Institute For Cultural Practices- University of Manchester

University of Manchester’s Institute for Cultural Practices are looking for suitable placements with cultural, creative and digital organisations for postgraduate students. The placements will run for 20 days between November 2026 and May 2027.

The students are studying on MA programmes in Arts Management, Policy and Practice; Art Gallery and Museum Studies; Global Heritage Management; Creative and Cultural Industries; Library and Archive Studies; Digital Culture Media and Society; Film Studies; and Music. The students earn credit towards their Masters degree for their placement project.

Our students have a wide variety of skills, knowledge and interests relating to cultural, creative and digital organisations. Examples of recent placement projects and roles, include:
Digital marketing and social media campaigns
Contemporary collecting and exhibition-making
Fundraising and grant funding applications
Evaluation and audience analysis
Event management and production tasks
Further examples of former placement projects can be found on our website: https://culturalpractice.wordpress.com/ [culturalpractice.wordpress.com]

Placements can either be on-site at your place of work; work from home; or a blended option with students working at home and at your place of work.

To host one or more MA students with your organisation, please complete this short online form https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/79aDCLapuX [forms.cloud.microsoft] by 5pm on Friday 18 September 2026.


More information on placements is available at the link. We are also hosting two drop-in information sessions so please join us there:

Friday 14 August at 10am. Information session 1: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1994565217257?aff=oddtdtcreator [eventbrite.co.uk]

Wednesday 26 August at 2pm. Information session 2: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/thinking-of-hosting-a-placement-information-session-for-hosts-tickets-1994571262338?aff=oddtdtcreator [eventbrite.co.uk]

University of Manchester’s Institute for Cultural Practices are looking for suitable placements with cultural, creative and digital organisations for postgraduate students. The placements will run for 20 days between November 2026 and May 2027.

The students are studying on MA programmes in Arts Management, Policy and Practice; Art Gallery and Museum Studies; Global Heritage Management; Creative and Cultural Industries; Library and Archive Studies; Digital Culture Media and Society; Film Studies; and Music. The students earn credit towards their Masters degree for their placement project.

Our students have a wide variety of skills, knowledge and interests relating to cultural, creative and digital organisations. Examples of recent placement projects and roles, include:
Digital marketing and social media campaigns
Contemporary collecting and exhibition-making
Fundraising and grant funding applications
Evaluation and audience analysis
Event management and production tasks
Further examples of former placement projects can be found on our website: https://culturalpractice.wordpress.com/ [culturalpractice.wordpress.com]

Placements can either be on-site at your place of work; work from home; or a blended option with students working at home and at your place of work.

To host one or more MA students with your organisation, please complete this short online form https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/79aDCLapuX [forms.cloud.microsoft] by 5pm on Friday 18 September 2026.


More information on placements is available at the link. We are also hosting two drop-in information sessions so please join us there:

Friday 14 August at 10am. Information session 1: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1994565217257?aff=oddtdtcreator [eventbrite.co.uk]

Wednesday 26 August at 2pm. Information session 2: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/thinking-of-hosting-a-placement-information-session-for-hosts-tickets-1994571262338?aff=oddtdtcreator [eventbrite.co.uk]

Eventbrite Find tickets to your next unforgettable experience. Browse concerts, workshops, yoga classes, charity events, food and music festivals, and more things to do.

MA Arts Management and MA Creative & Cultural Industries Careers Event will this week Thursday


Please Join us for our MA Arts Management and MA Creative & Cultural Industries Careers session 5 - 7pm this Thursday 21st May, to hear from a panel of inspiring alumni about their career journeys and experiences working in creative industries in and around Manchester. Take this opportunity to gain practical advice about starting a career in a creative industry, ask questions and network with alumni. Thursday 21st May, Room C1.18, Ellen Wilkinson Building


Register to attend MA Arts Management and MA Creative & Cultural Industries Careers event here:

MA Arts Management and MA Creative & Cultural Industries Careers Event Join us to hear from MA Arts Management and MA Creative & Cultural Industries alumni about their experiences of building a career journey

Join us for a special lecture by our Gail Day, Pilkington Visiting Professor in Art History at The University of Manchester.

Roda Gigante: Carmela Gross, Lina Bo Bardi, and Objective Form in Brazil

📅 Wednesday 29 April 2026
🕟 4:30pm
📍 Mansfield Cooper Building, G.22

In this fascinating talk, Professor Day explores what happens when artworks move across contexts and histories. Focusing on Roda Gigante (Big Wheel) by Carmela Gross, she examines its evolution between exhibitions and its dialogue with architect Lina Bo Bardi. The lecture also engages with key debates in Brazilian critical theory, including ideas of “objective form” developed by thinkers such as Antonio Candido, Roberto Schwarz, and Luiz Renato Martins.

About the speaker:
Gail Day is Professor of Art History and Critical Theory at the University of Leeds. Her book Dialectical Passions: Negation and Art Theory (Columbia University Press, 2010) was shortlisted for the Isaac and Tamara Deutsche Prize. Her new book Amphibious Realities: The Documentary Poetics of Allan Sekula, co-authored with Steve Edwards, has just been published by Verso Books (2025).

