Sustainable Art and Design

Programme overview

Degree: Master of Arts (Art and Design)
Credits: 120 ECTS
Duration of studies: 2 years
Application period: January 8, 2025 – January 22, 2025 (by 3pm Finnish time)
Student selection results: 28 May 2025 at the latest
Study right begins: August 1st, 2025

What will you learn?

To be eligible you must have:

• a bachelor’s or master’s degree in visual arts, design, media, architecture or landscape architecture OR
• a bachelor’s or master’s degree from another field of study containing the minimum of 60 credits in visual arts, design, media, architecture or landscape architecture
  
• a good command of English language for academic purposes (see language requirements)

Career Opportunities

Due to the focus on art and design skills coupled with practical project experience in interdisciplinary settings, a wide range of career options are open to graduates, for example:

• project management in the creative industries
• educational project working
• independent creative consultancy
• environmental art in partnership 
• public art 
• community-based art
• education (adult and community based)

Employers could include tourism companies, local or national government, creative industries (galleries, museums etc) social services or educational institutions.  

Studying in Lapland

While mingling with our friendly teachers and students from all over the world and making your own academic path, you will have achieved your goals before you even know it. The extraordinary Aurora Borealis, amazing blue moment - kaamos, delightful midnight sun in summertime, mystical polar nights in wintertime, and many other natural wonders make Rovaniemi one of the most unique places to study in the world.

>> Read how our student Marcelo has experienced studying in Lapland

More information:

How to apply?

>> All applications via Studyinfo
>> More information on applying, start here

Admissions criteria and student selection for 2025

The Sustainable Art and Design (AAD) master’s programme has been developed to respond to the changing role of the creative professional in society. The content is designed to harness the potential of service design and applied visual arts in social, community or business contexts. Service design and applied visual arts are used by our students to work with clients and community groups to identify problems and create solutions - It’s creative collaboration.

The degree aims to develop:
• professional expertise at the intersection of art and design practice
• competence in interdisciplinary working with business and community groups
• advanced skills in project design and management 
• research and evaluation skills in art and design

What are AAD students actually studying? Check out the curriculum for current students (can be subject to change): 

• Curriculum AAD 2021-2023.pdf
• Curriculum AAD 2024-2027.pdf

Action research

All of the student in our program study the course "Arts-Based and Community-Based Participatory Research Approaches". Learning aim is to be able to use and combine arts-based and community-based methods and practice as research and understand a specific nature of such methods in the field of academic research. Methodology of community arts and participatory design serves research as described in the article written to support studies. Research can be continued in the Northern Art, Community and Environment Research (NACER) or in the design focused research groups at the University of Lapland.

Impactful art and design

Artivism is a form of art and activism that drives change and social transformation through participatory experiences that dissolve distinctions such as artist and participant, creator and receiver or student and professor. The parallel concept of craftivism views craft making as an artistic movement and uses embroidery, crochet, knitting and similar textile crafts to promote societal and cultural conversations. In our program you can get skill to next generation artitivism and craftivism. Our focus is on the Arctic region, in the studies of Sustainable Art and Design, but skills apply beyond. Study more by listening to teaching demonstration video by Maria Huhmarniemi

Examples of project-based studies 

During the studies, insights from the fields of environmental art, public art, socially-engaged art, and service design are introduced. Students are encouraged to discover methods and tools that bridge the gap between art and design. In their two-year master's degree program, students carry out project-based studies with a strong focus on preparing for the working world. The book 'The Lure of Lapland: A Handbook of Arctic Art and Design' presents some of these projects. The former title of the Sustainable Art and Design program was 'Arctic Art and Design.

Arctic collaborations

We collaborate with many  educational institutions, and art and design organizations. We active in the The Arctic Sustainable Arts and Design (ASAD) network that aims to identify and share contemporary and innovative practices in teaching, learning, research and knowledge exchange in the fields of arts, design and visual culture education. One of the activities by the ASAD is the Living in the Landscape (LiLa) summer school is organised annually. LiLa series is to bring together MA and PhD students and scholars from different disciplines and circumpolar higher-education institutions to develop culture-sensitive and sustainable research on the sociocultural landscapes of the Arctic region.

University of Lapland Alumni Series: Victoria Mlakar in Youtube

University of Lapland Alumni Series: Alina Korotovskaia

Hear from the programme lead and students what is the programme all about.