This course is now closed to new enrolments.
Current students will continue to receive support and tuition through their course duration.
Study the Foundation Arts, Communication and Culture
This course explores the relationship between art, culture, and society, and delves into fundamental concepts, historical development, societal context, and institutional influences. Students will develop research skills, critical thinking, and effective communication abilities while exploring a wide range of artistic and cultural practices.
By the end of the course, students will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to analyse, understand, and appreciate the multifaceted world of art and culture.
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What will I study? The course unit is divided into five parts, each with a series of projects, research tasks, exercises, and assignments.
Part One: Art and Culture
Part One of the course introduces you to some initial ideas around art and culture by exploring the questions; Is it art? and What is art? We’ll be considering initial thoughts around art, culture and communication, and begin to define some key terms.
Part Two: Reading Art and Culture
This part of the course takes a closer look at ideas around communication and looks in some detail at how, and why, it is important to be able to ‘read’ images.
Part Three: Art and Society
This part of the course gives you a wider, historical overview of the development of art, culture and communication and how they came to be important mechanisms through which people demonstrate not only their social standing, but also how art and culture communicate complex understandings about society, the world we live in, and ourselves.
Part Four: Artists, Authorship and Audiences
In Part Four of the course we explore how art is part of the society in which we all live. It is not outside of it, or above it; it is of it. This raises the question of worth, or value. Why are certain works or practices seen as more valuable or worthwhile than others? And what is the role of the artist, and of art, now?
Part Five: Art and Institutions
In this final part, you’ll look in more detail at the sites of cultural performance and display. How does this shape the ways in which audiences experience and understand culture? You’ll begin by looking at art and cultures from various institutions and think about their role and function.
The learning outcomes for the course unit are:
- Demonstrate an awareness of the broad range of contemporary and historical practices in artistic and cultural production.
- Apply your research skills to explore the theoretical underpinnings of various artistic and cultural forms in order to:
- Write a short exhibition review.
- Conduct an interview with an artist.
- Make a podcast or audio-visual presentation.
- Reflect upon your own learning experience.
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- A minimum of 10 study hours per week.
- Access to a laptop or desktop computer with internet access.
- Good standard of writing, listening, reading and speaking English language skills*.
- Good IT literacy
- Notebook
*Please note, if your nationality does not feature on the majority of English speaking countries list you will need to provide evidence of your English language skills.
We recommend gathering materials as and when you need them throughout the course, but here is a general list of supplies you may find useful throughout the course.
- Drawing and writing tools, along with paper and sketchbooks
- Camera (the one on your phone will usually be fine)
- A tripod or ‘gorilla grip’ style flexible mount (for camera or phone)
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You have 12 months to complete the course from the start of your Induction.
Understandably, sometimes there are unexpected mitigating circumstances that affect your ability to study. In these instances, students can apply for an extension or deferral. We encourage students to seek support as early as possible in such circumstances.
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On completion of the course you should have gained sufficient skills and enough confidence to go on to further study with the Open College of the Arts, as well as have begun to create a portfolio of work, and be able to decide on the nature and direction of your future studies and art practice.
Review our undergraduate courses here.
Foundation courses are not accredited, meaning the courses are studied for personal development and they do not carry any UCAS points, however upon receiving your final assignment feedback you can request a certificate of completion.
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Please review the Foundation courses fees linked here.
Eligible students are welcome to apply for a Learner Support Scheme bursary to help with the cost of course fees and resources. Information on eligibility and how to apply is linked here. .
Foundation courses are not eligible for Student Finance.
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There are several intakes throughout the year students can join. The intake dates and deadlines are linked here.
Submit an enrolment form below to select your intake. Once submitted, your enrolment form will still need to be reviewed and confirmed as eligible to progress. Please allow 10 working days for your enrolment to be reviewed once submitted.
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Will I create art on this course?
The course does not require you to make art. You will develop your awareness of a broad range of artistic and cultural practices, your research, writing and presentation skills and produce visual and audio research and presentations. As an art college, you will be taught by practising artists and most of our learners do make their own art. This course can be used to inform your emerging creative ideas and practice and if you wish, creative art work can be included with your assignments for tutor feedback.
What can I go on to study after this course?
This course is suitable to support entry to all of OCA’s undergraduate degrees, personal development routes or short courses. It can be used to build your confidence, skills and portfolio to support progression to higher level study at any institution, in related fields of art history, cultural and media studies, creative arts practices and entrepreneurship. By the end of the course, students will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to analyse, understand, and appreciate the multifaceted world of art and culture in a global context.
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