Course information

Length

Two 10-week courses taken one afternoon a week

Course overview

This programme will cover sponsorship and marketing, audience development, regeneration and partnerships, and commerce/merchandise, giving a detailed insight into the ways that museums and galleries are managed and develop entrepreneurship.

  • Perhaps you already work in a museum or gallery and want some CPD experience. Or maybe you work in a different area but are thinking about a change of career.
  • Through a combination of lectures, seminars, outside visits, interviews, projects, workshops and presentations you'll examine the ways in which museum and gallery professionals have developed sophisticated new strategies and applied innovative entrepreneurial thinking to find ways of attracting visitors from a wide range of backgrounds to visit their institutions, engage with their events, and interact with art works in different ways. 
  • Entrepreneurial thinking in museums and galleries is unique and cannot be viewed in the same way as a start-up business or new commercial venture. Instead it's a progressive way of developing commercial strands within the public sector. So you'll be encouraged to identify entrepreneurial activity, identify the target audiences for whom activities or resources have been developed, and the type of income raised. 
  • The programme will use case studies of large-scale public/cultural projects like the Unilever series in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, and the Fourth Plinth project in Trafalgar Square. Many of the sessions will take place in a museum or gallery (for example, Tate, the V&A, National Gallery), where you'll be able to carry out practical research. You'll also be able to meet and engage with potential professional contacts in different departments. 

The programme is made up of two 30-credit modules, which you can also take as standalone short courses:

  • Museums & Galleries as Creative Entrepreneurs (Autumn term) 
  • Museums & Galleries as Cultural Entrepreneurs (Spring term) 

You can start the course at either point in the year. 

For your assessment you'll be asked to use all of your creative, entrepreneurial and research skills to 'create' a museum of your own. You'll then produce a museum guide containing a director's foreward, an introduction to a collection, a description of how the institution is managed and structured, and an account of leisure facilties and fundraising, sponsorship and enterprise activities. 

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact ICCE.

Entry requirements

You should normally have an undergraduate degree of at least second class standard in a relevant/related subject. You might also be considered if you have at least two years' professional experience working in the creative industries.

International qualifications

We accept a wide range of international qualifications. Find out more about the qualifications we accept from around the world.

If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or equivalent English language qualification) of 7.0 with a 7.0 in writing and no element lower than 6.5 to study this programme. If you need assistance with your English language, we offer a range of courses that can help prepare you for postgraduate-level study.

Fees, funding & scholarships

To find out more about your fees, please check our postgraduate fees guidance or contact the Fees Office, who can also advise you about how to pay your fees.

Additional costs

In addition to your tuition fees, you'll be responsible for any additional costs associated with your course, such as buying stationery and paying for photocopying. You can find out more about what you need to budget for on our study costs page.

There may also be specific additional costs associated with your programme. This can include things like paying for field trips or specialist materials for your assignments. Please check the programme specification for more information.

Funding opportunities

Find out more about postgraduate fees and explore funding opportunities. If you're applying for funding, you may be subject to an application deadline.

How to apply

You apply directly to Goldsmiths using our online application system. 

Before submitting your application you'll need to have: 

  • Details of your education history, including the dates of all exams/assessments
  • The email address of your referee who we can request a reference from, or alternatively an electronic copy of your academic reference
  • personal statement – this can either be uploaded as a Word Document or PDF, or completed online

          Please see our guidance on writing a postgraduate statement

  • If available, an electronic copy of your educational transcript (this is particularly important if you have studied outside of the UK, but isn’t mandatory)

You'll be able to save your progress at any point and return to your application by logging in using your username/email and password.

Find out more about applying.

Careers

Skills

By completing this programme you'll be able to:

  • Critically evaluate the main theories and concepts underpinning gallery and museum entrepreneurship
  • Analyse complex museum structures and the way that cultural organisations operate
  • Understand how museums and galleries attract sponsorship, develop marketing strategies, and communicate their brands
  • Network with gallery and museum professionals 
  • Develop and complete an independent research project 

Careers

This programme covers many different areas and roles within museums and galleries, including:

  • Marketing
  • Communications
  • Programming
  • Fundraising/developing

You'll therefore finish the course with a good understanding of these areas and how they interact with each other. This could prove to be excellent experience if you're keen to obtain employment or a placement in these sectors in future. 

It's also ideal continuing professional development (CPD) for anyone already working in a museum or gallery.

Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths

Similar programmes

MA Anthropology & Museum Practice

Fusing Goldsmiths' academic excellence and professional training from the Horniman Museum, the MA in Anthropology & Museum Practice provides you with a uniquely comprehensive set of skills.

MFA Curating

MFA Curating is designed for students who wish to take up the challenge of artistic, social and critical curating with a contemporary approach to the subject. It also helps students to develop their professional practice.

Graduate Diploma in Contemporary Art History

The Graduate Diploma in Contemporary Art History is for graduates of other disciplines with an interest in contemporary art and ideas, and who wish to carry out research at higher levels in the fields of visual cultures.

Related content links