Creative and cultural industries shape how we experience our lives, including the ads and movies we see, the music we listen to and the festivals and performances we attend. They shape our quality of life, generating cultural, social and economic value to individuals, organisations and society. To create this value, creative organisations rely on data to generate new opportunities, create new strategies, track the effectiveness of their strategies, and persuade others of their value, whether funders, consumers or collaborators.

This unique MSc programme brings together cross-disciplinary expertise and knowledge in data analytics, creative thinking, business and law to understand the complex challenges facing the creative industries. It is a bold, innovative programme designed to develop your knowledge and skills for leading the cultural and creative institutions of the future.

You will learn to apply interdisciplinary knowledge within a project team in order to respond to live challenges set by our partner organisations, and you will create and apply knowledge from different areas using data-informed approaches. A strong focus of the programme is on learning to collaborate and work with others as you develop the leadership skills needed to coordinate the diverse specialisms, organisations and individuals needed to deliver creative experiences and products.

Studying with us will help you build professional and leadership skills as you work directly with world-class cultural organisations in the City of Edinburgh. This programme makes excellent use of Edinburgh as a cultural capital and you will benefit from established relationships with organisations in cultural heritage, festivals and advertising.

The Creative Industries programme provides core knowledge and ability - for example in marketing, digital strategy and consumer and audience engagement - that you will be able to apply to real, live challenges faced by the cultural sector. It will prepare you to take up leadership and management roles in a variety of creative and cultural sectors such as the creative industries, arts management, cultural heritage, and cultural tourism. For mid-career professionals, the programme offers the opportunity to expand, deepen and apply knowledge to new contexts, strengthening existing skills and developing new approaches which can be applied in professional work.

The core elements of the programme address the data and higher-order skills we know are important for the future of work, confident and critical citizenship, and a thriving, just society.