International Bachelor Arts and Culture Studies

afstudeerrichting Culture and Economics

In the specialist field Culture and Economics, you study the art world from a cultural economic perspective.

Artists, art and cultural institutions and the public all have to deal with economics and organisation. In the cultural sector, plans are made, events and products are organised, designed, sold and purchased. The government, among other parties, plays an important role through its policy and decisions about whether or not to provide funding. In the specialist field Culture and Economics, you study the art world from this cultural economic perspective. This is a typical Rotterdam approach to arts and culture studies.

The second and third year of the programme build on the economic subjects studied in the first year. The economic and business aspects of culture are addressed at different levels: at the level of the individual artist, the cultural organisation, the employment market and the government.

afstudeerrichting Culture and Society

When choosing the 'Culture and Society'-track you get acquainted with up-to-date sociological theories and will develop relevant research skills in studying these art worlds.

You learn to investigate how artists and their audiences interact, which role gatekeepers are playing in selecting artistic works, and which strategies cultural industries, cultural organizations and governments develop to steer artistic processes via the market or policy. You also study how and why different groups of people participate in art worlds (as creators themselves or as consumers), and how the boundaries between consumers and creators are fading due to technological developments such as digitization, changing the interrelationships and the (often unwritten) rules that shape art worlds. In doing so, you get all the knowledge and knowhow necessary to become a professional in one of the art worlds - film, visual art, architecture, popular music, etc. - yourself, or to develop an academic career in the sociology of art and culture.

afstudeerrichting Culture and Media

Central to this specialisation are the creation, distribution and consumption of various media and media products and the role of media in the communication of culture.

Cultural industries, media, broadcasters, film, music and the Internet play an important role in the political, social and cultural life and are becoming increasingly important in the cultural economy.

How have different media sectors (such as the broadcasting sector, the printed press and the Internet) developed in recent decades and what changes and dilemmas do they currently face? How are media products created and how do readers, viewers and listeners use these products? What role does the media play in processes of cultural communication and in shaping the perception of art and culture?

honours-/excellence program Arts and Culture Honours Programme

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If you are an ambitious and talented student, we offer you more academic challenges, more opportunities to delve deeper into particular topics, and the chance to work with an arts organisation on an actual case.The honours programme aims at deepening and broadening the subject material of our regular curriculum. This takes place by an in-depth reading of a number of academic texts, discussing these works with the lecturer and fellow students, and producing a paper or other type of report or presentation at the end of each theme. Each lecturer involved is responsible for three seminars dealing with a current topic in her or his area of expertise. Finally, students will learn to do impactful research by doing a project embedded within a (Rotterdam) arts organization and present their findings at a final symposium.

Students investing fully in this course will be able to:

• Understand and compare complex academic texts on contemporary topics in arts and culture studies.
• Gain insight in the complex relation between theory and empirical research.
• Apply their new knowledge and skills, both within an academic context (through assignments) and within a societal context (making impact through the honours research project).