Public Humanities & the Arts

Public Humanities and the Arts (PHA) option will prepare students for management careers within cultural institutions, including those related to visual arts, theater, music, museums, and historic preservation.

Our interdisciplinary PHA faculty provide a range of academic perspectives from fields including Art and Design, English, Music Arts, History,  and other fields, as well as  practical real world experiences from museum curators, archivists, cultural affairs departments and community based organizations.    Students gain knowledge and skills related to historical, theoretical, and practical elements of curating, funding, managing, promoting, and executing arts and public-humanities projects in community/public settings ranging from professional museum operations and public cultural agencies to local cultural festivals and community-based art projects. 

Specifically, PHA students will:

  • Include survey and case studies of historical and contemporary public arts and humanities projects. 
  • introduce students to practical topics including organizational partnerships, education initiatives, stakeholder and audience development, diversity outreach, co-creation, marketing and digital media, and collaborative grant writing. Students will have opportunities to familiarize themselves with regional arts and humanities organizations, with which they may do projects in this course and in future internships or practicums.
  • Develop a broad and historic understanding of the range of public art and humanities projects, as well as an overview of the various institutions, rationales, and dilemmas involved in such projects. 
  • Gain knowledge and skills necessary for the successful orchestration of such project: organizational partnerships, educational initiatives, stakeholder and audience development, diversity outreach, co-creation, marketing and digital media, collaborative grant writing.
  • Develop a working knowledge of regional arts and public humanities institutions and begin to cultivate relationships with those organizations.

Our alumni have gone on to advance careers at:

  •     Cultural affairs offices at municipal governments
  •     Local museums and cultural programs 

Return to the MPA page or find the degree pathway for the concentration in Public Humanities in the Arts.