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Mission Statement
LUCA School of Arts (LUCA) is a multidisciplinary educational and research environment where creative talent can flourish and develop artistically, performatively, and technically. LUCA promotes both the practice of art and creative design as well as the development of innovative insights. LUCA provides comprehensive training where practice, research, and reflection go hand in hand. It offers and encourages opportunities for choice, interdisciplinary connections, and specializations, fostering an attitude of lifelong learning. Through this training, students can fully realize their ambitions and engage with a creative society, each with their own unique profile.
Thanks to strong networks, both with educational partners and leading cultural organizations and actors from the profit and non-profit sectors, students and faculty have the opportunity to share their educational and research activities on a broad international platform. Respect for authenticity, diversity, and integrity are foundational principles that inspire the university’s vision of humanity and society. Inspired by the valuable and multifaceted Christian tradition, LUCA seeks to fulfill its mission in dialogue with, and in service of, an open, sustainable, pluralistic, and culturally diverse society.
International Role
LUCA has an extensive international network of art schools spread across five continents. Among others, the school belongs to the Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision (CILECT), the European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA), the Association Européenne des Conservatoires (AEC) and CUMULUS for design education and the European Artistic Research Network (EARN). Consequently, LUCA has Inter-Institutional Agreements with more than 200 institutions for higher education in the fields of art and design inside and outside Europe offering numerous possibilities for students and staff to engage in a mobility exchange programme. LUCA actively explores the different possibilities of European funding programmes and is engaged (either as partner or coordinator) in a number of projects in the framework of Erasmus+, EFRO, Interreg, and Horizon 2020.
An overview of all active and passed projects is available via: https://www.luca-arts.be/en and for all research projects visit: https://luca.kuleuven.be/english/projects/projects-english
National Role
LUCA School of Arts is a creative hub and University of Applied Sciences and Arts in the Flemish region dedicated to art and design. It combines the strengths and expertise of five renowned Flemish higher education institutions for art and design spread across Brussels, Vorst, Genk, Ghent and Leuven. LUCA is a member of the KU Leuven Association.
Main Focus
An artistic hub
LUCA School of Arts works with many partners, both in Belgium and abroad, including fellow educational institutions, museums and art houses, public authorities, private companies and non-profit organisations. Students enjoy an immersive artistic and creative environment with numerous symposia and exhibitions, concerts, film and theatre performances and master classes. Many activities also arise from student-led initiatives. All these elements make LUCA what it is today: an intriguing community where creativity flourishes even after classes end.
An international network
LUCA has an extensive international network of art and architecture schools spread across five continents. The school is, among others, a member of the Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision (CILECT), the European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA), the Association Européenne des Conservatoires (AEC), the European Association for Music in Schools (EAS) and CUMULUS for design education. Students and staff from LUCA therefore have the opportunity to participate in exchanges with up to two hundred higher education institutions both within and outside Europe.
Dedicated artists and designers
Students at LUCA School of Arts are taught by a dedicated team of renowned practising artists, designers and architects. Many of our tutors continue to develop their artistic disciplines through research projects. Rather than imposing a particular style or way of working, our tutors guide students to find and formulate their own artistic solutions.
A research environment
Research and Innovation play a prominent role at LUCA School of Arts. LUCA stimulates and facilitates inspiring research across a wide variety of disciplines, from visual and audiovisual arts to performing arts and design. Drawing from both practice and theory, our research is cultivated in the creative environments of our 5 campuses (Genk, Ghent, Leuven and two in Brussels), enriching the creative practice and overall knowledge of our students. LUCA collaborates with KU Leuven for its PhD programme in the arts, further demonstrating its leading status as a centre of excellence for research in the fields of art and design.
Faculties and Departments
LUCA School of Arts is a creative hub and University of Applied Sciences and Arts in the Flemish region dedicated to art and design. It combines the strengths and expertise of five renowned Flemish higher education institutions for art and design. With a student population of about 4.000 students, LUCA offers more than thirty programmes in Audiovisual Arts & Techniques, Interior & Product Design, Construction, Music & Drama, Visual Arts & Design and Teacher Training in the Arts.
LUCA School of Arts offers both professional and academic bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees and advanced master’s degrees, discover them all on https://www.luca-arts.be/en
Together with KU Leuven, LUCA also organises an arts PhD programme.
