West London, the home of St Mary’s University, can boast a wealth of culture embedded in the arts and humanities. These include historical sites of music: Eel Pie Island having once hosted The Rolling Stones and Twickenham having served as the backdrop to the Beatles’ film, A Hard Day’s Night. As well as the popular culture aspect of this course, aesthetic, sociological and cultural conventions will also be considered to gain an in-depth knowledge of the historical context of the Humanities. The course is run by one of the world’s most eminent experts on The Beatles, Dr Richard Mills, and includes a walking tour of London which investigates the popular music and culture of the locale.
Dates and times
This is a 6-week course which is taught on Tuesday 7th June from 10am-5pm and then subsequently on Tuesday afternoons from 2-5pm and Wednesday mornings from 10am-1pm.
- There are currently no dates available for this course.
Price
The full cost is £983, excluding the course assessment.
Participants can opt to take the course assessment at an additional cost of £250. The deposit cost is £50, payable upon application. Please note this course fee rate is for home, UK resident participants only.
The class walking tour entitled Popular Music andCulture on Tuesday 28th June is included within the course fee. Please note that travel costs are the participant’s responsibility. Please ensure you can commit to the scheduled dates as unfortunately we are unable to give refunds.
Content
This course aims to introduce key frameworks for conceiving of art, culture and popular culture. Participants will consider questions of value and cultural capital in relation to different cultural forms. Once on the course, participants will case-study particular forms and industries from this perspective and will interrogate critically contemporary notions of the creative and cultural industries.
By the end of this course participants will be able to:
- Demonstrate awareness of definitions of art, culture and popular culture deriving from aesthetics and cultural studies
- Show understanding of debates around elitism and cultural value
- Demonstrate understanding of debates around creativity, cultural industries and precarious labour
- Apply course frameworks confidently in the case study of a particular area of artistic or cultural activity.
Optional course assessment
Participants who wish to take the assessment on this course are required to complete two essays. These assignments are designed to test understanding of definitions of art and culture; as well as their implications for cultural value. The second assignment allows participants to devise a creative response to the second half of the course, engaging with recent artistic and cultural phenomena, audiences and cultural industries. Participants will also create and structure a poster and give a presentation on a topic of the participants choice.
Requirements
It is recommended that Learners should have achieved a level of education equivalent to five GCSEs at grades A*-C prior and two A-Levels, however exemptions may be made for adult returners.
Due to the amount of information covered in the course, home studies of approximately 13 hours per week will be required.
Award
Participants will receive a certificate of attendance. Participants who opt to take the assessment and pass will also receive a transcript detailing 20 credits at level 5. Please note that the transcript will follow once internal and external quality assurance processes have been completed.
Book your place now
For more information about this course please contact the Short Courses team:
Tel: 020 8240 4321
Email: shortcourses@stmarys.ac.uk