Media, Culture, and the Arts Curriculum

B.A. in Media, Culture, and the Arts

The Media, Culture and the Arts major at The King’s College builds upon the required Core Curriculum to prepare students to become the creators, mediators, and gatekeepers of culture.

Within the Core Curriculum in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, students read the literature, sacred texts, laws, and philosophical inquiries that have come to shape our civilization. Within the social context of these developments, students learn the religious, historical, philosophical, political, and economic components that have brought us to where we are today. The Core consists of eighteen courses—nearly half of the courses students need to graduate—spaced throughout all four years of study.

The MCA major then equips students to understand what drives culture, the arts, and media, and develop the writing and public speaking skills to share their insights with others—all from the world’s artistic epicenter, New York City. Our courses join classical, modern and postmodern theories with Christian concepts of creation, fall, and redemption, so that students graduate knowing where we are, how we got here, and how to thoughtfully and skillfully cultivate the world around them.

Media, Culture, and the Arts Course List

On top of all courses within the Core Curriculum, MCA majors will take the following courses:

• Principles of Cultural Interpretation
• Arts and Ideas of the Ancient World
• Arts and Ideas of the Medieval and Early Modern World
• Arts and Ideas of the Modern World
• The Post-Modern World
• The Enterprise of Mass Communication
• Media, Culture, and Society
• Masterworks of Literature, Classical Literature, Shakespeare, or English and American Poetry
• Principles of Management and Organization
• Senior Capstone

Media, Culture, and the Arts majors will additionally take five electives from a list of courses in  media, arts, history, literature, or film. Course descriptions, codes, prerequisites, and a full course map are available in the college catalog.

Concentrations

Students with a particular interest in one aspect of the Media, Culture, and the Arts major may make that subject a concentration. A concentration provides a documented record of having studied an area with particular depth. This can help a student prepare for graduate school or for employment in that field of interest. These concentrations allow students to focus the use of their required five MCA electives.

Creative Writing

Students selecting the Creative Writing concentration are required to take courses in the History of Narrative and Literary Techniques. The remaining three classes are chosen from course offerings that include workshops in Fiction and Poetry Writing, Screenplay and Dramatic Writing as well as Creative and Narrative Nonfiction Writing.

Cultural Criticism

Students selecting the Cultural Criticism concentration are required to take courses in Introduction to Journalism and Narrative Nonfiction Writing. The remaining three classes are chosen from course offerings that include art history, film, theater, literature, or other discipline-specific classes as determined by the MCA chair in consultation with the Office of the Registrar and appropriate faculty.

Journalism

Students selecting the Journalism concentration are required to take courses in Introduction to Journalism, Entrepreneurial Journalism and the Future, as well as either an internship or Practicum work in a journalism-based organization or publication. The remaining classes are chosen from course offerings that include advanced coursework focusing on business, sports, or entertainment journalism as well as media-related classes such as documentary filmmaking.

Media and Film Studies

Students selecting the Media and Film Studies concentration are required to take courses in Introduction to Film, Dramatic Writing or media theory, and a production course in either documentary or digital filmmaking. The remaining classes are chosen from course offerings that include media and film studies, production, and writing.

Museum Studies

Museum Studies coursework consists of business courses such as Principles of Management and Organization and a two-semester series, Museum Studies I and II, covering the history, theory, and practice of museum work. Two courses, Public History and History and Theory of Curatorial Practices, will focus on how curators and historians craft narratives of history and culture for the public.

Theater

Students selecting the theater concentration are required to take Theater and Society I and Contemporary Theater. The remaining classes are chosen from course offerings in Acting, Musical Theater, Dramatic Writing as well as Theater Practicum.

Course descriptions, codes, and prerequisites are available in the college catalog.