The cultural world is in a state of rapid transformation due to technological innovation, urbanisation, economic globalisation, and an increasingly unpredictable sociopolitical landscape. All facets of the arts are affected by this transformation. Utrecht University's Master of Arts and Society will prepare you to operate as a leading figure in the global arts, media, and cultural sectors of the future. 

Icon of International students
75%
international students
in the MA programme per year

Become a leading figure in the arts

Our Master’s programme is designed to meet the urgent need for arts professionals who possess rigorous theoretical and research skills coupled with practical abilities and an acute awareness of the current state of the sector at the local and global levels.

As a student in this programme you will explore, for example, the dynamics and dilemmas within existing mainstream culture and its relationship with a growing number of “alternative” cultural practices, new models of creative production and industry, and the ever-increasing role of the arts in social justice.

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Am I eligible?

Arts and Society is a selective Master’s programme. Do you want to know if you are eligible for this Master? 

Check the entry requirements

Why this programme in Utrecht?

A cultural hub

The Master's programme in Arts and Society is uniquely positioned to take advantage of one of the most dynamic cities for the arts in all of Europe. Utrecht is teeming with world class museums, galleries, theatre, live music venues, community/participatory arts, street art and graffiti, anarchist and underground collectives, numerous cultural festivals and parades throughout the year, film and performing arts festivals, etc. 

The city as laboratory

The Arts and Society programme not only has numerous governmental, non-governmental and informal partners within Utrecht, but also uses the city itself as an immersive laboratory in which our students conduct ethnographic research in diverse sites, from museums to the streets, and ponder questions related to the arts in the relation to urban life.

Our faculty and partners are particularly interested in research and debate around issues related to the urban arts, and our students are strongly encouraged to step outside the classroom and pursue their own questions, interests and concerns in the city of Utrecht.

Involvement in cultural enterprises

Our programme’s direct involvement in various cultural enterprises provides students with immediate access to the field in which they will be working. We have a number of local, regional and global partners that allow us to provide our students with exciting internship opportunities, potential research projects and a close insight into the active cultural field.

After graduation

Our Master’s programme prepares a new generation of creative critical thinkers and doers for the global cultural sector: cross-sector cultural partnerships (i.e. between arts and healthcare or arts and development), transitional processes of conventional cultural institutions looking for new audiences, research into the social and intrinsic value of art, and intercultural and international collaborations.

More on career prospects

The programme offered me exactly what I was looking for in my academic and artistic pursuits, that is the balance of the theoretical and practical study in the artistic field.

Key facts

Degree: 
Arts & Culture
Language of instruction: 
English
Mode of study: 
Full-time, Part-time
Study duration: 
1 year, 2 years (part-time)
Start: 
September
Tuition fees: 
Dutch and other EU/EEA students (statutory fee, full-time) 2024-2025: € 2,530

Non-EU/EEA students (institutional fee) 2024-2025: € 20,043

More information about fees
Croho code: 
60087
Accreditation: 
Accredited by the NVAO
Faculty: 
Humanities
Graduate school: 
Humanities