Course Description
Courses offered at Lingnan University, Hong Kong (LU)
ACH501 Critical Issues for Culture and Heritage Management (3 LU credits)
The course introduces students to the politics and policies of heritage management in the urban environment. Following completion of the course, students should have a good understanding of what constitutes urban and cultural heritage, and why its conservation is so politicised. The course begins by questioning what cultural heritage is in urban contexts, and examining the pressures that processes of urbanisation and development place on existing urban landscapes and connections to place. It will also examine both academic and professional debates regarding ideas about how and why objects, buildings, landscapes, and traditions should be preserved, protected, and presented to current and future generations. The key emphasis will be on the emergence of urban heritage landscapes in Asian cities. In particular, the course will discuss the similarities and divergencies between arts heritage conservation and management in the UK context with that of Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. Emerging trends such as digital heritage and AI in visitor experience will be examined.
ACH502 Cultural Policy and Practice (3 LU credits)
This course will address a range of issues relevant to cultural policy and practice in Hong Kong and other Asian cities. It will discuss the relationship between cultural production and policy and deal with issues of ‘what is culture’ in different cultural contexts and countries. This course will provide students with a deeper understanding of the formation and reformation of cultural policies at the local, national, regional and international levels. The Cultural Policy and Practice will enable students to participate in the process of proposing local cultural policies for their countries and to network for the purposes of the research needed to develop policies conducive to improving the working environment in the arts and cultural sector. The course will also provide some practical, transferrable skills, such as decision-making, data management, community consultations, marketing, policy evaluation and development.
ACH503 Arts Exhibition and Performance Management (3 LU credits)
The human progress of civilization and technology constantly contest the idea of curatorial, the process that gives people the context in the art viewing experience. What the present holds and what the future foretold when we talk about curating an exhibition for a museum or producing a performance in the digital age. Can a community be curated? Can we have a collective panel instead of one curator? What does it mean to have a non-hierarchical artful experience? This course examines the above key questions, focusing on key themes and debates within exhibition-making and creative producing such as the role of curator, boundary-pushing curatorial concepts such as the AI-driven approaches, curating in and outside the museum and working with communities and other mediums and disciplines. Students will learn critical organisational management skills, including art and culture production, venue and risk management as well as business models in working with heritage and cultural capitals.
ACH510 History and Heritage of the Greater Bay Area (3 LU credits)
The course History and Heritage of the Greater Bay Area investigates the diverse cultural expressions, intangible heritage, historic sites and artefacts unique to the region. It analyses the intricate interplay between history and heritage, questioning the way historical interpretation informs heritage preservation and vice versa. The course provides an overview of key theoretical, practical and policy debates within the field of heritage management. While the primary focus is on the history and heritage of the Greater Bay Area (GBA), the course also incorporates a comparative perspective by examining international case studies and policy issues from other parts of Asia and the world. The concept of heritage is explored through an inter-disciplinary approach, covering heritage practices such as identification, assessment, research, preservation, interpretation, and promotion of various forms of cultural heritage. Students will also be introduced to international, national and regional cultural heritage regulations and policies.
Courses offered at University of Lincoln (UoL), UK (60 UoL credits)
Note: 5 UoL credits = 1 Lingnan credit
TOU9017M Engaging Stakeholders in Cultural Heritage Development (15 UoL credits)
Vibrant heritage organisations increasingly require the active participation of a range of stakeholders. Engaged stakeholders can help museums, galleries and heritage sites to attract funding, grow audiences and facilitate negotiations around the repatriation of objects and the decolonisation of collections. Indeed, their participation is often a necessary prerequisite to such processes. Understanding precisely who the stakeholders are – from employees, audiences and volunteers to charities, accrediting and public bodies - and the different ways in which they relate to heritage sites is crucial to understanding how the sector operates. Also fundamental to our understanding is an appreciation of the regulatory frameworks and funding environments that shape heritage activity and with which stakeholders must interact. The module will range over a number of country case studies and students will be encouraged to explore those related to their backgrounds. Students will further be encouraged to reimagine strategies for more effective stakeholder engagement.
TOU9143M The Visitor Experience at Cultural and Heritage Attractions (15 UoL credits)
The focus of this module is the visitors: who they are and what they hope to gain from their experience of interacting with cultural heritage. It is designed to provide students with an opportunity to develop a critical understanding of current approaches to managing the visitor experience.
TOU9156M Digitising Cultural and Heritage Collections (15 UoL credits)
This module is designed to address key issues in collections management, with a focus on digital collections. As well as aiming to introduce key theory and concepts, the module contains a strong practical dimension, as students have the opportunity to participate in the production of metadata, the development of a content management system and the application of a content management system to supporting exhibition development.
CON9009 Heritage Interpretation and the Marketing of Usable Pasts (15 UoL credits, optional)
Heritage interpretation is far more than information, as this module will demonstrate, Interpretation allows visitors to connect with the significance and uniqueness of heritage assets through storytelling, immersion and other techniques. This module discusses the wide range of interpretation strategies currently employed in the sector and will tutor students towards developing their own interpretation plan for an online exhibition.
Dissertation (Joint Supervision by both universities)
ACH504 Dissertation: Master of Arts in Arts and Cultural Heritage Management (30 UoL credits & 6 LU credits)
The dissertations and projects are intended to assess the full range of students' abilities and to apply a range of learning outcomes which the programme enables students to develop. In particular it enables assessment of the ability to design, develop and write an advanced research project using primary and/or secondary materials appropriate to the topic and according to the necessary conventions of scholarly work. It requires independent motivation and self-directed learning, under supervision, and enables students to demonstrate competence for the critical analysis and sustained persuasive argument. Students will be assigned one supervisor from the University of Lincoln, and one from Lingnan University, so that students can benefit from the expertise of staff at both institutions and maintain links with them throughout their studies.