Course features

Looking to inspire and engage students more effectively in Higher Education?

Led by Dr Estrella Sendra at King’s College London, this course introduces innovative strategies to embed cultural events and festivals into your teaching—fostering joyful learning, inclusion, collaboration and well-being.

Cultural events and festivals create rich opportunities for students to develop subject specific knowledge, social awareness and soft skills. However, integrating these experiences into the curriculum can be challenging.

This course responds to those challenges by exploring the role of cultural leadership in education and offering practical approaches that can be adapted to a range of teaching formats, including undergraduate, postgraduate and short courses, in person, online or in hybrid modes. No prior curatorial experience is required.

Across five thematic units—what, why, how, when and where—you will explore key concepts in cultural festival theory alongside practical toolkits, multimedia resources and real-life case studies. The course also examines how creative experimentation, community-building, guest speakers, fieldtrips and interactive resources can enhance student engagement.

Become a designer of meaningful learning experiences and support students to play an active role in shaping their learning journey through cultural events and festivals.

Course format

This course is delivered through the edX learning platform and is designed to be completed in approximately 5 hours, along with 3 hours of self-directed study. 

What you'll learn

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Learn to apply, adapt and integrate cultural events and festivals in Higher Education 
• Understand key concepts in festival theory and their educational relevance
• Reflect critically on the role of joy and excitement in educational contexts
• Engage with creative and experiential strategies to enhance your teaching
• Design inclusive learning resources inspired by festival practices
• Create solution-centred festival activities for your students
• Gain cultural leadership skills to support and mentor fellow educators 
• Understand how to evaluate and assess student engagement in festivals and events
• Reflect on the importance of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in festival and event management 

Entry requirements

No formal requirements. English proficiency recommended (IELTS Level 6).

Further information

King’s College London has partnered with the online education platform edX to deliver self-paced short courses to learners worldwide. Anyone can audit the course materials for free, excluding graded assessments, for a limited time.

For full access to the course, including graded assessments, and to obtain a verified certificate upon successful completion, the USD fee is $199.

The GBP course fee displayed on this page is for illustrative purposes only and subject to change in line with current exchange rates.

Payment for verified access to the course is made directly via edX. Please see edX Terms of Service for further information.