In partnership with Cours Florent, get involved in the performing arts
Theater, stand-up, opera, or dance, stage or street, the performing arts are multifaceted and thrilling. Working closely with directors, performers, and technicians, production and distribution professionals must have both a broad artistic culture and technical skills in management, law, communications, or human resources.
In two years, this unrivaled program, co-awarded with Cours Florent, the prestigious drama school, will let you acquire this versatility, giving you access to careers in show production or in administering organizations in the performing arts. You will thus be able to become a production director, company administrator, artistic programming manager, or artist agent.
Key Information About the Master
| Program | Master in Performing Arts Production and Distribution |
|---|---|
| Duration | 2 years |
| Admission | Bac+3 for entry into the 1st year |
| Lateral Admission | Possible in the 2nd year depending on profile |
| Start Date | October 2027 |
| Schedule | Professional program, work-study possible |
| Certification | RNCP title no. 42330 – level 7 "Artistic and Cultural Projects Administrator" |
| Fees 2026-2027 | €9,700 in the 1st year; €10,300 for M2 lateral admission; €150 in tuition fees |
Why Choose the Master in Performing Arts Production and Distribution?
Train with Cours Florent
Cours Florent instructors teach 30% of the classes. This collaboration connects artistic issues to the realities of production, distribution, and administration of a stage project.
Produce Projects in Real Conditions
Students take part in real projects: budget, production, funding, press relations, communication, ticketing, logistics, and artistic coordination.
Develop Dual Expertise
The program combines artistic expertise and managerial skills. It prepares you to understand creation, engage with artists, and handle the economic, legal, and organizational constraints of a project.
Become Professional from the 1st Year
The master can be taken as work-study from the first year. Internships, group projects, workshops, and professional meetings help build solid field experience.
Work on Your Professional Presence
The Cours Florent theatrical approach helps develop public speaking, handling of management situations, confidence, interpersonal communication, and the soft skills expected in cultural professions.
Go International
The program includes professional English classes, international speakers, and the possibility of internships or study stays abroad.
What Are the Goals of This Program?
Thanks to the partnership with the Cours Florent, whose instructors teach 30% of the classes, this master delivers a complete interdisciplinary, artistic, and managerial program:
- Acquisition of artistic expertise in stage techniques and the design and creation of artistic projects;
- Acquisition of artistic project management skills, from definition to implementation: funding, partnerships, administration, sales, and communication;
- Development of a dual skill set unique on the market, through ongoing exchanges, workshops, and collaborative projects with the teaching team and the students of the Cours Florent
- Development of “soft skills” (such as oral presentation or handling management situations) through a theatrical approach, with workshops led by the Cours Florent
What Skills Are Developed?
The Administrator of Artistic and Cultural Projects title aims at the acquisition of the following skills:
- Defining an Artistic and Cultural Project
- Manage the administrative and financial operations of an artistic and cultural project
- Deploy a digital strategy for the marketing and distribution of 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 Curriculum of the Master in Performing Arts?
