Digital Media Arts MA

Why study with us?

• Interdisciplinary programme that crosses the traditional boundaries of art and design

• Professional studio environment with the latest digital media technology

• Based in Brighton with exposure to a wide range of new digital and new media activity, and with close proximity to London

• Partnership with Lighthouse, an agency at the heart of Brighton's digital culture

• Guest lectures from leading industry figures such as Roman Verostko, Paul Brown and William Latham

• International links with industry and creative practitioners including ISEA International, ACM SIGGRAPH and Leonardo

• Links with Brighton’s digital industry in the public and commercial sector including Blast Theory, Wired Sussex and Brighton Digital Festival

• Alumni network of designers, developers, agency directors and academics

• Access to a media centre, film and design archives, library materials and research facilities

• Live project work that gives you direct experience and a chance to develop valuable links in the digital media and wider cultural industries

Areas of study

The course is designed to support your individual development and creativity as an artist and producer and is based around an essential core of practice-based learning, underpinned by a programme of theoretical lecture series, artist talks, seminars, workshops, tutorials and independent study.

You will learn core digital media production skills. Specialist workshops have included processing, motion graphics and sound art.

The course supports an interdisciplinary approach that enables you to develop existing skills and experiences in an environment that encourages both innovation and high quality production. Live project work in modules throughout the course will help you gain direct experience and develop valuable links in the digital media industries and wider cultural industries.

Modules will be relevant and up-to-date in this fast changing and evolving digital climate, allowing for flexibility to expand into new areas of development. Examples of theses areas include screen based web design, social media and interactive installations and also including using data analytics, coding, programming and hacking.

You will be taught by a diverse and experienced lecturing team, all of whom are creative practitioners.

The course offers a flexible mode of study for students, either as a part-time route (two years) or full-time (one year).

Modules

• Cultures of Media Authoring and Web Design
• Virtual Culture and Network Practices
• Practice based Research Methods
• Beyond the Screen: Interactive Installations
• Presenting a Body of Work
• Critical Theory: Media Concepts Research Paper

There will be an increasing emphasis on engaging with script and code, which is particularly pertinent to practical modules as they include the building blocks of developments for creative design, and web applications. These include the following languages - CSS, Flash, Processing, Pure Data, ActionScript 2.0 and 3.0, Wordpress, PHP, HTML5, Javascript, jQuery. MFC, C, OpenGL, Java and Lingo. 

We encourage students to create work through the use of open source data and engaging with hacker ethics, which are concerned primarily with sharing, openness and collaboration, rather than using commercial software. 

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up to date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. When you have applied to us, you’ll be told about any new developments through our applicant portal.

Staff profile 

Sue Gollifer is the course leader for the Digital Media Arts MA, director of ISEA International, chair of the ACM SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Award, co-chair of  Phoenix Brighton and a trustee of Lighthouse.

Sue works at the intersection of art and technology as a curator, organiser, professor, researcher, chair, board member and artist in her own right. A pioneer of early computer art, she has continuously explored the relationship between technology and the arts and in both her creative and academic work.

Staff who also teach on the course include: Sam Proud, Paul Buckham, Angie Taylor, Jon Bedworth, Ben Sheehan, Nicholas Seymour Smith, Alex May, Jane Francis Dunlop, Jeremiah Ambrose, Joseph Young, Louis d'Aboville.

Student views

• "The course gave us an excellent opportunity to explore a wide range of creative technologies under the tutelage of established digital media artists."

• "The course made me step out of my comfort zone and helped me to improve my skills in the field of digital media arts. It also helped me to approach challenges from a different point of view."

• "The theory lectures and seminars helped me to think of myself as an artist, not just a commercial illustrator."

• "I think Ben Sheehan is brilliant and really enjoyed his lessons – he is an amazing tutor and went out of his way to help us."

• "I started the MA with quite low self-esteem and confidence, but now I feel totally confident in myself and able to embark on a career as an artist."

Student work

The Digital Media Arts MA at Brighton develops your production skills and unique artistic approach. Over the course, you will build a substantial body of digital artwork that will help you get ahead in the fast-moving and competitive new media industries. 

You will create your art and design work using a range of digital technologies, producing screen-based work, interactive installations, social media interventions and soundscapes. All students produce work for the assessment show towards the end of the course.

Work by: Becky Lu, Felix Gonzales, Diego Sanudo, Leonardo Lami and Sally Henry.

International requirements and visas

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visas and immigration advice

Course fees

Scholarships, bursaries and loans

We offer a range of scholarships for postgraduate students. Bursaries and loans may also be available to you.

Find out more about postgraduate fees and funding.

What's included

You may have to pay additional costs during your studies, although we have tried to keep this to a minimum. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. A summary of the costs that you may be expected to pay, and what is included in your fees, while studying a course in the School of Media are listed here.

• There will be opportunities to attend field trips and off-site visits. These are optional and are not required to pass your course but you can budget approximately £30–£700 for these. The nature of the costs vary from provisions for a packed-lunch to flight and accommodation costs for international field trips. The amount spent would be based on location and number of trips taken.
• Typically, practice-based courses incur more costs than text-based subjects. These costs are normally associated with specialist equipment and materials for making work and for the public presentation of work.
• Specialist equipment is provided to cover essential learning. Students may choose to buy their own specialist equipment, these may include cameras, or computers and software. Budgets can range from £50–£2,000. Buying specialist equipment is best undertaken in consultation with our academic and technical staff. This expenditure is not essential to pass any of our courses.
• For some courses you will need to budget up to £200 for printing and publishing. Photography courses may incur higher costs (£500–£2,000) when printing and framing images of professional standard for public presentation.
• Course books are available from the university but you may wish to budget up to £200 to buy your own copies.
• For some courses you will need to budget up to £150 for stationery.
• Final-year graduation shows are opportunities to present your final, independent project work to the public. Practice-based courses will typically incur higher costs. Depending on the specific nature of your final project you will need to budget between £20–£2,500. 

You can chat with our enquiries team through the Stay in touch panel at the end of this page if you require further information. Or check our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships as well as more information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2020–21.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK/EU students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

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