Master in Cultural Heritage and Tourism

What You Will Learn

The Artistic and Cultural Project Administrator title aims at acquiring the following skills: • Define an artistic and cultural project

• Defining an Artistic and Cultural Project
• Conducting Administrative and Financial Operations of an Artistic and Cultural Project
• Deploying a Marketing and Distribution Strategy for an Artistic and Cultural Project
• Manage an artistic and cultural project
• Developing the Funding Strategy of an Artistic and Cultural Project (Specialization)

What Is the Program of the Master Cultural Heritage and Tourism?

Year 1

UE1- Heritage and Regional Development Challenges

• A History of World Heritage
• Women’s Heritage in Question
• Cultural engineering
• Monitoring, cultural news, and heritage
• Culture and the environment: challenges and issues for the cultural sector in ecological transition
• Professional Seminar at the Palace of Versailles

UE2- Heritage: Audiences and Cultural Mediation

• Sociology of Culture
• Audiences and Mediation
• Audiences and Museums: New Challenges
• Scenography and Museography

UE3- Professional Development

• Practical case - VMF Prize: local and eco-responsible tourism
• Professional development: sector and regional study
• Meetings with professionals
• Orientation Seminar
• Orientation Seminar
• Public speaking and storytelling
• CSR
• Cultural English

UE4- Law and Funding of Culture

• Intellectual Property Law, Creative Commons and GDPR
• Introduction to Cultural Rights
• Administrative and financial management (budget, grants, contracts, agreements…)
• Knowing how to secure funding
• Archiving policy

UE5- Audience Development

• Fundamentals of audience development for cultural venues
• Digital tools serving audience development for cultural venues

UE6- Cultural Communication Strategies

• Designing a 360 communication strategy
• DTP 1
• Responsible digital technology

UE7- Cultural Project Management

• Leading an innovation project with creativity
• Cultural project management methodology applied to heritage promotion
• Negotiation - conflict prevention and resolution

Year 2

UE1- Heritage and Regional Development Challenges

• Art, Architecture, and Heritage
• On-site tutorial: Museography
• Intangible Heritage case study: study trip to Marrakech
• Sustainable Tourism
• Cultural Third Places

UE2- Professional Development

• Career support and meetings with professionals
• Cultural English Applied to Cultural Heritage
• Cultural Entrepreneurship
• Design and implement a cultural mediation initiative

UE3- Cultural Project Management

• Cultural project management methodology
• Budgeting a cultural project applied to the real-scale final-year project
• Responsible digital technology
• Introduction to the carbon footprint method
• Lead a Project Team

UE4- Law and Funding of Culture

• Funding and partnership strategy for a heritage promotion project
• Fundraising techniques
• CSR
• Archiving policy

UE5- Audience Development: Cultural Communication and Marketing

• Deploy a cultural communication and marketing strategy
• Marketing and distribution strategy
• Digital communication
• Cultural merchandise
• Building a website
• DTP 2

How Are Students Assessed?

General assessments:

Throughout the program, students are assessed through continuous assessment (case studies, presentations, reports, written and oral assignments) and semester exams validating theoretical and methodological knowledge.

Students also complete internships or follow the program through an apprenticeship contract. These periods in a professional setting result in an internship or work experience report, defended orally before an academic jury. This assessment verifies students' ability to apply what they have learned in real-world contexts in the arts and culture sector.

Learn About the Assessment Methods for the Professional Certification

Assessment for the professional certification of the RNCP title 42330:

The certified level 7 title "Artistic and Cultural Project Administrator" is awarded after validation of all 5 skill blocks. Each block involves simulated or real professional scenarios, with the submission of structured deliverables, assessed by a jury of professionals.