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from a leading voice in art history and critical theory.

All are welcome!

Inaugural Lecture 📣

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: England’s Cultural Policy Landscape under Austerity and Devolution
📍 SLG.12, Samuel Alexander Building, University of Manchester
📅 11 March
🕟 4.30pm Reception | 5.00–6.30pm Lecture

We are delighted to invite you to join us for the Inaugural Lecture of our colleague, Abi Gilmore, Professor of Cultural Policy at the University of Manchester.

What makes a place culturally vibrant — and who decides?
Which arts venues, cultural amenities and heritage spaces should communities be able to access?

How do these resources shape liveability, identity, and belonging?

What happens when cultural infrastructure is shaped by austerity and devolution?

In this timely lecture, Professor Gilmore explores the spatial politics of cultural policy in England and the tensions they create for cultural placemaking and democracy.

Travelling northwards from Macclesfield in Cheshire through Greater Manchester to Mytholmroyd in West Yorkshire, the lecture traces two decades of research into cultural infrastructure, governance, and funding systems — revealing the stark geographical inequalities in cultural access and provision.

Drawing on long-term engagement with so-called “crap towns” and “cultural deserts,” alongside pioneering Mayoral Strategic Authorities and Cities of Culture, this lecture reflects on how austerity, devolution, and politics are reshaping England’s cultural landscape.

It asks:
What kinds of cultural policies are needed — and how might they better honour the structures of feeling and dynamics of place — when cultural infrastructure sits between the rock of local precarity and the hard place of methodological nationalism?

🎟 Register for free tickets here:
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/universityofmanchester5/1953004
We warmly encourage colleagues, students, partners, and friends to attend this important and thought-provoking event.

Austerity PublicPolicy

Inaugural Lecture 📣

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: England’s Cultural Policy Landscape under Austerity and Devolution
📍 SLG.12, Samuel Alexander Building, University of Manchester
📅 11 March
🕟 4.30pm Reception | 5.00–6.30pm Lecture

We are delighted to invite you to join us for the Inaugural Lecture of our colleague, Abi Gilmore, Professor of Cultural Policy at the University of Manchester.

What makes a place culturally vibrant — and who decides?
Which arts venues, cultural amenities and heritage spaces should communities be able to access?

How do these resources shape liveability, identity, and belonging?

What happens when cultural infrastructure is shaped by austerity and devolution?

In this timely lecture, Professor Gilmore explores the spatial politics of cultural policy in England and the tensions they create for cultural placemaking and democracy.

Travelling northwards from Macclesfield in Cheshire through Greater Manchester to Mytholmroyd in West Yorkshire, the lecture traces two decades of research into cultural infrastructure, governance, and funding systems — revealing the stark geographical inequalities in cultural access and provision.

Drawing on long-term engagement with so-called “crap towns” and “cultural deserts,” alongside pioneering Mayoral Strategic Authorities and Cities of Culture, this lecture reflects on how austerity, devolution, and politics are reshaping England’s cultural landscape.

It asks:
What kinds of cultural policies are needed — and how might they better honour the structures of feeling and dynamics of place — when cultural infrastructure sits between the rock of local precarity and the hard place of methodological nationalism?

🎟 Register for free tickets here:
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/universityofmanchester5/1953004
We warmly encourage colleagues, students, partners, and friends to attend this important and thought-provoking event.

Welcome Back to Campus – Semester 2 Seminar Series Now Underway!

As we welcome you all back to campus and begin the second semester, we are delighted to share the Semester 2 programme for the AHCP Research Seminar Series and Brown Bag lunchtime talks.

Following a stimulating Semester 1, this semester features a rich and diverse range of seminars exploring cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary research in Art History and Cultural Practices. The programme brings together leading researchers and practitioners from the UK and internationally, offering perspectives that speak to interests across our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, as well as to colleagues and the wider academic community.

The Research Seminar series is not only intellectually engaging but can also be valuable in shaping and informing MA and PhD research.

📍 Research Seminars: Mostly in person (with one exception), with most sessions starting at 4pm
💬 Brown Bag talks: Hybrid format

📅 Please register via Eventbrite to attend Research Seminars and receive reminders:https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/department-of-art-history-and-cultural-practices-115441163851

We warmly encourage students, staff, and anyone with an interest in art, culture, and research to join us for a thought-provoking and inspiring Semester 2.

Compliments of the season from us to all our students, staff, alumni, and partners who are celebrating today, we wish you a joyful Christmas and a prosperous New Year. 🎄🎄🧑‍🎄🎅

✨ Departmental Research Seminar spotlight ✨

Still on our ongoing departmental seminar series this semester, last Wednesday we were delighted to host Dr Morag Rose (University of Liverpool) for a Research Seminar titled “The Feminist Art of (Not) Walking in Manchester”.

Drawing on almost twenty years of practice with The LRM (Loiterers Resistance Movement), Morag reflected on standing, waiting, and walking in Manchester, sharing what she has learnt and unlearnt about the city, as well as the incredible walking artists she has encountered along the way.

It was a rich, engaging session, and we thank Dr Rose for such a thoughtful and inspiring talk.