MA Audiences, Engagement, Participation

This degree centers 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, co-production, 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 range of optional modules you can cultivate applied skills in a range of disciplines, such as digital storytelling, social enterprise, creative production and heritage management.

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 Playhouse, Leeds Museums & Galleries, Opera North, Hyde Park Picture House, The Tetley, and many other local arts and community organisations.