The Degree

The Master of Arts in Creative Media (MACM) aims at shaping the future researchers, intellectuals and cultural engineers of the creative economy. This selective programme offers a humanities-oriented curriculum complementing the School’s mission to develop a range of aesthetic, theoretical and techno-scientific expertise in the fields of new media arts.

Degree Characteristics

• Includes a comprehensive interdisciplinary foundation in various critical theories and significant phenomena in the fields of techno-culture. This encompasses topics such as digital aesthetics, content and digital curation, decentralized social media platforms, collective intelligence, media collectives, social ecologies, creative entrepreneurship, participatory online culture, the role of AI, media activism, digital labor, global media corporations, data critique, cultural analytics, and critical media arts.
• Provides a critical understanding of how contemporary technology and curatorial practices reshape modern thought and aesthetics, and ignite cultural trends. 
• Emphasize on critical new media studies, digital aesthetics, media ecology, media archaeology, new cinema, media art theory and practice, sound art, video game studies, art management, law and digital cultures, digital curation, gender studies, and popular culture studies.
• Graduates of this programme will be well-prepared for future professional careers in the creative industries, including media and art collectives, traditional art and museum organisations, performing arts organisations, research institutes, private and public institutions with cultural assets, tech companies, specialised media, and creative agencies. The programme also provides graduates with pathways to pursue further doctoral studies.

Applicants normally must satisfy the University’s General Entrance Requirements for taught postgraduate programmes, i.e. they should be graduates of an accredited bachelor’s degree programme or equivalent. Both fresh graduates and individuals with some working experience in relevant industries are invited to apply. Applicants without the specified qualifications may still be considered for admission to the programme if they are able to present equivalent qualifications. All applicants must have a demonstrated capacity to pursue the programme.

The School assumes that applicants will have achieved a basic level of computer literacy. Accepted students may be advised to take intensive courses or take additional coursework together with MACM courses to make up for knowledge/skills gaps.

English Proficiency Requirement

Applicants whose entrance qualification is obtained from an institution where the medium of instruction is not English should also fulfil the following minimum English proficiency requirement:

• A TOEFL score of 79 (internet-based test)^@#; or
• An overall band score of 6.5 in International English Language Testing System (IELTS)^@; or
• A score of 500 in the new College English Test (CET-6) of Chinese mainland

^@TOEFL and IELTS scores are considered valid for two years. Applicants are required to provide their English test results obtained within the two years preceding the commencement of the University's application period. 

^#Applicants are required to arrange with the Educational Testing Service (ETS) to send their TOEFL results directly to the University. The TOEFL institution code for CityU is 3401.

Fellowship awards are available for local students admitted to this programme under the Fellowships Scheme supported by the HKSAR Government. This programme in the priority area of “Creative” is one of the targeted programmes listed under the Fellowships Scheme with 6 fellowship awards. Local students admitted to the programme in full-time, part-time or combined study mode may be invited to submit applications for the fellowships.

The Master of Arts in Creative Media (MACM) programme consists of 30 credit units, which includes 12 credit units of core courses and 18 credit units of elective courses. 

MACM is structured around two streams, Technofutures: Theory and Culture Stream, and Expanded Curation Stream. MACM students will join one of the two streams:

1. Technofutures: Theory and Culture Stream

Grounded in contemporary humanities, this stream provides an intellectual foundation in aesthetics, philosophy of technology, media and cultural studies and narrative theories to better anticipate the ongoing transformations of techno-societies and creative cultures. This stream emphasises New Media Arts Theories, Technologies, and Aesthetics; Contemporary Media and Cultural Studies (e.g., social media and influencer studies, AI & Software Studies, Platform Studies, and Queer Studies); Philosophy of Technology and New Media; and World-Building in Digital Narrative Media. This stream aims at equipping students with the critical inquiry and analytical skills required of future creative industry leaders.

2. Expanded Curation Stream 

This stream champions expanded curation as a modern media practice applicable to both creative industries and art institutions, building on the school’s unique position as the regional pioneer in immersive, interactive, telepresent, mobile and distributed presentation technologies. Contemporary curators are evolving into influencers who select, organise, and moderate cultural and creative content across online and virtual platforms, social media presences, short video and livestreams, and personal, private or collective archives. Beyond an interpretive exercise of taste-making or opinion-leading exclusive to art and cultural heritage, specialists in expanded curation leverage their knowledge of contemporary social media landscape, technocultural trends and medium-specific digital methods. Iconic exhibitions that break free from traditional museum structures are studied to provide a theoretical and practical context for emergent presentational forms like Transactional Curation (selecting and presenting tokenized artworks including blockchain models and NFTs), Streaming Curation (designing compelling streams and feeds, Influencer techniques, image flows), and Distributed Curation (virtual and physical sites, shared and interactive selection models such as voting and collective art-making).
 

Assessment in all courses normally will be entirely through coursework, which will consist primarily of written assignments (e.g. analytical essays, research papers, thought pieces, journals, critical responses and reviews, ethnographic study). Practical assignments involving the use of various media technologies (e.g. Web design tools, video, sound recording, animation) may be incorporated within individual courses.

MACM graduates take high level positions in the creative media industries and art administration, become specialised journalists, work in the private research sector, publishing industries or in cultural policy sectors. The rigorous intellectual foundation provided by this programme allows its graduates to pursue further studies in highly ranked PhD programmes.

Course Descriptions
School of Creative Media
Sample Study Plan