About

 

 

Outline of the Graduate School and Our Curriculum

Tokyo University of the Arts is the only national arts university in Japan. It was established in 1949 through a merger of its predecessors Tokyo Fine Arts School and Tokyo Music School, both founded in 1887.
The Graduate School of Global Arts, Department of Arts Studies and Curatorial Practices were founded in April 2016. The Department offers Master’s and doctoral courses.

 

Three Core Areas

The Graduate School of Global Arts focuses on three core areas of specialization in order to study the relationship between the arts and society.

 

Arts Management aims to link practitioners in the arts with their audiences. It involves
planning, producing, and managing performances, artworks, projects, etc., as well as
raising funds and obtaining support. Facilitating collaboration and coordination with
stakeholders involved is also part of Arts Management. In this area, students explore
effective management approaches within a variety of art fields—including fine art, music,
film and new media—through hands-on practice in project planning and management,
whilst also acquiring knowledge of the history and theory of arts management. This
approach helps students understand how to form relationships with various institutions and
key figures in society, such as municipalities, corporations, foundations, the media, NPOs,
artists, and the public. Students also learn how to respond to social change in order to
establish a new relationship between the arts and society and enable the development of a
creative society.
Curation entails finding a theme and developing a concept for an exhibition, as well as
selecting suitable artists and artworks, and an appropriate exhibition space. The goal is to
produce and manage an exhibition in such a way that the ‘philosophy’ of the exhibition is
communicated visually. Curation also involves the documentation and linguistic
dissemination of art works, such as in the production of catalogues to record the exhibition
for posterity. To this end, by providing an environment in which students can acquire key
critical theories on art and curation, and also undertake exhibition planning at various levels
and in specific contexts, the Curation area equips its students with the skills and criticality
they need, as well as broad knowledge across many fields, including the humanities, social
sciences, and natural sciences.
The area of Research examines the relationship between art and society through the
perspectives of sociology, media and culture, cultural economics, and cultural policy. In
doing so, students take into account the latest theoretical developments in this field of
study, conducting literature reviews and fieldwork. The area also includes emerging topics
in art and culture through the recent advancement of media and other information
technologies.

 

When applying for the entrance examination, students select one of our three core areas of research: Arts Management, Curation, and Research. (It is also possible to change the core area after entering.) While engaging in research in one core area, students are encouraged to develop multifaceted and transdisciplinary perspectives by taking modules spread across multiple areas of specialization.

 

Our Curriculum

Instruction is provided by seven faculty members who specialize in research and practice in a variety of art fields, including fine arts, music, composite art, sociology, cultural studies, cultural policy, and cultural economics.
Under the guidance of these faculty members, our students acquire knowledge and experience for planning and implementing art and culture projects in various forms, such as exhibitions, workshops, symposiums, and music concerts. Students can also conduct research activities and learn about art theories, and theories that address the relationship between art and society.

For details, please check this page.

 

 

Completion Requirements

Master’s Course

Students choose one of the following to submit:
1. Master’s thesis
2. Master’s thesis + Special Research Project (SRP) report

The Master’s Thesis can be written in either English or Japanese. The standard word count is 40,000 Japanese characters or 20,000 English words. (However, if the student selects [2], the word count of the Master’s Thesis will vary depending on the content of special research project and is determined by the research supervisor.)

The special research project report involves disseminating information through exhibitions, concerts, art projects, publications, and online platforms and implementing plans for symposiums or other events before preparing and submitting a report on these plans.

 

 

Doctoral Course

Students need to submit a doctoral thesis and it can be written in either English or Japanese.

Students have to take a review before submission.

 

 

Facilities

Classes are held at both the Senju Campus and the Ueno Campus.

In addition, please see the following “University Guide” for details of University-wide facilities.