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Arts and Festivals Management

Arts and Festivals Management BA (Hons)

A contemporary, visionary course designed to prepare you for employment in the quickly expanding and dynamic markets of the cultural industries.

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Overview

Emma Darling an Arts and Festival Management graduate talk about her experience and highlights on the course at DMU.

Arts and Festivals Management is the longest-running degree course of its kind in the UK and boasts enviable industry links. 

In addition to deepening your understanding of academic debates, our course will help equip you with the practical tools and skills needed to become a leader in key areas of the cultural arena, including theatres, music venues, galleries, museums and festivals.  

You will develop a range of interdisciplinary skills such as teamwork, marketing and management theory, fundraising, business planning, licensing, health and safety, programming and cultural policy. 

In your final year, you will have the opportunity either to produce a large-scale arts event of your choice or be part of the team producing, programming and running the high-profile annual Cultural eXchanges Festival. Previous events have featured inspiring guests such as Benjamin Zephaniah, Grayson Perry, and Meera Syal.

The events landscape is continually changing and professionals in the sector must be adept problem solvers, with the ability to handle new challenges and offer dynamic solutions. This programme will help equip you with the skills to adapt to the diversification and developments of the sector, with practical projects allowing you to experience online event delivery and digital arts and cultural content. This also provides you with the opportunity to tackle the real-life challenges of engaging audiences in increasingly new and innovative ways. 

Key features

  • Arts and Festivals Management at DMU is ranked number one in the UK in the ‘Hospitality, event management and tourism’ subject area (Guardian University Guide 2022)

  • You will study a range of topics, including running and promoting a venue, cultural leadership, arts and communities and engaging audiences. 

  • Links with the Leicester Comedy Festival have provided previous students with the opportunity to organise and run a venue, manage the acts and promote events. The festival founder is DMU alumnus Geoff Rowe. 

  • Benefit from top-quality teaching by industry experts, thanks to excellent links with leading organisations such as Universal Music and London’s Southbank Centre. 

  • Valuable real-life experience is offered though a placement module with a professional organisation. Students have previously worked with the Joseph Papp Public Theatre in New York, Universal Music, Curve theatre and Glastonbury Festival. 

  • Our graduates are highly practical individuals who are equipped with business planning, engagement and delivery skills, which are hugely attractive in the arts sector. Graduates hold key positions across a wide range of industries and roles, including The Barbican, Ballet Rambert, Wembley Arena and the BBC.  

  • Take part in our international experience programme, DMU Global. Students have benefited from trips to Amsterdam, to study the influence of the arts in a different county, and New York, where they saw a rehearsal and behind-the-scenes of Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Manhattan’s Lincoln Center. 

Scholarships:

DMU Sports Scholarship
Apply for the DMU Sports Scholarship, worth up to £6,000.

DMU Global High Flyers Award
Our dedicated DMU Global High Flyers Award offers ambitious students a discount of up to £1,000 towards a DMU Global opportunity (terms and conditions apply).

 

  • UK
  • EU/International

Institution code: D26

UCAS course code: N820

Duration: Three years full-time, four years full-time with a placement. Six years part-time.

Fees and funding: 

2022/23 tuition fees for UK students: £9,250.

Find out more about tuition fees and available funding.

Additional costs: Here at DMU we provide excellent learning resources, including the Kimberlin Library and specialist workshops and studios. However, you should be aware that sometimes you may incur additional costs for this programme.

Contact us: For more information, call us on +44 (0)116 2 50 60 70.

How to apply

Submit a study-related enquiry

Duration: Three years full-time, four years with placement

Fees and funding: 

2022/23 tuition fees for international students: £14,750

Additional costs: Here at DMU we provide excellent learning resources, including the Kimberlin Library and specialist workshops and studios. However, you should be aware that sometimes you may incur additional costs for this programme.

Contact us: For more information, call us on +44 (0)116 2 50 60 70.

How to apply

Application guidance document

Submit a study-related enquiry

Entry criteria

Typical entry requirements 

  • 112 points from at least 2 A levels or
  • BTEC Extended Diploma DMM or
  • International Baccalaureate: 26+ Points

Plus five GCSEs grades 9-4 including English Language or Literature at grade 4 or above.

  • Pass Access with 30 Level 3 credits at Merit (or equivalent) and GCSE  English (Language or Literature) at grade 4 or above.

We will normally require students have had a break from full-time education before undertaking the Access course.

  • We also accept the BTEC First Diploma plus two GCSEs including English Language or Literature at grade 4 or above

Interview required: No

English language requirements

If English is not your first language an IELTS score of 6.0 overall with 5.5 in each band (or equivalent) when you start the course is essential.

English Language tuition, delivered by our British Council-accredited Centre for English Language Learning, is available both before and throughout the course if you need it.

 

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Structure and assessment

 

Course modules

Teaching and assessments

 Industry

 

First year

  • Running and Promoting a Venue
  • Creative Arts Manager: Policy and Practice
  • Cultural Events Design
  • Cultural Leadership

Second year

  • International Research Project
  • Research Methods: Dissertation
  • Research Methods: Placement
  • Programming and Planning Festivals
  • Arts and Communities Project
  • Engaging Audiences


Third year

  • Creative Enterprise and Advance Placement
  • Dissertation

You will take the above modules and choose from:

  • Arts Management Studio
  • Music Industry Management
  • Event and Festivals Management

Click here for more detailed module information

Note: All modules are indicative and based on the current academic session. Course information is correct at the time of publication and is subject to review. Exact modules may, therefore, vary for your intake in order to keep content current. If there are changes to your course we will, where reasonable, take steps to inform you as appropriate.

