Creative industries management at York

We are internationally recognised for our research and teaching at the intersection of business, management and the creative industries. Our expertise spans the breadth of these fast growing sectors, including music, screen, visual arts, heritage and more.

Across our team, we tackle the challenges and opportunities that define the creative and cultural industries today: the influence of technology and AI on organisations and the creative workforce; workplace and structural inequalities; leadership and management practices; cultural production; enterprise and entrepreneurship; and marketing and consumption. Our research shapes industry practice and policy and feeds directly into our teaching.

Study with us

Study at York and become a business leader ready to work at the heart of the creative industries — one of the most dynamic and significant growth sectors of our time.

Exceptional facilities

Our facilities include three professional HD television studios, theatre stages, post-production suites and a 140-seat 4K digital cinema with surround sound.

Research excellence

83.3% of our research across film, theatre, television and interactive media is rated 4* (REF 2021).

World top 100

We're in the top-100 for Performing Arts globally, in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2026.

Our research

Our researchers work across the full breadth of the creative industries, asking questions that matter to practitioners, policymakers and organisations alike. We explore how creative work is produced, managed and structured; how it reaches and is consumed by audiences; and how technology is reshaping the workforce and the organisations that employ them. We also interrogate the structural inequalities that persist across the sector, and ask how cultural organisations can be better led, funded and sustained.

Examples of our research include an AHRC-funded study into structural inequalities in film and television exploring how virtual production technologies could help build a more diverse and inclusive industry. Research conducted through the Centre for Digital Innovation in Philanthropy and Fundraising examines how AI and digital technologies impacts the nonprofit sector. Research commissioned by the Intellectual Property Office examined music creators' earnings in the streaming era.

Discover our research

International partnerships

Our teaching and research is enriched by strong relationships with organisations across the creative industries, including the National Centre for Early Music, Leeds Song, New Paths Music Festival, Britten Sinfonia, Pilot Theatre, Aesthetica Film Festival and the National Railway Museum.

The School of Arts and Creative Technologies and IAE (Institut d'Administration des Entreprises) Paris Sorbonne Business School have established a partnership to collaborate in research, teaching and engagement across the cultural and creative industries. Professor Géraldine Michel, Head of Marketing Programmes at IAE Paris Sorbonne and Director of the Brands, Values & Society Chair, and Dr Samuel Haddad-Bacry, Lecturer in Creative Industries Management and Programme Lead of the MA in Management in the Creative and Cultural Industries, serve as official liaisons. Together they co-author publications on cultural branding, sponsorship and the consumption of cultural goods, coordinate applications to UK and EU funding streams, and organise staff exchanges and collaborative projects with leading cultural organisations in both countries.