Course

The international Master Artist Educator (iMAE) is a one-year, full time master’s course focused on Issues-Based Art Education and Socially Engaged Art as Research. The course is part of a major programme of activities that explores how art education can contribute to socio-political change in a sustainable and meaningful manner.

During the master’s course, you will work collaboratively across local, national and international boundaries. You are encouraged to develop projects that cross sectors, including healthcare, criminal justice and (non) governmental borders. This approach allows new and diverse methods of art and education to emerge that break down barriers between ‘high culture’, art, politics and society and in doing so places art education at the centre of exchange making.

The study programme of iMAE draws on the knowledge and practices of people who are leaders in the fields of Socially Engaged Arts as Research, Issues-Based Art Education, Identity Studies, Conflict Transformation, Political Art, Non-Violent Communication; Trauma Sensitivity and Radical Pedagogies. You will learn through art – as opposed to learning about art. As a master’s student at iMAE, you become an artivist: you compel creative action and you use art education as a tool for social change.

Note: throughout this page, you might encounter terms, theories and methodologies that are new for you. You will find definitions of these terms at the bottom of this page. Or click on the word itself, if there is a link underneath: you will automatically be directed to the explanation.

What do you learn? And how?

As a master’s student at iMAE you learn how to use existing research methodologies from scientific to arts-based, and how to develop your own research methods that fall within your current practice and skill set. You combine studio practice with fieldwork and draw practice and theory into one entity. You also learn how to apply your research interests to site specific contexts. You will do so according to - and with the help of - these five elements:

From the outset of the programme, your existing views on education will be challenged. You will be asked to trust a process that will lead to the deconstruction of your learner identity. Since this identity may have been constructed over many years, this can be unsettling. But together, we construct a new identity that combines the artist with the educator and connects to your experiences and urgencies of life. Your art becomes your education work, and your education will become your artwork. You learn to critically reflect on established educational paradigms, on yourself, your work.
As an iMAE student, you work with practitioners and professionals, who support and give feedback on your projects to ensure that you remain true to your values and those that you work with. To achieve this each student is assigned a personal tutor who will guide and extend their tutee to reach their fullest potential. This tutor offers you professional support and are responsible for your intellectual and practical growth. This may involve offering readings and other forms of stimuli that are selected specifically to meet your needs.
Working in the social context presents major challenges in which issues of ethics are constantly questioned. This is why participatory action research and issues-based arts research are concepts that are translated into your day-to-day practices. At iMAE you learn how to safeguard sensitive individual and community narratives and place these within a secured framework of narrative inquiry. You learn to listen and when needed to ask questions in a caring and thoughtful manner.
You are taught how to plan projects in a professional manner and how to present these projects for evaluation and critique. Furthermore, you will learn to use reflective research methods to write about your work and disseminate your ideas and outcomes to diverse stakeholders. Through the uniqueness of our Site Specific Colleges, you develop professional portfolios that include texts, images, movies, sounds and other forms of creative activities that you find interesting and useful. Your graduation portfolio will be as unique as you and the programme and therefore give you the edge when it comes to developing your professional career.
You will work with practitioners and professionals, who will support you and give feedback on your projects and ensure that you remain true to yourself, while simultaneously maintaining the challenge of the program expectations. Past students have come from China, India, Pakistan, South Korea, Russia, Latvia, Poland, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Catalonia, UK, Ireland, Peru, Columbia, Mexico, Egypt, Syria, USA and of course the Netherlands. We welcome all citizens of the world who believe in the power of art and the force of education to join our growing community.
The concept of the studio as a research hub is an important element of the iMAE programme. Our studios are open plan designed so you can develop ideas and artistic practices that blend and interface with your fellow classmates.
Whether in Arnhem or Northern Ireland, the studio always functions as a research and community hub where you can meet, share, learn and develop projects into artistic prototypes that eventually extend into the public domain.

Learning on Location: Site Specific Colleges

As an international artisteducator you will gain experience of working in a variety of challenging and complex contexts. That’s why iMAE introduced the concept of ‘Site Specific Colleges’ (SSC) The intention of these SSC is to build a bridge between institutional and real-world learning spaces.

Site specificity is crucial to this master’s course. In each site, you work with artists and cultural activists from communities effected by issues such as conflict, migration, social marginalisation, bigotry and racism.

The 2023 graduation exhibition and events will take place at our site specific college in Belfast Northern Ireland. Past colleges have included Israel/Palestine, Morocco, Belgium, Northern Ireland, and the Netherlands.

Each SSC is constructed in partnership with local organisations that may include cultural institutions, schools, universities, and community groups. Through your presence there, as an iMAE student, these places become sites of research, practice, artivism and learning. Each SSC is framed by a set of research questions that are formed in dialogue with local communities. However, as an international artisteducator, you are expected to relate your work to your own urgencies and global issues.
Site Specific Colleges provide an amazing opportunity for you to live, work, learn, and build professional portfolios that will further their career opportunities beyond the course. Working with local communities and professional practitioners, you are encouraged to connect your own practice and research, to meet the needs of others.

The combination of practice with theory in SSC, and how this is then set into a real world context enables you to begin to behave like a professional from the outset.

Curious how previous students experienced these Site Specific Colleges? In this story, iMAE alumnus Anamika Shah tells you about her time at a SSC in Belfast. Or take a look at the video below, in which both students and tutors explain the value of SSC.

Definitions and explanations of some of the terms

Throughout the description of the study programme of the international Master Artist Educator, you may encounter terms, methodologies or strategies that are new for you. Below you can find a description of these terms. You can also find answers to questions that may have come to mind while reading the course description of iMAE. Can’t find the answer to your question below? Feel free to contact us via iMAE@artez.nl.

Issues-Based Art means that the issue you are working on becomes the purpose of your work, and art becomes the vehicle. Issues-Based Arts Education means that you, as a student, will be encouraged to express your perspective on social issues through art.
Socially Engaged Art as Research means that, as an iMAE student, you learn how to address complex societal problems through research based in your own (art) practice.
As an iMAE-student, you will do Educational Studies Research. This way of doing research focuses on narrative inquiry as a primary source of data collection. Thereby stories and artefacts related to such narratives become significant materials when gathering data.
As an iMAE student, you will also engage with Participatory Action Research, which is a way of doing research that emphasizes participation and action by both researchers and members of the community to encourage a process of social change.