Career advice

Get Creative

Get creative with free online courses from top universities and creative organisations. Explore acting, animation, filmmaking, poetry, songwriting or creative writing courses.

Develop your creative skills with these free online courses

  • Start storytelling

    Discover how to tell compelling stories in different mediums and master how to write successful fiction, poetry and songs.

  • Learn how to make a film

    Explore the process of filmmaking, from learning how to make your own visual effects and promoting a film, to going behind the scenes of feature filmmaking.

  • Make music

    Understand how and why music affects us and then learn how to write powerful music yourself.

  • Find a new creative career

    Discover a creative vocation, find a new hobby or develop a new skill - from commercial photography to performance to running a fashion business.

Develop your creativity with these FutureLearn courses

Courses
9 Courses

Learn new skills, pursue your interests or advance your career with our short online courses.

Film Distributors' Association

Film Distribution: Connecting Films with Audiences

4.8 (40 reviews)

Discover how your favourite films make it to your local cinema or television screen, through the film distribution process.

4 weeks

3 hrs per week

Included in Unlimited

Find out more
University of Leeds

Physical Theatre: Exploring the Slap

4.7 (9 reviews)

Learn about Meyerhold’s form of physical theatre, biomechanics, and understand and perform ‘The Slap’.

2 weeks

2 hrs per week

Included in Unlimited

Find out more
The Open University

Start Writing Fiction

4.7 (383 reviews)

Get started with your own fiction writing, focusing on the central skill of creating characters, with this hands-on course.

8 weeks

3 hrs per week

Included in Unlimited

Find out more
University of Leeds

Effective Fundraising and Leadership in Arts and Culture

4.7 (24 reviews)

Improve your chances of raising funds for arts and culture by developing your leadership and entrepreneurial skills.

2 weeks

4 hrs per week

Included in Unlimited

Find out more
Goldsmiths, University of London

Learn Jazz Piano: Begin with the Blues

4.6 (39 reviews)

Discover jazz improvisation on the piano, and learn to play and improvise on the blues and a jazz standard.

6 weeks

2 hrs per week

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Goldsmiths, University of London

Learn jazz piano: Improvising on Jazz Standards

4.7 (6 reviews)

Improve your jazz improvisation with this course on jazz piano, where you’ll learn to play along to bass and drum soundtracks.

6 weeks

3 hrs per week

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UEA (University of East Anglia)

An Introduction to Screenwriting

4.8 (457 reviews)

Discover the key principles of screenwriting and improve your creative writing skills in this course for aspiring screenwriters.

2 weeks

3 hrs per week

Included in Unlimited

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The University of Sheffield

How to Write Your First Song

4.6 (129 reviews)

Get an introduction to the mechanics of songwriting and learn how to write a song of your own with our established songwriters.

6 weeks

3 hrs per week

Included in Unlimited

Find out more
Keio University

Exploring Japanese Avant-garde Art Through Butoh Dance

4.8 (13 reviews)

See how Japanese art absorbed, refigured and influenced Western art in the 20th century through Hijikata Tatsumi's butoh dance.

4 weeks

4 hrs per week

Included in Unlimited

Find out more

The benefits of taking a creative course online with FutureLearn

Learn online, for free, wherever you are

From Filmmaking and songwriting, to creative writing and careers in music, expand your creative skillset for free. Learn on desktop, tablet or mobile.

Upgrade or buy Unlimited for extra benefits

Upgrade your course for ongoing access to the course content, tests, and the chance to gain a Certificate of Achievement. Buy Unlimited for access to hundreds of short courses in a year and the ability to keep access to courses you gain a certificate on.

Meet professional creatives

Learn with experts from top universities and creative organisations. Expand your creative network using social learning.