Master of Creative Practice

Credits 180 (1.5 EFTS)

Campus Mt Albert

Career opportunities

• Artist

• Art director

• Product designer

• Graphic designer

• Director

• Photographer

• Experience designer

• Producer

• Production designer

• Sculptor

• Visual artist

• Performance designer

• Service designer

• Curator

• Actor for theatre, film and television

• Choreographer

• Filmmaker

Highlights

• Dynamic studio environments that facilitate independent and collaborative working practices.

• Build your own Master’s degree as a stair-cased qualification.

• Create a body of new work, build a portfolio, advance your practice and refresh or reorient your career.

• Learn about and apply kaupapa Māori and Pacific approaches to creative practice.

• Gain industry experience through negotiated placements or work on live projects.

• Work in an evolving multi-disciplinary environment with exposure to a wide range of approaches, practices and theories.

• Improve your communication skills through studio critiques and written activities.

• Learn from supervisors that include notable educators and creative practitioners.

• Get feedback on your developing work from specialists in your field.

• Develop highly specialised creative research and critical thinking skills through a significant project.

Start dates February or July

Duration Full-time for 18 months or part-time for three years

Annual fees $7,900 (NZD) (Approximate domestic fees only. Includes GST but excludes the Compulsory Student Services Fee levy)

If you enjoy designing solutions to complex problems or imagining new ways of experiencing and living in the world, this Master’s programme is for you. It’s designed for creative professionals who want to progress their careers by undertaking a significant piece of advanced creative research.

Programme overview

This Master’s programme enables graphic designers, contemporary artists, photographers, product designers, animators, game designers, performing artists, UX designers, directors, actors, dancers, filmmakers, costume and technical artists, producers and digital creatives to learn independently and collaboratively in studio and classroom environments. It supports and challenges you to question ideas, explore new professional practices and develop research and creative practice capabilities at an advanced level in your chosen discipline.

This 180 credit programme will allow you to immerse yourself in a dynamic community of diverse creative practices including dance, theatre, film, digital media, animation, raranga (Māori weaving), visual art, craft, graphic design, product design, experience design, game design and service design. You’ll work on exciting and innovative projects in creative studios and learn from industry-leading art and design staff.

A typical first semester experience provides you with foundational knowledge such as locating your creative practice within a wider body of knowledge, considering indigenous research methodologies, reading and thinking critically, experimenting with - and critiquing - approaches to collaborative and creative industry practice, and applying artistic and design research methods.

The second and third semesters of study consist of the capstone project, which involves conceiving, proposing and carrying out a creative research project to completion (90 or 120 credits), during which time you’ll be supervised and mentored by academic staff and/or industry professionals. An example of this final project might be a performance, exhibition, design prototype or publication.

Admission requirements

For this programme, you’ll need:

General admission

1. To be 16 years old by the start of your first semester

2. A recognised Bachelor’s degree in the same or similar discipline with merit achievement (grade average of B- or higher in all Level 7 courses); or

3. A professional qualification in a relevant discipline recognised as being equivalent to merit achievement in a Bachelor’s degree.

English

• 8 credits at NCEA Level 2 in English (4 in reading, 4 in writing)

If English is not your first language, you’ll need one or more of the following:

• Achieved NCEA Level 3 and New Zealand University Entrance

• Provide evidence that you satisfy our criteria for existing English proficiency

• Achieved at least one English proficiency outcome in the last two years

If you don’t meet the English criteria above, we have a range of English Language programmes available.

There are additional English requirements for international students – you can find more information on our website.

For more information download the programme regulations: unitec.ac.nz/art-design

International Students, please visit unitec.ac.nz/international