Structure

Practical modules are also delivered via workshops in our dedicated events office and the venues where the events are taking place. They entail group meetings and supervised sessions for planning, preparation and delivery of your events above and beyond the timetabled classroom teaching.

Assessment is tailored to the module contents and learning objectives and in Arts and Festivals Management this is predominantly coursework – essays, reports, critiques; finance exercises; case study analysis; group work - practical work/reports/presentations and a final year dissertation. Two level 4 modules have exams.

Contact hours
You will be taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials, seminars, group work and self-directed study. Assessment is through coursework (presentations, essays and reports) and usually an exam. Your precise timetable will depend on the optional modules you choose to take, however, in your first year you will normally attend around 8 hours of timetabled taught sessions (lectures and tutorials) each week, and we expect you to undertake at least 20 further hours of independent study to complete project work and research.

 

Overview

We have a wide range of contacts with arts organisations including Festival Republic, the Leicester Comedy Festival, Curve Theatre and the London South Bank Centre.  

Facilities and features

Placements

Library and learning zones

On campus, the main Kimberlin Library offers a space where you can work, study and access a vast range of print materials, with computer stations, laptops, plasma screens and assistive technology also available. 

As well as providing a physical space in which to work, we offer online tools to support your studies, and our extensive online collection of resources accessible from our Library website, e-books, specialised databases and electronic journals and films which can be remotely accessed from anywhere you choose. 

We will support you to confidently use a huge range of learning technologies, including Blackboard, Collaborate Ultra, DMU Replay, MS Teams, Turnitin and more. Alongside this, you can access LinkedIn Learning and learn how to use Microsoft 365, and study support software such as mind mapping and note-taking through our new Digital Student Skills Hub. 

The library staff offer additional support to students, including help with academic writing, research strategies, literature searching, reference management and assistive technology. There is also a ‘Just Ask’ service for help and advice, live LibChat, online workshops, tutorials and drop-ins available from our Learning Services, and weekly library live chat sessions that give you the chance to ask the library teams for help.

More flexible ways to learn

We offer an equitable and inclusive approach to learning and teaching for all our students. Known as the Universal Design for Learning (UDL), our teaching approach has been recognised as sector leading. UDL means we offer a wide variety of support, facilities and technology to all students, including those with disabilities and specific learning differences.

Just one of the ways we do this is by using ‘DMU Replay’ – a technology providing all students with anytime access to audio and/or visual material of lectures. This means students can revise taught material in a way that suits them best, whether it's replaying a recording of a class or adapting written material shared in class using specialist software.

Campus Centre

The home of  De Montfort Students' Union, (DSU) our Campus Centre offers a welcoming and lively hub for student life. Conveniently located at the heart of campus, it includes a convenience store, a Subway and a Starbucks. Here you can find the DSU-owned charitable accommodation service Sulets and DSU’s shop, SUpplies, selling art supplies, stationery and clothing, and printing and binding services. The building is also home to the DSU officer team. 

Opportunities and careers

Find the people who will open doors for you

DMU named best university for helping students build their careers Learn more
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Placements

During this course you will have the option to complete a paid placement year, an invaluable opportunity to put the skills developed during your degree into practice. This insight into the professional world will build on your knowledge in a real-world setting, preparing you to progress onto your chosen career. 

Our careers programme DMU Works can help to hone your professional skills with mock interviews and practice aptitude tests, and an assigned personal tutor will support you throughout your placement. 

Our excellent industry links ensure you work on relevant projects and briefs to grow your experience and build your external reputation before you graduate. This invaluable experience can enrich student capabilities as well as their final-year projects.   

Previous placements include producing and programming events at the Grand Theatre, Blackpool, planning the logistics for the Outlook Festival, Croatia with the NVS Music Group and co-ordinating events within the Let’s Dance International Frontiers festival. 

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DMU Global

Our innovative international experience programme DMU Global aims to enrich your studies and expand your cultural horizons, helping you to become a global graduate, equipped to meet the needs of employers across the world. Through DMU Global, we offer a wide range of opportunities including on-campus and UK-based activities, overseas study, internships, faculty-led field trips and volunteering, as well as Erasmus+ and international exchanges.  

Students on this course have visited Copenhagen to experience the city’s cultural and historical performance landscape, as well as Amsterdam to meet with cultural sector policy makers, leaders and practitioners to discuss digitalisation at the Van Gogh Museum and music licences at the Paradiso live music venue. 

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Graduate careers

Our graduates are highly practical individuals who are equipped with business planning, engagement and delivery skills, which are hugely attractive in the arts sector. Many go on to forge successful careers in music, theatre, TV, film and charity sectors. 

Recent graduate destinations include the South Bank Centre, Save the Children, the prestigious Ambassador Theatre Group and Paintings in Hospitals, the UK's leading national arts in health charity. 

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