Curating degree courses at postgraduate level have been offered at the University of Essex for over 20 years.
Our students have gone on to enjoy successful careers in museums, galleries and other arts organisations all around the world.
CCS currently offers four MA curating degree courses which can be taken full-time, part-time or on a modular basis.
Each of these MA curating degrees is specially tailored to give you the knowledge, skills and practical experience of contemporary theory and practice in both curating and museology.
Each of these MA curating degree courses has a difference focus and a difference structure, making them suitable for you whether you wish to develop your career in a museum or gallery, as a freelance curator, as a writer, critic or theorist.
MA Gallery Studies & Critical Curating
This MA degree is a unique type of museology course that offers the chance to engage in study and practical training for those wishing to develop a professional career working in museums, galleries or other cultural organisations. Central to the scheme is the opportunity to group-curate an exhibition at art exchange, the University Gallery, during the summer term.
MA Curating Contemporary Art
This programme is for those that may already have a professional practice in this area, such as freelance curators, or those with experience of working in other ways with art who wish to move into the field of contemporary art.
MA Curating Latin American Art
This unique scheme makes direct use of the Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA) as a powerful and rich teaching and research resource. This programme is specially designed for those wishing to pursue a career in the field of curatorial practice with specific focus on either historic or contemporary art from Latin America.
MA Gallery Studies with Dissertation
This programme provides an opportunity to gain historical and theoretical knowledge of the processes of exhibition making, and to contribute to the growing literature on the subject in the form of an original piece of writing and research.
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Teaching Overview:
You will take a number of 10-week modules in the Autumn and Spring terms. The modules offered by the Centre for Curatorial Studies include a combination of the following:
Curatorial Management Classes – these sessions cover practical aspects of exhibition-making: including developing and refining concept and research, planning and programming, negotiating loans, transport, insurance, sponsorship and fundraising, health & safety, legal considerations, and press and marketing.
Design & Display Workshops - led by visiting speakers: leading professionals from key areas of exhibition-making who provide specialist knowledge and supervise workshops on topics including graphic design, catalogue production, gallery education, access and interpretation, object handling, environmental controls and lighting, and elements of current conservation practice.
Curatorial History & Theory Lectures - delivered in conjunction with reading seminars. Historical and contemporary examples and case studies are explored thorough the lens of current issues and research in the fields of museology and contemporary curatorial practice.
Critical Reading Seminars - interspersed throughout the lecture series, these offer the opportunity to explore and debate classic texts and key current issues relating to curatorial practice, and to the history of galleries and museums.
Study visits to museums and galleries - in London and elsewhere give the opportunity for you to analyse how both temporary exhibitions and permanent displays are organised and managed, and received by audiences. Where possible these visits can provide the opportunity to meet and talk to curators in these venues. These visits are also timetabled to coincide with specific elements of the teaching on campus.