The Design Pathway of the MA in Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship allows you to develop the business/entrepreneurial skills and attributes to commercialise on your creative and cultural practices and/or knowledge. You will be able to build on a historical and theoretical understanding of cultural and creative industries and the development of a cultural economy to create your own creative initiatives, which might be research-based, policy-based, practice-based, or a combination of any or all of these.

The MA will be taught in partnership by a number of departments within Goldsmiths and with key individuals and organisations in the creative and cultural industries sector. Our collective approach is to integrate entrepreneurship within the development of creative practices and to take a ‘creative’ approach to the development of new businesses and the infrastructure that supports them.

What you study

In all pathways, this Master’s programme contains four taught courses and a further dissertation/portfolio component. All students take courses I and III, and Design Pathway students choose options in design for courses II and IV. Attendance is mandatory for all taught sections of the programme. To encourage collaborative learning we try to teach all students together wherever possible, irrespective of their particular pathway.

Course I: Theories of the Culture Industry: work, creativity and precariousness (30 credits)
This course sets out the key theorisations of the culture industry. While incorporating classical figurations of the culture industry, the course is primarily concerned with assembling a clear engagement with contemporary research, such as that spearheaded by leading researchers at Goldsmiths. It considers: the organisation and substance of work and of precarious labour; the developing debates and mechanisms of ‘intellectual property’; cultural workers’ development of institutions and networks; and contemporary configurations of the professional. You will learn to strategise cultural production and intervention through exploration of relevant material. The globalisation of the culture industry will provide a persistent and ambitious point of reference. The course is delivered by the Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship (ICCE).

Course II: Creative Practice (30 credits)
You either take two of the following 15-credit courses:

• Methods and Processes I (term 1)
• Practice of Space (term 1)
• Methods and Processes II (term 2)
• Creative Technologies (term 2)

Or alternatively you take the following 30-credit course:

• Studio Practice Model (this moves from project work in term 1 to self-initiated work in term 2)

Course III: Entrepreneurial Modelling (30 credits)
This course provides useful models of entrepreneurial/business support, and nurtures your skills and attitudes to enable you to innovate. It provides a link between broad theory and specific practice, and focuses on how creativity can be strengthened when put through creative commercialisation modelling techniques. The course has evolved from NESTA’s Creative Pioneer Programme and will use the modelling techniques that were designed and have evolved from ‘The Academy’ and ‘Insight Out’, which provide approaches to commercialising creativity.

The course will critically review the key characteristics of successful enterprises, entrepreneurs and leaders within the cultural and more commercially focused creative industries. It will also look at the range of business models that exist, and review how best to build a financially sustainable organisation. The key areas of modelling techniques covered are: relationship modelling, evidence modelling, blueprint modelling and consequence modelling. The course is delivered by ICCE.

Course IV: Entrepreneurial Practices and
Modes of Production within one creative
industry sector (30 credits)
You take either a College-based sector overview consisting of:

• Design and Futuring, and
• Business and Design

Or alternatively you take an internship:

• Industry Placement

Course V: Dissertation or Project/Portfolio plus reflective analysis (60 credits)
The dissertation/portfolio could range from an entirely written document researching a particular area of the cultural and creative industries to a fully developed proposal for a new business.

Skills

You can expect to develop an independence and integrity in developing creative ideas. You'll be able to apply entrepreneurial approaches to creative projects and demonstrate an understanding of different business models to establish a creative enterprise. You'll also develop team-working and leadership skills, and effective business and communication skills.

Careers

The programme will enable those who have previously studied an area of creative study/practice to start a career developing a business arising from an existing or new creative practice. This may relate directly to a 'product' or 'process' arising from you own practice or to a form of 'expertise', 'consultancy' or 'knowledge'. The programme will also equip those who wish to work within organisations that develop the infrastructure and environment for new creative businesses with the capacity to flourish in a variety of contexts.

Register your interest

If you register your interest in this programme we will keep you informed about open days and send you relevant further information. If you subsequently decide to apply for this programme you will be able to use the same login details to apply.