MA Participatory Arts

UK Honours degree or equivalent in a creative subject area
UK Honours degree or equivalent in a non-creative subject area - portfolio would be required
Bachelor ordinary degree or equivalent in a creative subject plus 2 years relevant work experience
Bachelor ordinary degree or equivalent in a non - creative subject plus 2 years relevant work experience, plus portfolio
HND or equivalent in any subject area plus 5 years relevant work experience, plus portfolio
No undergraduate degree study could be considered with a minimum of 7 years relevant work experience plus portfolio

If you do not meet any of the above criteria, we may still be able to consider you for the Associate route which would allow you to enrol onto one module initially.

Information on the portfolio requirement will be issued to you following submission and review of your application form.

International: You will be required to provide evidence of English language competence at no less than IELTS 6.5 with no individual component score less than 6.0.

“Participatory Arts” is an umbrella term that incorporates the practices of community arts, activist arts, arts-in-healthcare, as well as a plethora of other types of practices where artists work creatively within a social domain. As such, we don’t aim to define a single approach, but instead seek to support creative processes/skills operating within particular social contexts. This could include any creative practice (such as theatre, art, music, dance or puppetry, just to name a few) that does not exist in traditional spaces (such as museums, theatres or galleries) but rather is based alongside and with individuals and communities in the public domain.

Over the past three decades within the UK, there has been a significant and sustained growth of the arts within a social context. Indeed, the current national cultural strategy in Scotland looks at embedding artistic and creative practices across numerous sectors, inviting artists, theatre makers, musicians and all creative practitioners to be productive within industry, business, education and social settings.

Concurrently, the arts are becoming more important within health and wellbeing contexts and the national report ‘Creative Health: Arts for Health and Wellbeing’ calls for artists to play a vital role in the social health and with “social prescribing” becoming a key tool to address such social issues such as obesity, loneliness and depression. This MA will provide qualified students a strong base to build and develop your career as a creative practitioner working alongside communities.

Unique course content designed to prepare you to work in arts and social practice: The combination of modules on this MA makes it unique in Scotland and will prepare you to play a key part of the growing creative health and wellbeing of the nation.

Industry input and our professional links ensures you are up to date with key developments: You’ll benefit from a range of professional expertise as well as insight from key cultural organisations working this way across Scotland. Teaching staff have extensive professional experience and networks to draw from including local and national bodies. We also have formal partnerships with a variety of organisations such as Out of the Blue, Craigmillar Now, Artlink Edinburgh and North Edinburgh Arts that students can access as part of their learning.

Great location for studying and future employment in this area: Our location in Edinburgh means rapid access to a variety of communities and arts organisations to work with, as well as the opportunity to travel further afield across Scotland and the UK due to our excellent travel connections.

Teaching team with wide ranging expertise: Our staff are significantly experienced in both the theory and practice of participatory art practices, and all come from very different perspectives, giving our students a broad overview of the subject. The lecturers have collectively been involved in such activities as delivering international socially engaged art projects; guiding international research; leading cultural projects and businesses; and advising government on cultural policy. Our team’s research has also been published and exhibited widely - including several books on the subject - and we have written reports for national bodies on a wide variety of subjects. As such, we hold significant and broad knowledge about the sector to share with students.