Core courses are obligatory for all students enrolled in the M.A. program. They include:
This course provides a survey of business operating basics, including the day-to-day management of business enterprises. Accounting & finance, marketing, strategy, IT, human resources, operations and other functional business areas are studied in both large and small corporate entities. Case studies, videos, lecture and in class exercises provide for a highly practical approach to business. Macroeconomics, government policy, and the role of business in society are also examined. Most topics are studied from an international perspective with particular emphasis on the business of cultural heritage management. The course assumes no prior knowledge of business techniques or terminology.
In this course, students will learn the fundamentals of contemporary museum organization and administration, focusing on both the theoretical challenges that face 21st century museum directors as well as the practical aspects of a museum’s day-to-day operations. No longer considered treasure palaces with one authoritative voice, museums today are engaged with their audiences in both local and global settings; they are challenged to justify their relevance in the public sphere, constantly confronting issues of authority, social responsibility, and ethics. Students will consider these topics while learning about the practical areas of museum management, including leadership, planning, development, finance, governance, audience, digital museums, law, cultural patrimony and the assessment of museums’ public value. Through readings, lectures, online interviews with directors, and social media websites as well as site visits to Rome’s unparalleled collections and museums, students will encounter an international spectrum of critical and creative managers who are transforming museums and professional practices. While these topics are often associated with the role of director, this course is relevant to all students who wish to manage any assets or resources inside a museum, including personnel, finance, marketing, collections, curation, education, conservation, buildings, or equipment.
Governmental resources for the arts are declining worldwide. This is the context for understanding the capital value of cultural assets and their economic management. This course is intended for students seeking a foundational understanding of the planning, marketing, management and funding of arts projects. Readings and case studies will explore technical, practical and ethical issues that arise in cultural economics. Relevant analytical techniques will be introduced and particular emphasis will be placed on commercial, government and community issues unique to heritage-related activities. Special emphasis will be placed upon developing pertinent strategies for the tourist industry. Students will produce one research paper and lead portions of each session’s discussion.
In this course, students will study principles and practices relating to core curatorial functions in today’s museums, which are more often thought of sites of social interaction than historical treasure palaces. The focus will be on the curator’s primary responsibilities, including the development of permanent collections and the creation of exhibitions. Students will learn about the relationship of curatorship to the museum’s mission, ethical and other challenges facing museums, and how technology is changing the ways museums fulfill their curatorial responsibilities. They will also become acquainted with curatorial relationships with collectors and other museum donors and the procedures for realizing successful exhibitions. Following case studies of best curatorial practices internationally and making site visits to Rome’s unparalleled private and public art collections, archaeological sites and museums, students will acquire the necessary knowledge and analytical skills to form their own critiques and ideas about curatorial roles and exhibitions. They will be encouraged to develop the broadest possible thinking about the evolving role of the curator in the 21st century. Conceived as a practicum, emphasis will be placed on current practice rather than theory.
This course examines the issue of the value of art from the point of view of traditional aesthetic approaches to art as well as from the point of view of the contemporary art market. Students will be able to examine relevant theories that address the issue of the artistic value in terms of aesthetic, historical, cultural, social, and material/economic value. Students will also learn about the way in which the market price is made, and different factors that impact the formation of the price and how the price is related to the qualities/characteristics of particular artworks. This course will enable students to think critically of the social impact of artistic and broader cultural values and the way these values are structured.
This course examines relevant theories of art, from the beginning of the modern understanding of “art” (which was finally constructed in the eighteenth century, based on the Renaissance and post-Renaissance developments in the society and culture), till the so called “ends” of art, art history and art theory, in the late-twenty century discourses.
Students will be able to critically examine the modern, western European concept of art and its social implications, and to understand the place of artworks in the broader intellectual, cultural, ideological and social environment.
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Elective courses are designed to enable students to shape their own professional and/or research profile depending on their interests and future career aspirations. The program allows a certain flexibility, not only with the choice of elective courses, but also in respect to the time frame in which these courses can be taken. However, students are required to complete all course work before they can submit their thesis.