Bachelor Level Programs
PROFESSIONALLY-ORIENTED BACHELOR PROGRAMMES (180 ECTS)
> BA in Audiovisual Technology: Photography (Brussels)
> BA in Audiovisual Technology: Film-TV-Video (Brussels)
> BA in Visual Design (Ghent)
> BA in Interior Design (Brussels and Ghent)
> BA in Construction (Brussels)
ACADEMICALLY-ORIENTED BACHELOR PROGRAMMES (180 ECTS)
>BA in Audiovisual Arts with 4 pathways:
- Animation Film (Brussels & Genk)
- Film Directing (Brussels)
- Television-Film (Genk)
- Game Design (Genk)
>BA in Drama (Leuven)
>BA in Music (Leuven) with 6 pathways:
- Composition
- Conducting
- Instrument/Voice
- Jazz
- Music Pedagogy
- Music Therapy
> BA in Product Design (Genk)
> BA in Visual Arts with 5 pathways:
- Photography (Brussels & Genk)
- Graphic design (Brussels & Ghent):
• The degree programme in Brussels offers a choice between Graphic Storytelling and Media and Information Design.
• The degree programme in Ghent focuses on editorial and conceptual design, typography, digital design, publishing and book design. - Fine Arts (Brussels & Ghent):
• In Brussels, students are enrolled in an interdisciplinary pathway in fine art
• In Ghent, students opt for a specific fine art atelier: photography, printmaking & drawing, illustration, ceramics & glass, mixed media, painting or sculpture - Textile Design
Master Level Programs
ACADEMIC MASTER PROGRAMMES (60 or 120 ECTS)
> MA in Audiovisual Arts with pathways in:
– Animation Film
– Film Directing
– Television-Film
– Game Design
> MA in Visual Arts with pathways in:
– Fine Arts
– Graphic Design:
• The degree programme in Brussels offers a choice between Graphic Storytelling and Media and Information Design.
• The degree programme in Ghent focuses on editorial and conceptual design, typography, digital design, publishing and book design.
– Photography
– Textile Design
> MA in Drama
> MA in Product Design
> MA in Music with pathways in:
– Composition
– Conducting
– Instrument/Voice
– Jazz
– Music Pedagogy
– Music Therapy
ERASMUS MUNDUS JOINT MASTER PROGRAMMES (only master level)
>Erasmus Mundus Joint Master in Documentary Film Directing (DocNomads)
>Erasmus Mundus Joint Master in European Film Heritage, History and Cultures (FilmMemory)
> Erasmus Mundus Joint Master in Game Design (REPLAY)
> Erasmus Mundus Joint Master in Design and Health_Care (Response_Able Futures)
EDUCATIONAL MASTER PROGRAMMES
>Educational Master of Arts in Visual and Audiovisual Arts
>Educational Master of Arts in Music and Performing Arts
POSTGRADUATE DEGREES
>Advanced Master in Music (60 ECTS)
Research Activity and Main Areas
Research units
Image
The Image research unit carries out artistic and theoretical research on the interaction between word/writing and image, in particular in relation to the notions of conceptualisation and materialisation. The written and spoken word, the mental and physical image, the concept and the act all create a situation, the key points of which, including every possible varying connection, are researched on the basis of showing, looking, thinking, reading and writing, and through mediating practices such as representation, invention, translation, design and interpretation. The subject of this research is both the mother tongue and foreign language of various artistic working methods, as well as their relationship to (the formulation of) world-views and concepts. Can thoughts be put into words without images? Are images conceivable without words? Is putting something into words conceivable without thought? And to go further: what kind of thinking is contained in images? What kind of image-making is both assumed and generated by speech and writing? What kind of language propels both thought and the unexpected?
Inter-Actions
Inter-Actions mainly zooms in on research and creation where the relationship between the maker (designer, animator, filmmaker, etc.), the created artefact (film, photographic work, etc.) and the 'audience' (the user, the viewer, etc.) is questioned. By separating “inter” from “actions”, the unit stresses that its research wants to stimulate people “acting (actions) together (inter)” in cross-disciplinary or participatory set-ups. The academic orientation of this research guarantees that more fundamental design and artistic research can be performed that does not need to be immediately valorised in the market and thus may lead to unexpected results. At the same time, the hands-on character of doing applied “design and artistic” research makes their research relevant for cultural, industrial,… professionals.
