Goldsmiths forms partnership to support cultural, creative and media excellence in Abu Dhabi
Goldsmiths’ Warden, Professor Geoffrey Crossick, has completed the first step in forging a landmark collaboration with the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) system in the United Arab Emirates, to support education for cultural, creative and media development in Abu Dhabi.
On the occasion of a visit from Prime Minister Gordon Brown to the College, Professor Crossick co-signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Vice-Chancellor of the Higher Colleges of Technology, Dr. Tayeb Kamali.
The agreement between the two academic institutions will see a new Masters in Cultural and Creative Industries program created at the HCT to begin in September 2009.
“Abu Dhabi has chosen culture, creativity and the media as its distinctive mission for the future,” said Professor Crossick, “ and in the course of my two-day visit I met academic and business leaders who are playing a key role in taking forward these plans. The people I met were attracted by Goldsmiths’ experience in these fields and by our very special combination of practice and theory. I hope that we can play a major role in helping Abu Dhabi prepare the Emerati graduates, men and women, who will make this vision a reality.”
Gerald Lidstone, Director of the Institute of Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship (ICCE) at Goldsmiths, visited the College last month and will work with fellow academics there to develop the MA which has been designed with the needs of employers in mind, above all the major new cultural institutions (such as the new Guggenheim and Louvre museums) being constructed in a multi-billion pound development on Saddiyat Island.
The course will cover arts administration and the cultural and creative industries, and it is anticipated graduates will eventually form the core of key strategic decision-makers in the industry, while serving society through engaging in collaborative practice, quality instruction and entrepreneurial development.
Gerald Lidstone, Director of ICCE at Goldsmiths said:
“This relationship with the Higher Colleges of Technology is an exiting one as we will work on a new MA together which will develop students in Cultural and Creative Industries and in management for the new Guggenheim, Louvre, Maritime Museum and Performing Arts Centre that will open in 2012.”