Culture, Media and Performative Arts

New media, film and theatre constitute the very core of the cultural and creative sphere. Understanding and researching them both as industries and as organized practices with their histories and current challenges is a key to the cultural sector in general.

Our undergraduate programme provides you with an opportunity to study culture, media and performative arts in the enthralling context of Central Europe, with its heritage and vital surroundings Masaryk University, and the city of Brno itself, benefit from their history and location between Prague and Vienna, two of the most viable cultural hubs within the European continent. Our programme draws on this rich heritage and fundamentally employs it within its foundation.

Our program offers a mix of opportunities for your professional growth, including applied research, the development of critical literacies, unique engagements with the processes of cultural production, and a comprehensive education in media studies. In a result, you will be prepared to pursue practical professional advancements and/or further study within graduate programmes in cultural studies and cultural anthropology, film and visual studies, media, or theatre studies.

The programme is interdisciplinary at its best. You will be introduced to the tenets of film and theatrical studies, media and cultural studies, and cultural anthropology. You will garner a stronger understanding of the history and current state of film, theatre and the media industries in Central Europe. And you will be trained in research and analytics as they apply to the field. To provide you with this unique and rich educational input, the programme draws upon the strength of its faculty ranging across several disciplines including:

• Researchers from social anthropology providing methodological training for empirical ethnographic research.
• Media practitioners and researchers providing professional training related to using audio-visual technologies as research and creative tools, and who will likewise introduce you to media and communication theory.
• Experts in theatrical studies providing pedagogical insights into performative behaviour in public space.
• Film studies scholars providing perspectival insights on the institutional context of media production, distribution, and reception.

Is this programme right for you?

Consider:

• Are you interested in media, theatre, and film? And in culture in general?
• Do you see your professional future within media, film, theatre, the cultural industries, the sphere of education, or within a creative position?
• Are you intrigued by the rich cultural history of Central Europe? Do you want to experience it, study it and see it up close?
• Do you want to engage with an interdisciplinary team of skilled and passionate scholars and practitioners?
• Are you ready to acquire not only theoretical knowledge but also practical and research skills?
• Do you want to be prepared for further, postgraduate study in media, film or theatre?

Practical training

You will be trained in practical skills: technical skills in processing audio, photo and video-material as well as in academic writing, critical analysis, and promotional activities. You will master the historical knowledge and analytical skills necessary for the critical analysis of media products and media productions. In other words, the programme offers you competencies which are currently highly-needed and in-demand and which will only become more valuable in the future.

An important aspect of our programme rests in the opportunities it offers to get real hands-on experience through internships at regional film, television, or theatre festivals (such as Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, Film Festival One World, Ekofilm, or Mezipatra), in the Czech public service media, or in regional cultural institutions.

Finally, we will motivate you to bring to the programme and fully integrate your own acumen from your country, culture, and media contexts. The critical understanding of culture most effectively prospers from the sharing and diversity of thought and perspectives.

As a graduate, you will be competent to continue within an M.A. study programme across a wide scale of possible specializations. The programme will prepare you for entry into other English-language programmes such as Cultural Sociology, Conflict and Democracy Studies, or International Relations (to name but a few of the programmes running at the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University). In the case of reaching fluency in Czech, you will be ready to continue with M.A. studies across a further spectrum of fields, including anthropology, media studies, history and theory of cinema, theatre, and television, filmmaking, film and television dramaturgy, and production (e.g., at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague), etc.

After graduating from this study programme, you will be prepared to work in the media industry (film and television production), in cultural management (organizing festivals or cultural events), in cultural and media institutions, in NGOs focused on transcultural dialogue or education, in the press and online media, or as a cultural manager in governmental or self-governmental institutions. The achieved cultural and historical education, technical skills, and methodological knowledge uniquely provided by our programme can foreseeably position you favorably within the professional job market, meaning you will be able to hold research, managerial or communication positions in a wide array of cultural, media or social institutions.

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Application guide

As a graduate, you will be ready to continue within any graduate programme related to culture, media, or performative arts.

At MUNI, you can apply for M.A. English- language study programmes such as Cultural Sociology, Conflict and Democracy Studies, or International Relations (to name some of the programmes running at MUNI). And in the case of reaching fluency in Czech, at MUNI you will be ready to continue in an M.A. programme across a further array of fields, including anthropology, media studies, history and theory of cinema, theatre, and television.