Intermedia
From Ut pictura poesis to computational creativity (artificial intelligence applied to the arts), the underlying question was and is how to generate and innovate the creative process by transferring to and taking inspiration from another artistic medium. Understanding the variations and implications of artistic genres or forms across different media; studying, practising, mounting and curating the migrations of images across different devices, contexts and histories, from old to new media, from traditional artistic settings to more experimental ones, bringing these processes together through storytelling, dramaturgy and creative writing, are all core activities of the intermedia research unit. Currently, there are four research clusters within the unit: Mediated Environments, deep histories fragile memories, Photography Expanded and Exhibition Culture: Dialogues in the making but these will increase and can change in the future. Intermediality, transhistoricity and narrativity are the key forms of poetics and nodes of research carried out in the unit. The unit stands for critical awareness of the impact of technological development on artistic practice. It is active in exploring and supporting the presentation of artistic research in exhibition form, through its Show Research programme and its exhibition space Terrarium.
Music & Drama
The Music & Drama research unit embraces research in the field of music and the performing arts with a clear focus on the development of artistic practice. Within the area of Drama, this involves research into various innovative methods of text creation and its impact on playing. The focus is also on the changing status of the concept of text in the current work field. Within Music, this translates into research into performance and composition and into pedagogical and therapeutic research. Together, the Music & Drama unit also focuses on all forms of interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary research via co-creation and interaction. The research unit aims at a strong integration of research and education in the Music and Drama courses. The Music & Drama Research Unit collaborates with various research groups from KU Leuven, including the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine. The researchers are also developing an international research network.
Doctorate Level Programs
LUCA School of Arts strives to be a European and global centre of excellence in terms of artistic and design research. To this end, our five research units focus on all areas of the arts practised by students and teachers. Given its objective to build and bundle disciplinary expertise in all its study areas (music and drama, audiovisual arts, visual arts and design), LUCA attracts a range of researchers, teachers and students with considerable talent and ambition.
Due to its imaginative and experimental potential, LUCA not only believes in the added value of artistic research for education and artistic practice, but also for the sciences and society as a whole. There is a particular emphasis on encouraging and developing PhD’s in the arts. In doing so, LUCA School of Arts, together with its university partner KU Leuven, aims to attract young artistic researchers who will help to reinforce and further develop its research and education programmes. LUCA also encourages professionally-oriented research. It offers innovative and authentic advice and solutions through practice-based research and innovation in the areas of interior design, construction technology, visual design, photography, film and video. This research is conducted together with companies and organisations, and enriches the professional bachelor’s degree programmes.
Doctoral programme
LUCA School of Arts collaborates with the Catholic University of Leuven for its doctoral programme in the arts. Our PhD students are enrolled at KU Leuven, which officially awards the degree of PhD in the Arts, but have one or more supervisors from the research units at LUCA. By facilitating and encouraging doctoral research, LUCA attracts competent, enthusiastic artists and designers who help to develop and strengthen high-level research and education in LUCA’s core areas of study: music and drama, audiovisual arts, visual arts and design.
Subject Areas for Exchange Students
LUCA welcomes exchange students in all bachelor and master degree programmes. The courses offered to exchange students vary depending on the specialisation and campus you choose.
LUCA offers:
- 5 professional bachelor degree programmes
- 13 academic bachelor and master degree programmes
An overview of the exchange programmes at LUCA School of Arts: https://www.luca-arts.be/en/exchange-programmes
Application Deadlines
Exchange students must take into account the following deadlines to submit an official application:
> Applications Autumn/Winter semester and full year: April 1.
> Applications Spring semester: October 1 (Spring term mobility is not possible in every study programme.)
You can apply/study at LUCA as an exchange student on condition that there is an active cooperation agreement between the higher education institute (university, school of arts or alike) where you are currently studying and LUCA. You can obtain more information about the cooperation agreements via the International Office at your university or by browsing the LUCA partnership database.*
*It is one of our international policy ambitions to optimize our existing partner network, so we decided to introduce a temporary stand-still on new partnership requests from non-partner HEIs. We would like to focus on broadening/deepening our existing partnerships for the remaining multi-annual framework of Erasmus (2021-2027). Consequently, LUCA will not engage new partnerships in due time.
Teaching Languages
Courses for exchange students are offered in English.
List of exchange programmes: https://www.luca-arts.be/en/exchange-programmes
Semester Dates
The exact semester dates can slightly vary every year and depending on the local campus organisation. However, usually semester one (Autumn/Winter semester) starts around the middle of September and finishes around the end of January. Semester two (Spring semester) starts at the beginning of February and finishes at the end of June.
Cost of Living Per Month (Studying and Living)
Please consult this webpage of our associated university KU Leuven to get an idea about the cost of living in Belgium: https://www.kuleuven.be/english/life-at-ku-leuven/money-matters/cost-of-living-in-belgium .