Defining an Artistic and Cultural Project
Professional simulation based on a real or fictional case involving the definition of an artistic and/or cultural project.
Case study based on a real or fictional case of designing a cultural and artistic mediation proposal, including documentation on the definition of an artistic and cultural project

Conducting Administrative and Financial Operations of an Artistic and Cultural Project
Practical case based on a real or fictional practical case involving the conduct of the administrative and financial operations of an artistic and cultural project.
Professional simulation based on a real or fictional professional situation of implementing a partnership

Deploying a Marketing and Distribution Strategy for an Artistic and Cultural Project
Professional simulation based on a real or fictional case of deploying a digital marketing and distribution strategy for an artistic and/or cultural project
Practical case based on a real or fictional project to be carried out in the art market and/or cultural industries sector

Managing an Artistic and Cultural Project
Professional simulations based on a real or fictional case involving the coordination of a project’s stakeholders, and on a real or fictional case of implementing a quality system following a project closure.
Practical case based on a real or fictional case presenting challenges in optimizing project management processes.

Developing the Funding Strategy of an Artistic and Cultural Project
Professional simulation based on a real or fictional professional simulation involving the definition of the fundraising strategy, the negotiation of partnerships and sponsorships, the implementation of loyalty actions, and the assessment of the financial impact of the partnerships and sponsorships of an artistic and cultural project.

Project-based learning

The Master Cultural Heritage Development combines academic teaching with progressive immersion in professional practice in order to train experts capable of envisioning, leading, and promoting sustainable heritage projects, in connection with contemporary issues of region, tourism, and culture.

The courses provide solid knowledge of the history, conservation policies, stakeholders, regulatory frameworks, and economic models specific to heritage. These fundamentals are deepened through seminars, case studies, workshops, and talks by professionals, in order to prepare students to meet field realities.

The program places central importance on putting knowledge into practice. Thematic workshops, field projects, and professional simulations punctuate the program. Among them, organizing the Vieilles Maisons Françaises Prize is a concrete and unifying experience, in which students are tasked with evaluating, selecting, and promoting a heritage site, in cooperation with institutional partners. This collective project places them at the heart of a real heritage transmission effort.

At the same time, site visits, field surveys, mediation workshops, and meetings with heritage stakeholders allow students to confront the diversity of contexts and issues, and to develop their analytical and adaptive abilities.

At the end of the program, each student develops a personal heritage promotion project, supervised by a professional in the field. This project, defended before a certification jury, demonstrates the ability to carry out a coherent, well-argued, and operational initiative, and to apply all the skills acquired throughout the program.

Initial prerequisite and work-study:

• Entry into 1st year (M1): Hold a level 6 certification, or an equivalent degree (foreign degree, etc.), or have earned 180 ECTS credits in the targeted or a related field (art history, culture, etc.)
• Entry into 2nd year (M2): Hold a level 6 certification, or an equivalent degree (foreign degree, etc.), or have earned 240 ECTS credits, in the targeted or a related field (art history, culture, etc.)

Admission is based on the submission of an application file and an interview with the admissions committee.

Access timeframe: Admissions are open from October 2026 to September 2027 for an October 2027 start. Applications are processed within 3 weeks maximum after receipt of the complete file. Enrollment is possible until the start date, subject to availability.

By exception, enrollment is possible after the start date of the program, following review and verification of the learner’s ability to catch up on the learning already delivered, within a maximum of two months after the start of the program.

This program can be completed as work-study. The program follows an alternating schedule, with internships and/or work-study at professional organizations. These placement periods are part of the program’s validation.

Apprentice pass rate: 76.8% class of 2024 (Masters in Cultural Production: Performing Arts, Music, Film & Audiovisual, and Heritage)
Apprentice dropout rate at CFA ECAD during the 2024-2025 year: 2% (Class of 2025)

The program takes place at IESA on the LE DELTA campus (16 rue Claude Bernard, 75005 Paris) and at partner cultural venues.

IESA premises are accessible to people with disabilities. The admission interview and the course of study can be adapted to the needs of those concerned, who are therefore invited to express them as soon as they apply to the school. Contact: handicap@iesa.fr.

If you do not obtain the RNCP title, please note that if you have validated all the skills of a block, that skill block is yours permanently.

Equivalences: In the case of an equivalence, whether through VAE and/or the award of a skill block or an equivalent certification, it is up to the applicant to present this equivalence to the jury for validation.

Bridging paths: No bridging path for this program.

Further studies: This program is designed for professional entry.