Year 1
Unit 1: Aesthetics of Music and the Performing Arts
- Contemporary Music
- Pop culture
- Stage arts
Unit 2: Professionalization
- Professional Development
- Title Project Methodology
- CSR and transition
- Professional english for show production
- Intellectual property law
- Festival organization
- Study trip Barcelona “Oui festival” - week of February 3, 2025
- Orientation seminar at the Château de Tavers
Unit 3: Performing Arts Administration and Production
- Intermittent status, performance, hiring, payroll
- Legal and administrative structuring, contracts
- Typology of venues and networks (private and public)
- Technical production and logistics of a performance
- Programming Strategy
- Production and budget of an artistic project
Unit 4: Practical Workshops
- Stage arts project coaching
- Case study on socio-cultural mediation in connection with an organization
- Ideation and project management workshop
- Public speaking and interpersonal communication
- DTP Workshop
Unit 5: Communication and Marketing Applied to the Cultural Sector
- Marketing
- Workshop: designing and carrying out a communication plan
Unit 6: Cultural and Creative Industries
- Sociology of culture and cultural ecology
- Economics of Culture
- Exams and Defenses
Year 2
Unit 1: Performing Arts and Artistic Creation
- Contemporary writing and production methods
- Mediation and audience relations
- New forms and emerging trends
- History of performing arts
- Masterclass
Unit 2: Professionalization
- Professional Development
- Gender-based violence and ecological transition
- PGR Coaching
- How an organization works (on site)
Unit 3: Entrepreneurship in the Performing Arts
- Seminar on the entrepreneurial approach, business plan, specifications
- Produce and administer an event
- Setting up and developing a public and private production organization
- Press relations
- Civil service careers and competitive exams
- Fundraising Strategy
- Distribution strategies
- Setting up and funding a project in the subsidized sector
Unit 4: Workshops - Case Studies
- The world of stand-up comedy
- Defend an artistic project orally
- Dramaturgical analysis of performing arts
- Organize a festival internationally
- Cultural trip / Montreal FTA
Unit 5: The Future of Culture
- Creative Europe for performing arts and music
Unit 6: Certifying Workshops
- Respond to a call for cultural outreach projects
- Developing and monitoring a sales strategy
- Deploy a Communication and Marketing Strategy
- Lead a Project Team
How Are Students Assessed?
The level 7 certified title “Administrator of Artistic and Cultural Projects” is awarded after validation of the 5 skills blocks. Each block involves simulated or real professional scenarios, with structured deliverables assessed by a jury of professionals.
- Block 1: Defining an artistic and cultural project
Professional simulation based on a real or fictional case on defining 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 defining an artistic and cultural project. - Block 2: Conducting the administrative and financial operations of an artistic and cultural project
Practical case based on a real or fictional case on conducting 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. - Block 3: Deploying a digital sales and distribution strategy for an artistic and cultural project
Professional simulation of a real or fictional case of deploying a digital sales and distribution strategy for an artistic and/or cultural project. Practical case based on a real or fictional project to carry out in the art market and/or cultural industries sector. - Block 4: Leading an artistic and cultural project
Professional simulations based on a real or fictional case on coordinating a project’s stakeholders and on a real or fictional case of implementing a quality system after project closure. Practical case based on a real or fictional case presenting project management process optimization challenges. - Block 6: Developing the funding strategy of an artistic and cultural project (specialization B)
Professional simulation based on a real or fictional professional situation on defining the fundraising strategy, negotiating partnerships and sponsorships, setting up retention actions, and assessing the financial impact of the partnerships and sponsorships of an artistic and cultural project.
Skills block:
Obtaining the certification is conditional on validating all the skills blocks.
Each skills block can be capitalized throughout the duration of the certification.
Project-based learning
The Master in Performing Arts Production and Distribution, developed in partnership with the Cours Florent, relies on active teaching that combines academic input, professional expertise, and immersion in the artistic creation process.
Theoretical and methodological courses let students acquire solid knowledge of the performing arts sector and its economic, legal, technical, and aesthetic issues. They are complemented throughout the program by practical workshops, group projects, professional simulations, and meetings with artists, producers, broadcasters, and cultural institutions.
A key element of the program is the full-scale project, a concrete undertaking carried out in close collaboration with the student authors, directors, and actors of the Cours Florent, as part of creating and organizing a cultural event (award, competition, ceremony…) or an original production. Students take part in every stage of the project: budget development, production setup, funding strategy, press relations, communication, ticketing, logistics, artistic coordination. This work lets them experience, in real conditions, all the duties of a production officer or director.
At the end of the program, each student designs and carries out a personal project, supported by an industry professional. This project is defended before a certification jury, during which the student demonstrates their ability to draw on all the skills acquired, as well as their vision and commitment to contemporary artistic creation.
Open Day: December 5
Open days let you discover the campus, meet the teams, ask your questions about the program, admissions, work-study, student projects and career opportunities.
It is also an opportunity to better understand the teaching approach of IESA arts&culture and the organization of these programs.
