ITC to Reintroduce Master of Arts in Church Music as Master of Arts in Liturgical Arts and Culture

Beginning with the Fall 2019 Semester The Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) will offer a Master of Arts in Liturgical Arts and Culture Degree Program (MALC).

The MALC Degree Program focuses on the intersections of worship, arts and culture in an ever-evolving world. This degree program prepares students to serve as worship and or artistic leaders in a variety of professional contexts across a broad spectrum of liturgical arts, including instrumental, vocal, and choral music, liturgical and West African dance, hip hop studies, and visual media and design.

The name change and broadened curricular emphasis come as a result of ITC identifying the need for interdisciplinary professional degrees that focus on areas outside of pastoral ministry.

The MALC Degree Program is different from other offerings at ITC because it focuses on liturgical arts in relation to culture and broadens the already existing emphases on church music. The degree draws expertise from faculty and the artist-in-residence, Gilbert Young, to provide a teaching-learning experience that equips students for engagement in liturgics in the church, academy, and the community at-large.

“I am extremely excited about our revised degree program, particularly because we’ve broadened it to include all liturgical arts and expanded its emphasis to include the impact and influence of culture on liturgy,” stated Dr. Lisa M. Allen-McLaurin, Degree Coordinator and Helmar Nielsen Associate Professor of Church Music and Worship. “This will draw students who are not only artists and practitioners, but those whose focus is research on the effects of culture on liturgical history and development.”

Students applying to the MALC Degree Program are expected to exhibit artistic abilities and skills at an advanced level of proficiency in a liturgical art or academic research concentration. Admission to the MALC Degree Program will require either an audition in a liturgical arts concentration (i.e. musical instrument, choral conducting, composition, liturgical dance, dramatic arts, visual arts or liturgical design) or writing samples that exhibit a student’s scholarly writing and research abilities.

ITC currently offers four degrees, including a dual degree program, where students can learn alongside students from other denominations and share doctrines and perspectives on a daily basis. Their goal is to prepare leaders and visionaries who are in the community helping to create a better world…the “beloved community.”

For more information about the MALC Degree Program contact ITC Director of Admissions, Natasha Jordan at njordan@itc.edu or (404) 527-7793.