Students can choose between the following elective courses (minimum course enrolments must be met to ensure that the course will run):
This course will investigate some of the most pressing and contentious issues in Cultural Heritage today. It is intended to foreground some of the arguments which will come up in other courses such as authenticity, interpretation, sustainability etc. The course will be divided into three broad topics and after each topic there will be a take-home exam before moving on to the next topic. Topic 1 looks at definitions of Cultural Heritage and how they have changed; Topic 2 looks at the expansion of sites included in Cultural Heritage and in particular in the role memory plays in deciding what to remember and what to forget; Topic 3 looks at the impact of cultural diversity on Cultural Heritage practice.
This course explores the history, politicization, authenticity, marketing and sustainability of cultural tourism. Through lectures, seminars and interactive classroom discussions students will explore the challenges facing cultural tourism in the 21st century. Both practical and theoretical issues will be addressed. At the end of the course students will present a case study of a cultural tourist site to develop which will include a marketing strategy for sustainable tourism taking into account the environment, local community and issues of authenticity.
This upper level seminar course examines global heritage concerns, looking in particular at how the past conditions the present and influences identity. Lectures and seminars will be built around four topics: the role of international organizations, heritage and memory, heritage and economic development and contemporary issues in global heritage. Each topic unit will be completed by a seminar where students will present case studies that illustrate the issues raised. The course will require students to prepare reading material in advance in order to contribute meaningfully to class discussion.
Highly focused students with specific career goals or research aims may opt, during the second semester, for independent study of a topic in depth, not covered by the courses offered by the program. The topic will be decided in collaboration with the instructor. Students will develop a goal statement for the independent study, the related learning objectives, the timetable for completion, a preliminary list of readings and the final product. This could be a research-based paper or it might be a written paper that accompanies a technical project (e.g. a video or other digital media communication). In addition to the final product, students will keep a journal of the work undertaken, commentary on readings and results of the independent study. Independent study requires approximately 150 hours of learning activities and it will involve a schedule with number and frequency of contact hours between the student and the supervisor. Independent study will be offered in exceptional cases. Individual applications for the independent study must be approved by the program director, dean and provost before the course can be offered.
This course enables students to appraise the main aspects, potential and limits of theoretical and applied social research methods, and to use them appropriately according to their specific research needs. The course covers the epistemology of social science and the logic of research design. It reviews the steps in the research process from the research idea to the research questions, formulation of hypotheses and deciding on method. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods will be described and practiced. The main methodological problems of quantitative and qualitative analysis, data gathering, data quality and interpretation of evidence will be discussed. Presentation skills for researchers will be explained and practiced.
Internship is a practical work with an arts organization, required for all students of the program. It requires 150 hours of practical work experience, a journal with the daily activities detailed as well as reflections on the internship as a learning experience and a presentation and written paper at the end of the work experience period. Students will choose their internship preferences with their Thesis Advisor. Prior to beginning the internship students must prepare a plan which specifies their activities during the internship. AUR will make every effort to place a student in the best possible situation but students should be aware that internships in Italy are not abundant due to Italian employment laws. Students are advised to begin thinking well ahead of time of the kind of internship they would like and to have a few alternatives in case their first choice does not work out.
The options for students’ placement for internships include: museums (for students aspiring to careers in e.g. museum management, curatorship, museums’ educational and research departments), galleries and auction houses (for students aspiring to careers in e.g. art market, gallery management, contemporary art curatorship, art criticism), art journals, magazines and other media reporting on art (for students aspiring to careers in e.g. art criticism), etc.
As a result of internships students will be able to:
Internships can be conducted during the Spring or Summer Semester, prior to the work on the MA thesis.
Distribution of courses
| Courses | Credits |
|---|---|
| Core Course Business Skills: Accounting, Finance, Economics |
3 |
| Core Course Business Skills: Market, Management Operations |
3 |
| Core Course Art of Display: Museology & Curatorship |
3 |
| Core Course Art Theory- From the Beginning to the “End” of Art |
3 |
| Elective Course Choose from list |
3 |
| Five courses per semester | 15 |
| Courses | Credits |
|---|---|
| Core Course Culture Economics |
3 |
| Core Course The Value of Art: Art Criticism and the Art Market |
3 |
| Core Course Museum Management: Inside Today’s Museum |
3 |
| Elective Course Choose from list |
3 |
| Elective Course Choose from list |
3 |
| Five courses per semester | 15 |
| Courses | Credits |
|---|---|
| AM Internship | 3 |
| Dissertation | 3 |
