Bruno Aguilar

Throughout the International Bachelor of Arts and Culture Studies, your panoramic understanding of the arts and culture will expand in various dimensions. In this voyage, you will venture into different areas from a critical standpoint.

A healthy balance

“In the first year, you get a taste of the whole spectrum. In the second and third year, you are able to focus on your own area of interest. I deliberately oriented my elective courses in two directions: cultural marketing and sociology of arts and culture. The course ‘Cultural Marketing’ equipped me with tangible skills for the labour market, while courses about the sociology of arts and culture fulfilled my personal interests. This was not just a healthy balance, but also a convenient path to keep me motivated and overlap diverse realms of my academic interests.”

Critical thinking

“In retrospect, all the courses from this bachelor's degree nurture one skill in particular, probably the most valuable asset that I still put into practice on a daily basis at my work: critical thinking. The curriculum of this programme involves a lot of theory. Nevertheless, in every course, you are required to dissect the theories in various ways. Therefore, you might say that in Erasmus more than learning what to think, you master the skill of how to think – that being critical thinking.”

Experiment

“The journey to become Head of Digital Marketing at the Cobra Museum began the first day as a student. During my studies, I worked in two galleries in Rotterdam and volunteered in Amnesty International. Erasmus University is located in one of the most dynamic melting pots of culture in the Netherlands. This offers plenty of grounds to experiment, learn what you want and tackle the cultural challenges you learned in the classroom while working.”

Cobra Museum voor Moderne Kunst

“In my current position at the Cobra Museum my responsibilities include the development of the digital marketing plans and social media strategies of the museum’s brand, exhibitions and other services. To set up a marketing plan one must put together a refined combination of skills from diverse areas of knowledge, including analytics, market research, historical research, copyrighting, copyright law, design and – my favourite – production. The production phase of a campaign, for instance the creation of a video campaign, is where creativity bridges theory and art direction.

I can recommend all students interested in marketing to pay well attention to the course ‘Marketing Arts and Culture’. It will teach you how to navigate the marketing ocean of terms and concepts by effectuating a marketing plan of your own. At the end of this course, you will know how to structure, prioritise and reach the marketing goals of a given cultural or creative organisation.”

Theory as a compass

“In Erasmus University you will gain a profound and critical understanding of the cultural arena. This will be your compass. To make sense of it, you have to envision how this theory (the compass) could be applied to a real context. That is why I would recommend looking for an internship or volunteer job in a place where you can directly apply the knowledge learned in your studies to real life, while also polishing soft and practical skills. That way you will nurture a full package of skills you will need to succeed in the creative industries.”