City University London transforms cultural leadership

City University London launches an MA in Cultural Leadership.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s recent report ‘Lifting People, Lifting Places’ has put culture and the creative industries at the heart of the Government’s economic recovery plan. With this in mind, City University London is launching a part-time MA in Cultural Leadership to equip existing and emerging cultural leaders with the skills they need to meet the challenges that lie ahead.

The new MA is a unique collaboration between City's School of Arts and Cass Business School. It is one of the only courses of its kind worldwide and is based on a successful pilot programme which attracted participants from theatre, literature, museums, galleries, visual arts, heritage, and arts funding bodies. Through an interdisciplinary approach, participants will learn how to manage or handle issues facing leaders in the cultural sector, such as the need to become more entrepreneurial, generate income and hone their practical management skills.

Nicola Jennings, founder of the MA in Cultural Leadership says: “The MA in Cultural Leadership is based on a successful pilot programme. It is designed for participants who want to gain confidence in their existing roles and for those who are looking to move upwards. Their organisations will benefit too. Much of the reflection centres on the workplace and we would like to encourage employers to play an active supporting role.”

The University’s links to a network of industry professionals gives students the opportunity to attend lectures by prestigious guest speakers including: Ruth Mackenzie, Special Adviser to the Minister at DCMS; and Mike Lee, OBE, CEO Vero Communications Ltd and former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at London 2012. These links also help students to find mentors from across the cultural sector, enabling them to build relationships with people in their fields of interest and learn from ‘best practice’.

A former student from the Cultural Leadership pilot programme, Claire Whitaker, a director of Serious, a music production company, says: "Completing the MA was a fantastic experience. It enabled me to examine the organisational structure and culture at Serious and to see how we could further develop and empower our staff.

“I feel that what I learned during my time at City has helped me ensure Serious is best prepared for the current challenging economic climate and also to ensure the organisation is able to grow and develop within an ever-changing environment."

Modules that are taken by participants in the Cultural Leadership MA include:

Cultural Leadership, Entrepreneurship and the Creative Industries
Resource Management
Research for Professional Practice
Leading and Managing Change
Strategy, Diversity and Governance

Following the successful completion of these modules, participants do a dissertation relating to leadership in the cultural sector or creative industries. Those who studied on the Cultural Leadership’s pilot programme gained a unique insight into their own organisations through dissertations on topics such as: ‘The Implications of New Communication Technologies on Cultural Leadership’; ‘The Meaning of ‘Culture’ in Urban Regeneration’; and ‘The Implications of Working in a Mixed Economy for Creative Practice in the Performing Arts’.

Six Cultural Leadership MA students from ethnic and minority groups will receive funding from The John Lyons charity for the course for two-years. All of the students come from the charity’s beneficial area: the London Boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Camden, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Harrow, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, City of London, and City of Westminster.

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Date of Article: 12/08/2009