Working in the Creative and Cultural Sector

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 5
• Convenor: Dr Scott Rodgers
• Assessment: a 1500-word sectoral and reflective analysis (35%) and final project consisting of a website, LinkedIn profile, CV, portfolio document, or other agreed professional presentation medium, and a 1500-word personal strategy for enhanced employability in a chosen sector (65%)

In this module we explore the challenges and opportunities of cultural work in both a contemporary and historical setting. You will be introduced to key ideas concerning concepts such as 'free' labour, cultural convergence and the 'prosumer', and encouraged to relate them to present-day debates regarding the social, cultural and policy implications of new media and arts technologies.

A core underlying theme concerns the relationship between changes in communication technologies and changes in the cultural workplace. Alongside discussion of critical theory, you will be tasked with thinking through your own professional and career development strategies. 

Indicative syllabus

• Defining the creative and cultural sector
• Professional identity and self-presentation
• Working in a creative or cultural organisation
• Working freelance
• Leadership and management
• Equality and diversity
• Budgeting, funders and sponsorship
• Panel: meet Birkbeck alumni in the creative or cultural sector
• Workshop: researching a creative or cultural sector
• Workshop: developing your CV/online presentation/portfolio

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• clearly articulate the main themes in the historical development and of the cultural and creative sectors
• critically engage with key texts, case studies and theories relating to the cultural and creative sectors
• understand changing networks, institutions and working practices of the cultural and creative sectors
• demonstrate knowledge of the role of changing technologies in the definition and practice of the cultural and creative sectors.