The module introduces you to the role of management in arts organisations and the systems and processes that are present in these businesses. We will explore the different challenges that arts organisations face and reflect on the implications that this has for traditional management concepts.

The Creative Industries Research Project offers students a flexible opportunity to engage with the professional creative industries, either by conducting research in collaboration with an organisation, or by undertaking research into specific issues facing the creative industries.

During the summer term, students undertake a research-based dissertation, which will allow you to carry out an in depth study and produce an extended piece of work that is typically between 12,500-15,000 words.

This research-based dissertation will allow you to identify a topic that you wish to explore in-depth; this may be focused on a significant issue or issues that has impacted on the sector or specific industry.

This module covers general topics such as; the research process, different approaches to research, project planning and management, ethical issues, data collection and analysis, and subject specific research methods.

This module is an introduction to the UK cultural landscape and key themes in the arts and creative sector. It provides an understanding of the environment within which arts organisations operate and the strategic challenges they face. We will consider how business strategies are developed and implemented in this sector and develop a critical understanding of the environment that arts managers and leaders work in.

In times when hope and fear about the environmental crisis alternate in our minds, when social and political change play havoc with our interpretation of the historic worlds we inhabit, it is crucial that we examine critically and creatively the ways and means by which such a crisis has come into existence. To do so, the module builds bridges across disciplines.

The module combines a place-based approach (Lancaster, the Morecambe Bay, and the Lake District) and an analytical focus centred on the dissonance and convergence of temporal scales. We seek to answer two questions in close dialogue with students:

• To what extent is the dissonance between the different timescales of the Earth system, the social and built environment, and the human imagination a contributing factor to political inaction and cultural indifference?
• In what ways can we better integrate these timescales while retaining the rigour, criticality, and creativity of the disciplines used to study each?

The module will explore topics such as tidal systems, coasts and estuaries; floods; the rise, fall and rebirth of particular narratives of change; ruins and memory; risk and CO2 trading; glacial archaeology and informality and hope.

This module is designed to enable you to explore your values, attitudes and interpersonal skills and to provide a platform for your continuing personal development. You will be introduced to concepts relating to self-development and reflective learning in order to identify your interpersonal and team-working skills.