Inclusive Arts Practice MA (PGCert PGDip)

Why study with us?

• Truly unique course that enables you to apply your passion for art in a positive community setting

• Focus on practical, vocational work that puts you in direct contact with marginalised groups, as you explore key issues in the inclusive arts debate

• Dedicated professional development module that gives you transferable skills in budget management, health and safety, partnership development and marketing

• Impressive employment rate, with graduates finding work as inclusive arts practitioners with various charities and trusts

• Support from specialist arts practitioners and professionals for collaborative working with diverse groups

• Guest speakers from the arts, health and voluntary sectors

Watch a video about the Inclusive Arts MA and hear from Course leader Alice Fox.

Areas of study

Studies are based around a core of experiential work-related learning, integrated with theory. The course is designed to support participants' development and creativity as art practitioners within the contexts of inclusion, learning disability and marginalised community groups. Students work alongside diverse groups of people in a workshop setting, sharing experiences as partners in the process of learning.

Modules

• Working Together: Introducing Practical Collaboration
• Participatory Practice and Creative Exchange: Inclusive Approaches to Collaboration
• Research in Progress
• Practice as Research
• Looking Ahead: Continuing Professional Development
• Option 

Syllabus

The course is delivered through seven modules, including one related optional module. PGCert students study the Working Together and Issues and Debates modules only.

Assessment takes place through presentations, seminar discussions, practical work and workbooks. The final research project is assessed through an exhibition rather than a dissertation.

Working Together: Introducing Practical Collaboration

This module is a practical introduction to inclusive arts practice that explores processes of collaborative working and art facilitation skills. You undertake a series of supported arts workshops in local artists studios, working alongside the learning disabled Rocket Artist Group. You establish key philosophies and practices of inclusive practice suitable for transference to other community groups later in the course and your future practice. There are also opportunities for you to think about and develop your own work in the context of collaboration.

Participatory Practice and Creative Exchange: Inclusive Approaches to Collaboration

This module introduces and interrogates the ideas and practices of inclusive arts practice through key readings, tutor-facilitated workshops and peer discussion. It includes issues and debates around the similarities and differences between disability arts, art therapy, occupational therapy and inclusive arts practice, and other approaches to collaboration and inclusion. Within this module students will have the opportunity to work in the newly developed Switch House Building at Tate Modern, as part of a short creative exchange project. 

Research in Progress

This module is designed to support students in the development, implementation and completion of their individual research projects. A series of work-in-progress seminars and workshops run alongside the delivery of students’ ongoing practical art projects.

Practice as Research

This runs in parallel with the Research in Progress module, giving you the chance to capture and present your research findings through a public exhibition or performance, and to demonstrate good practice and the impact of inclusive arts.

Looking Ahead: Continuing Professional Development

This module is designed to enhance the professional practice of arts practitioners and equip students with the skills and contacts to manage their future career paths. It covers areas such as working with museums and galleries, funding, public programming, health and safety, budget management, partnership development, and marketing.

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

Alice Fox

Alice Fox is a lecturer and deputy head of the School of Art, researching inclusive arts practice and education. She is also the course leader and founder of the pioneering Inclusive Arts Practice MA.

Since 2003 Alice has been the artistic director of the learning disabled Rocket Artists Group, which has received significant funding from the Arts Council England for their high-quality exhibitions and performances. During 2013, The Rockets worked in partnership with the Southbank Centre to deliver the Side by Side project, an international exhibition, symposium and publication that centred on the theme of inclusive arts.

Alice used to work for the University of Brighton in the field of social enterprise and communities of practice. Since the early 1990s, she has worked with people with complex learning disabilities and challenging behaviour, both in the context of arts practice and the advocacy of human rights. Alice's connection with the university goes back to the late 1980s where, as a student, she obtained her Fine Art BA(Hons).

Other teaching staff include: Joanna Offer

Student views

Gemma Coldicott

“This course is the best thing I have ever done. I have consolidated my past seven years of professional practice as a dance artist and I have a great piece of research to take forward through events and educational projects.”

Gemma’s research question was: How to co-create a language of dance across time zones and cultures using synchronous and asynchronous communication?

Nina Marie Dunne

"This course is definitely the highlight of my life and I'll remember everyone fondly. I have now finished my PGCert (something I never thought I'd say) and I am a Student Transition, Orientation and Induction Coordinator at Canterbury Christ Church University and hopefully will be starting an MRes within the next year."

Brendan Commane 

"I chose this course because I am a teacher of children with special needs and I am very much into inclusion, doing an art-based course coupled with my own experience of special needs seemed the perfect choice for me."

Workbook Series I-IV. Participants: Gemma Coldicott, Roxie Keon and Felly Mistweave. Medium: dance. (Photo by Felly Mistweave)

Student work

Example student research questions

• Clare Griffiths: 'How can the Researcher facilitate a process that enables a balanced artistic collaboration with autonomy and equality between an artist with a learning disability and herself?'

• Abigail Horn: 'The Postal Project: Can artefacts be used in place of words in creative dialogue?'

• Sue Winter: 'Words are not enough: Using visual arts practices to build resilience with learning disabled young people.'

• Sarah Gladden: 'Consequences: What is collaborative art in the context of inclusive arts practice?'

• Jo Offer: 'Happy holiday: What practices and strategies need to be in place to support an artist with a learning disability to engage with the design industries?'

• Carol Patten: 'How can the impact of long-term hospitalisation be explored through music and the visual arts?'

• Jade French: 'What practices are required to collaboratively curate an art exhibition with women with learning disabilities?'

• Alison Cotton: 'How can a shared walking and art-making process enhance participants' engagement with the environment?'

View work by Inclusive Arts Practice MA graduates 2018

View past work by Inclusive Arts Practice students

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. 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, whilst studying a course in the School of Art are listed here.

• For most courses you will need to budget for the cost of specialist materials, equipment and printing and are likely to spend between £50–£300 per year.
• Costs in your final year of study are very likely to be higher than in earlier years as you bring together your final body of work and portfolio, and you may need to budget between £200 and £1,000.
• For some courses you may also need to budget up to £100 for specialist personal protective clothing which, with care, will last for the whole of your course and beyond.
• For most courses you will have the opportunity to attend field trips and off-site visits, for example to galleries, exhibitions and studios both in the UK and overseas. These are optional and are not required to pass your course. The amount spent would be based on location and number of trips taken, and typically range between £100 and £700 across the duration of your course.
• You will have access to computers and necessary software at City campus and at other locations across the university. However, many students choose to buy their own hardware – usually a laptop, software and accessories. The amount spent will depend on your individual choices but this expenditure is not essential to pass any of our courses.
• Course books and a wide range of magazines and journals are available in the university libraries. You do not need to have your own copies, but if you wish to, you should budget up to £200 over your course to buy them.
• For courses in which there is an optional placement year, you will need to budget for living costs (rent, food, travel etc) in that city/country, as if you were on site at the university.

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.

Local area

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

Maps

Accommodation

University building

City campus map