Work-Study, Internships, and Professionalization
Professionalization is at the heart of the Master in Performing Arts Production and Distribution.
It is based on:
- an alternating schedule with internships or a work-study contract;
- courses taught by professionals in culture, production, and programming;
- individual and group projects;
- simulations reflecting the realities of the sector;
- support in building your professional project;
- meetings with artists, producers, distributors, programmers, and cultural institutions.
Students learn to work in teams, make decisions, defend their choices, and apply their skills in contexts close to the field.
What careers after the Master in Performing Arts Production and Distribution?
The Master prepares students for careers in the production, distribution, administration, programming, and development of cultural projects.
Graduates can work in companies, theaters, festivals, performance venues, production companies, cultural institutions, artist agencies, or local authorities.
Production Performance Producer
Production Administrator
Production Director Cultural Administration Company Administrator
Cultural Project Administrator Distribution and Programming Distribution Officer
Programming Manager Audiences and Communication Audience Development Manager
Communications Manager Technical Coordination General Stage Manager Artistic Representation Artist Agent
Certification
This master’s program prepares for the RNCP title level 7:
"Artistic and Cultural Project Administrator"
It certifies skills related to the definition, management, funding, distribution, and administration of artistic and cultural projects.
| Employment Rate | 74% at 6 months of certified students, class of 2024 (most recent France Compétences rate - RNCP title 42330). |
|---|---|
| Certification Rate | 100% of learners in the 2025 class (Master in Cultural Production: Performing Arts) earned the title, out of 27 candidates in 2025. |
| RNCP Code | RNCP42330. |
Professional certification Administrator of Artistic and Cultural Projects from ECAD Consultants – IESA arts&culture, level 7 – 134g, 320n, registered with the RNCP under number 42330 by decision of the Director General of France Compétences dated 05/29/2026 for a period of 3 years.
How to Apply to IESA?
Admission is based on an application file and an interview with the admissions committee
- 1. You find out about the school and its programs.
- 2. You apply to the school by filling out a form on the website.
- 3. We call you to schedule an admission interview
- 4. A few days after the interview, you receive your admissibility decision
How Much Does the Program Cost?
For the 2026-2027 year, the fees are as follows:
| Year | Tuition |
|---|---|
| 1st year | 9 700 € |
| 2nd year | 10 300 € |
| Tuition fees | 150 € |
Applicants can contact the admissions team to find out about:
- payment options
- funding options
- the conditions related to work-study
In work-study, program fees under a professionalization contract or an apprenticeship contract will be covered in full or in part by the employer or by a funding body (OPCO).
The Master lasts 2 years.
Number of in-class teaching hours and exams:
- M1: 609 h
- M2: 508 h
(The number of hours may vary slightly from year to year).
The program follows an alternating schedule, allowing for part-time and full-time professional placements (internships and/or work-study), which are mandatory to complete the program.
Initial prerequisite and work-study:
- Entry into the 1st year (M1 – 2-year program): Hold a level 6 certification (Bac+3), or an equivalent degree (foreign degree, etc.), or have earned 180 ECTS credits in the targeted or a related field (culture, art, project management, communication, marketing, events, etc.)
- Entry into the 2nd year (M2 – 1-year program): Hold a level 6 certification (Bac+4), or an equivalent degree (foreign degree, etc.), or have earned 240 ECTS credits, in the targeted or a related field (culture, art, project management, communication, marketing, events, etc.)
Admission is based on the submission of an application file and an interview with the admissions committee.
Access timeframes: 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 available places.
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, and Film & Audiovisual)
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 case of equivalence, whether through VAE and/or obtaining a skill block or an equivalent certification, it is up to the candidate to present this equivalence to the jury for validation.
Transfer options: No transfer options.
Further studies: The Master in Performing Arts Production and Distribution is designed as a professionalizing Bac+5 program, whose primary purpose is to enable direct entry into working life, preparing students to take on positions of responsibility in the performing arts sectors.