Art History and Creative Writing

Art history and creative writing is a pairing that brings together the critical study of visual and material culture with the development of your own creative practice as a writer. Art history asks why visual art, design, and architecture appear as they do, examining the historical and cultural contexts that shape what gets made and how it is received. Creative writing develops your ability to use language with intention, to explore ideas and experiences through fiction, poetry, essay, and other forms, and to engage with the craft of writing as a serious discipline.

Together the two subjects develop both an analytical eye and a creative voice.

At Liverpool Hope University, this three-year full-time programme allows you to develop curiosity about art, design, and architecture alongside your writing practice, in a city with a rich cultural and literary heritage. You will visit museums and galleries, engage with the historical and cultural contexts of visual and material culture, and write and workshop your own creative work in a supportive studio environment. A sandwich year, a year abroad, and a work placement are all built into the programme, giving you substantial professional and international experience alongside your studies.

The combination develops both critical intelligence and creative capability.

You will develop skills in visual analysis, archival research, and historical argument alongside the craft skills of creative writing and the ability to reflect critically on your own creative practice. These capabilities are genuinely transferable.

Graduates go on to work in museums, galleries, heritage organisations, publishing, arts journalism, writing, education, arts administration, and the wider cultural sector. Many pursue further professional training or postgraduate study in art history, creative writing, museum studies, or arts management. The combination of critical and creative capabilities the degree develops opens a wide range of career paths.