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Studying the Arts
What do we mean by the Arts and Humanities?
By the Arts and Humanities we mean human culture and history. Studying the Arts and Humanities means coming to understand aspects of human culture both in the past and the present. In Arts Faculty courses at the Open University you will explore people’s ideas and beliefs, their cultural practices and the objects they have made. Human culture not only includes works created in such fields as painting, sculpture, music, and literature, but also ideas about human existence, the world’s religions, science, technology and medicine. Studying culture means looking at people’s ideas, practices and products and trying to understand what all these activities might have meant to them and what they mean to us now.
You can decide what aspects of culture you find most interesting and then choose courses in the subjects offered by the Faculty of Arts’ seven departments:
Some of our courses are interdisciplinary – they examine aspects of a topic from the viewpoint of several subjects.
We recommend that new Arts students begin their studies with AA100 The Arts Past and Present because it offers a comprehensive introduction to the skills of all the Arts disciplines.
The Arts Past and Present is a broadly focused course that introduces you to university-level study in the Arts across a range of subject areas, including history, art history, philosophy, classics, history of science, religious studies, music and English. The course is presented in four themed books that guide you through some of the basic concerns of Arts subjects. By studying these, you’ll acquire essential skills and perspectives for continuing with your studies.
When studying at Levels 2 and 3 you will be able to pursue one
subject in depth or choose among individual courses. Our courses cover a wide
range of subjects, such as Shakespeare, the English Civil War, classical culture,
creative writing, Renaissance painting, musical techniques and styles, world
religions, and 20th century art, to pick just a few.
More
Choosing your first Arts course
How courses can count towards qualifications
What do we mean by the Arts and Humanities?
Why study the Arts?
What qualifications can I achieve?
What is Arts study like?
Next steps
What Arts students say