Major in Media, Culture, and the Arts (B.A.)

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Major in Media, Culture, and the Arts (B.A.)

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Study media’s past. Then create its future.

Study at the crossroads of theory and practice. Our interdisciplinary program in media, culture, and the arts (MCA) gives your passions a directed focus and artistic outlet. Whether you want to direct films or produce music, you can study the arts with our talented practitioner-faculty while you immerse yourself in your own creative work.

Your professors will guide your learning through hands-on assignments and written scholarship in the study of media — in their historical, economic, social, and political contexts, and on personal, local, national, and global scales. Join us and dive into the histories and theories behind various media forms, while creating bold new work that reflects innovative pathways in the medium of your choice.

Catalog Requirements for:

Major

Why Study Media, Culture, and the Arts at Clark?

Explore contemporary hybrid and emerging forms such as digital film scoring, virtual reality, video essays, podcasting, and microbudget social documentary.
Create and collaborate in the wider context of Clark’s Visual and Performing Arts Department (V&PA), a tight-knit community that includes students majoring in art history; media, culture and the arts; music; screen studies; studio art; and theater arts.
Benefit from a multidisciplinary focus, and learn from professors in the departments of English; Language, Literature, and Culture; Psychology; Sociology; and Visual and Performing Arts, among others.

This is Clark

Our Stories

Explore art — and more

Alli Jutras ’19 started off at Clark, transferred to art school — but then returned to Clark after realizing she didn’t want to sacrifice her love for English, science, and history by pursuing art alone. Clark’s major in media, culture, and the arts has allowed her to combine her interests as both a visual artist and a creative writer.

My artwork has evolved from drawing and painting to exploring other media. I’m watching my skills grow and develop, as well, in the media, culture and the arts program. And I can’t wait to see where it takes me.
—Alli Jutras
Class of 2019

Media, Culture, and the Arts

Featured Courses

SCRN 214

D&I

Social and Cultural Issue Documentary Production

Design, produce, and edit a short documentary on a current social or cultural issue of your choosing while learning about the art of non-fiction storytelling.

MCA 282

POP

Radio Journalism in the Community

Master the stylistic and technical requirements of radio reporting, editing, producing, and broadcasting while reporting on the surrounding Worcester community and working with college and professional stations.

MCA 285

New Media, Youth Action and Social Change

Explore shifts in global (and local) emerging technologies, and how they’re redefining global communications. You’ll take special note of internet technologies and their impact on youth action and social change.

ARTH 114

Ancient Cities and Sanctuaries

Travel back to examine the great urban and religious centers of the ancient Mediterranean world and the peoples that nurtured them. Explore the concept of ‘city,’ their design, and factors affecting town planning.

ARTH 216

Architecture and Democracy

In this field trip-rich course, you’ll learn how buildings shape our sense of community and citizenship, and apply historical concepts of architecture and civic ideology to the built environment around Worcester.

MUSC 142

Recording Practice and Audio Art

Explore sound recording as a process and an art — along with the science and technology behind it — while creating a multitrack recording. Then, write a short composition, and use software to process and edit it.

MUSC 235

POP

Community Music and Social Action

Explore how music professionals and other artists can support and generate social change. You’ll work with at-risk youths in a free, local music program, and/or intern with a prominent local arts organization.

MUSC 242

Soundtracks

Experience how sounds and music work with (and against) moving images while you explore elements of narrative sound and audiovisual analysis, postproduction techniques, and historical sound and music conventions.

SCRN 261

Critical Perspectives on Television

Use various analytical approaches to examine the implications of television as a form of social communication, and develop an understanding of the ideological and structural dynamics that constitute popular culture.

ARTS 124

PLS

Introduction to Graphic Design

Through exercises and applied problems, you’ll explore the language, process, and potential of graphic design as a powerful form of communication, while you make use of both analog and digital technologies.

TA 211

Performance Philosophy

Join an international network of performers exploring the relationship between philosophy and performance. Attend weekly Friday morning seminars, and devote the afternoons to developing new work in the studio.

TA 212

Actor as Thinker

Investigate a conceptual approach to acting theory and its application while gaining a greater understanding of script analysis, characterization and style, as well as the relationship between actor and audience.

View All Courses

The Media, Culture, and the Arts Path

MCA defines media as artworks and forms of mass communication, including pre-electronic analog through digital forms. The program’s courses address performance, broadcast, installations, print (from literature to journalism), design (2D, 3D, graphic), photography, film and video production, theater, music and sound, visual fine arts, and all “new” and developing manifestations of media.

