Leiden University

MA Arts and Culture

A unique programme in terms of its diverse and interdisciplinary range of subjects, the Arts and Culture master's programme offers you the choice of two specialisations: Art History and Museum Studies. Each explores different themes from a comparative and global perspective and offers a broad range of electives, allowing you to further customise your degree.

This programme will give you a comprehensive grounding in the history, methods and theories of art history and museology, while also engaging with contemporary museum practice. There is an emphasis on the study of the object and its agency; critical theory and world art studies; and museum and collection studies. Possible paths lead through the late medieval and early modern period, to contemporary art and the digital age, as well as cultures of collecting and the museum in past and present times.

At Leiden University, you are joining one of the world's leading universities. In the MA in Arts and Culture, you learn from internationally-respected researchers at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS) as well as eminent scholars and practitioners from our network of academic and cultural institutions. You benefit from this network both in what you learn, and in how, with opportunities for internships, exchange programmes and regular visiting speakers.

What you will learn

Future employers are interested not only in the subject-related knowledge that you acquired during your study programme, but also in the ‘transferable skills’. These include cognitive skills, such as critical thinking, reasoning and argumentation and innovation; intrapersonal skills, such as flexibility, initiative, appreciating diversity and metacognition; and interpersonal skills, such as communication, accountability and conflict resolution. In short, they are skills that all professionals need in order to perform well.

It is therefore important that during your study programme you not only acquire as much knowledge as possible about your subject, but also are aware of the skills you have gained and the further skills you still want to learn. The course descriptions in the e-Prospectus of the MA Arts and Culture include, in addition to the courses’ learning objectives, a list of the skills that they aim to develop.
The skills you may encounter in the various courses are:

• Collaboration
• Persuasion
• Research
• Self-directed learning
• Creative thinking

How you will learn

The programme consists of 60 EC, to be completed in one year.

The structure of the programme is as follows:

• Core Course I: Critical Perspectives in Art History and Museum Studies (10 EC)
• Core Course II: Art History and Curatorial Practice (10 EC)
• Two thematic electives in chosen specialization (20 EC)
• Thesis (20 credits).

Career prospects

Your MA in Arts and Culture degree will qualify you for a wide range of professions in the public, private and non-profit sectors, including cultural institutions, publishing, media, and public relations, depending on the specialisation you have chosen. You will also be qualified to pursue a PhD and a career in academia.

Our Arts and Culture graduates are currently working with companies including Hoogsteder & Hoogsteder, Sdu Publishers, Valiz publishers, Primavera Press, the Repeat Group, Gavelers Auctioneers and Lyppens, and at art venues such as BAK Utrecht and museums including the Haags Gemeentemuseum, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden.

Examples of the diverse roles of our graduates include:

• Curator at a museum
• Collections manager at a natural history museum
• Project officer for heritage at a government agency
• Art teacher at a secondary school
• Auctioneer at an online auction house
• Research consultant at a recruitment company
• Teacher of art and theory at an art school
• Freelance artist and illustrator
• Newspaper critic
• Director of a publishing company
• PhD candidate