Project Management for Creative Practitioners MSc
- Creative professions
- Postgraduate
Ready to boost your creative career and deepen your knowledge of value? Kingston University’s MSc in Project Management for Creative Practitioners is perfect for art and design graduates looking to tap into a career in this fast-paced industry.
Balance creativity and commerciality
You’ll study project, product and design management, build commercial and operational skills and develop a critical understanding of what it means to deliver value.
Studying this Project Management for Creative Practitioners MSc at Kingston University will equip you for a range of rewarding opportunities in industry. This programme offers opportunities to work with creative professionals from the art and design economy in designing projects and developing a portfolio of work in response to live briefs.
Through a blend of theoretical and practical learning, you’ll gain skills in everything from entrepreneurship, funding and marketing to collaborative practice, resource management, and risk assessment. You’ll also get to grips with agile work flow – crucial for successful creative practice in today’s landscape. During the course, you’ll benefit from tailored opportunities to develop your knowledge and skills. Part of the programme will also involve collaborating with key stakeholders or focusing on your own personal enterprise and development pathway to deliver a major project.
Why choose this course
While you study, you’ll benefit from top quality teaching at Kingston University. We are ranked Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework, and our state-of-the art facilities create the perfect modern learning environment.
University museums and galleries
Kingston University has two on-site galleries, which offer exciting opportunities for career progression. Grade II-listed Dorich House is the former home of the sculptor Dora Gordine, while the Stanley Picker Gallery is one of the UK’s leading university galleries. Our Knights Park campus also has a bookable project space for large-scale exhibitions.
Workshops and studios
Explore, collaborate and share ideas in our state-of-the-art workshop facilities, designed by Stirling Prize-winning studio, Haworth Tompkins. Facilities are open to all Kingston University students, and include:
- 3D workshops, with spaces for ceramics, concrete, resin-casting, plastics, metalwork, woodwork, bronze-casting foundry, set design and large scale model making
- Animation and post-production studios
- A digital media workshop
- Knitting and sewing workshops with digital and analogue facilities, plus a working dress archive including from 1750 to the present day
- A HackSpace for collaborative, creative, solutions-focused projects
- A letterpress and printmaking workshop
- A moving image workshop, with studios, an editing suite and industry-standard equipment
- A fully-equipped photography workshop
The Art School Experience
As part of Kingston School of Art, students benefit from joining a creative community where we encourage collaborative working and critical practice.
Our workshops and labs are open to all disciplines, enabling students and staff to work together, share ideas and explore multi-disciplinary making.
Course content
The course is multi-disciplinary and practitioner-based. You will study with creative professionals and practitioners from across the creative practice (e.g. art and design) economy. Throughout your studies, the emphasis is on learning by doing/making/production/application: you'll develop a portfolio of projects, culminating with a substantive major project. You'll develop your project management skills relevant to creative practice, leading to a professional certification in Agile Project Management.
Incorporated in the curriculum are general transferable skills including team building, collaborative practice, resource and stakeholder management, risk assessment, legal strategy and budget management. The key application is agility in project management for creative sector projects. The focus is on understanding both the language of management and leadership relevant to creative practice environments. While this will include the 'hard' skills of budget management, scheduling and legal strategy, there will be an important focus on understanding qualitatively, people; cultural context(s); and, the meaning of project 'outputs' and 'success' factors.
Please note that, below is an indicative list of modules on this course. This is not intended as a definitive list. Those listed here may also be a mixture of core and optional modules.
Modules
You'll develop a pragmatic understanding of the political, social and economic contexts of project management for creative practice. Areas of study and practice include people management, communication management, process management and business case development.
You will study established project management techniques and approaches that will improve your ability to manage and lead creative projects. The course includes a module on freelancing as a creative practitioner, which develops skills of pitching, work flow management and basic accounting.
Core modules
Professional placement year
Many postgraduate courses at Kingston University allow students to do a 12-month work placement as part of their course. The responsibility for finding the work placement is with the student; we cannot guarantee the work placement, just the opportunity to undertake it.
As the work placement is an assessed part of the course, it is covered by a student's Student Route 4 visa.
Optional modules
Career opportunities
After you graduate
You’ll complete this course with the skills you need to work as a project or design manager in the creative industry. Previous graduates have also progressed to roles such as producer, creative freelancer and entrepreneur.
Links with business and industry
You’ll have plenty of opportunities to work with creative organisations including agencies, studios, charities, competitions, award bodies and professional consultancies such as APMG and Scrum Inc. Not only do our professional practice links keep all course content relevant to today’s workplace, our staff are professional practitioners with experience across the creative industries.
Live project delivery
During the course, you’ll work closely with businesses and organisations to design and deliver a programme of events for your live project.
Teaching and assessment
Assessment is carried out through a blend of practice-focused written reports and reflections; presentations; role play; simulations; live project briefs; and, project portfolio development.
Fees and funding
Fees for future course years
Part time
If you start your second year straight after Year 1, you will pay the same fee for both years.
If you take a break before starting your second year, or if you repeat modules from Year 1 in Year 2, the fee for your second year may increase.
Funding support for postgraduate students
If you are a UK student living in England and under 60, you can apply for a loan to study for a postgraduate degree. Find out more through the government's website.
Scholarships and bursaries
Interested in studying an MSc in Project Management for Creative Practitioners at Kingston? The following funding support is available:
Additional course costs
Some courses may require additional costs beyond tuition fees. When planning your studies, you’ll want to consider tuition fees, living costs, and any extra costs that might relate to your area of study.
Your tuition fees include costs for teaching, assessment and university facilities. So your access to libraries, shared IT resources and various student support services are all covered. Accommodation and general living expenses are not covered by these fees.
Where applicable, additional expenses for your course may include:
How to apply
Before you apply
Please read the entry criteria carefully to make sure you meet all requirements before applying.
How to apply online
Use the course selector drop-down at the top of this page to choose your preferred course, start date and mode, then click 'Apply now'. You will be taken to our Online Student Information System (OSIS) where you will complete your application.
If you’re starting a new application, you’ll need to select ‘new user’ and set up a username and password. This will allow you to save and return to your application.
Application deadlines
We encourage you to apply as soon as possible. Applications will close when the course is full.
After you apply
If we need more information or want to invite you for an interview, we will be in touch directly. After that you will then hear whether your application has been successful.
Course changes and regulations
The information on this page reflects the currently intended course structure and module details. To improve your student experience and the quality of your degree, we may review and change the material information of this course. Find out more about course changes
Programme Specifications for the course are published ahead of each academic year.
Regulations governing this course can be found on our website.