As a student in the media, culture and the arts major, you will take courses that familiarize you with a range of cultural theories and historical approaches to media production, which are relevant to the functioning of media in a diverse and globalizing cultural environment. You also take a range of courses in media production.

Requirements for the major include at least 13 courses:

MCA 101: Introduction to the Theory, History and Analysis of Media: an introduction to critical theory, cultural studies, and media history and analysis that addresses print; photography; film; sound and music; television; digital media and other forms of visual art
3 Media Production Workshops, each in a different medium
3 History of Sight and Sound courses, each on a different historical period
3 Theories of Culture courses, each from a different program
2 Creative Intermedia Seminars
A senior capstone course

The option of double-majoring with art history, music, screen studies, studio art, or theatre arts is determined by each program.

Skills you will learn include:

Historical and archival research
Critical analysis and theoretical writing
Interdisciplinary media production

Patricia M. Plamondon Undergraduate Award in Visual and Performing Arts
The Patricia M. Plamondon Award is given to juniors and seniors who have demonstrated their talent in and commitment to the arts and for whom the award will serve to enhance their studies, research, or project-related travel. The award is made annually by a vote of the full-time faculty of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts.

The Visual and Performing Arts Department facilities available for your use as an MCA major are:

Traina Center for the Arts, a renovated 19th-century Romanesque Revival building, contains studios for design, painting, drawing, and printmaking; the Schiltkamp Gallery for student and professional exhibits; a darkroom for analog photography; the Fuller Multimedia Center, with digital editing equipment; and the Media Arts Study Hub. The attached 194-seat Razzo Hall is used regularly for recitals, screenings, lectures, and other programs.
Estabrook Hall contains music rehearsal space, a recording studio, and practice rooms.
The Little Center, Clark’s theater building, houses:
- The Michelson Theater — a 120-seat black box theater used for all theater productions
- The Experimental Theater — a 30-seat theater used for student productions and student groups, as well as for “read-throughs” of student-written plays
- Costume design shop
- Set building shop

During your junior year, you might be accepted into the media, culture and the arts honors program. Joining the program means you’ll work closely with a professor to create a thesis on a topic of your choice. Examples of recent honors topics are:

A study of autobiographical documentary, coupled with a short documentary on the experience of restaurant servers
A semester-long podcast series on millennial “sadness culture,” along with three portfolio podcasts on various subjects
A research thesis on autobiographical comics, coupled with a production of thirty short-form comic strips

Building your foundation

The Clark Experience

The Clark Core allows students to take courses across diverse disciplines, helping them develop critical thinking skills and respect for other cultures and perspectives. You’ll connect classroom learning with action through world and workplace experiences.

Learn More

At Clark, your education extends beyond the classroom. Visit the Career Connections Center to learn more about internship opportunities that complement your coursework and put your media, culture, and arts knowledge into practice.

The media, culture and the arts major is designed to help you learn outside the classroom. For example:

You are encouraged to take advantage of internship opportunities during the academic year or over the summer to connect what you’re learning with professional development. In the summer after your junior year, you might be eligible for the Sara Bickman Music and Arts Summer Internship for Undergraduates, which provides financial support for summer internships for undergraduates majoring in the Visual and Performing Arts.

Participation in a Study Abroad and Away program is an opportunity to gain world and workplace experience to complement your on-campus work. Clark approves semester, yearlong, and summer opportunities to earn credit through academic coursework, internships, community-based learning, or research. Explore our Study Abroad and Away page, where you can search programs by academic interest, location, and language; after you’ve identified some appropriate programs, ensure they fit into your four-year plan by talking with your faculty adviser as early as possible.

You can participate in Clark’s many clubs, organizations, and athletic teams to complement your academic work. Here are some student organizations that might be of interest to you as a student in media, culture, and the arts:

Clark is committed to action-based learning, which means as an undergraduate you can join faculty and graduate students in their research and creative work. Media, culture, and the arts faculty include specialists in the history and theory of media, as well as media makers and practitioners.

You also can apply for funding to support your own research on a project of your choice during the academic year or during the summer.

Present Your Work

Clark’s annual ClarkFEST is an opportunity to share your research or creative work with the Clark community while you hone your presentation skills.

You also can submit your research results for publication in our student-run Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal.

Faculty and Programs in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts