marketing and curation, exhibition, and events, the objective is not to be the artist, or
designer or curator but to work with them eventually, so to help translate their
ideas and mediate between them and the managerial functions of the firm.
The third component will involve developing commercial skills relevant for any sector
in the creative economy. Upper most in those
is project management. Second we will be looking
at design thinking, design thinking is a particular kind of creative problem solving,
it is very suitable for developing creative products
and services. Budgeting, financing, marketing. Skills that companies in the creative industries
need but need to be done by people who understand the context of creativity, uncertainty and
that interesting mix of risk and belief. Because not everyone wants to be an employee,
we have a module on creative entrepreneurship where we will deal with opportunity
recognition and then business planning. The final significant project at the end of
the degree will involve either a dissertation, a classic research one, or it could be a
consultancy project, working on a problem that a company has, or it could be a
business plan for your new enterprise. Another important way, a necessary way, of
contextualizing your learning as part of these three degrees is work experience. So
in your second year, you do a significant
period of a placement, where you work in a company in the sector that you have selected.
If the contents of these degrees appeal to you and you think you are the kind of person
that will do well working in the creative economy in these particular roles then
contact me, attend one of our open days or have a look at our website.