Break Over - Planning Begins

Because this is really the first year that the Center for the Arts has existed as a real entity (which is to say, one with a Director and a budget) we are now in mid-stream of the first market planning session for the CFA. We're trying to collect data about the Center, but we don't have any real history to go off of. We've surveyed the audience for the shows that we had this past fall semester, but it's fairly limited and we don't have any data from people who have not come to our events. I have a student who is working on an ACRE (a student research project) to collect information and create a marketing plan. She's begun the work coming up with the list of other interest groups on and off campus for us to reach out to.

We also don't really have attendance figures for any of the events except for those which are ticketed. So while we have some data (from this past fall) on the Domino Players and the Concert Series, we know very little about the choir performances, Freedman Gallery attendance etc.

Our final challenge is that we don't really have a mission yet - so it's a little challenging to come up with appropriate goals for the plan. We've got our work cut out for us!

Music and Students

It will not likely come as news to anyone, but college students are reluctant to attend classical music events (reluctant being an understatement). Without a plot, or even much in the way of visuals, Classical music seems a relic of another time. Even if they like classical music, most students aren't interested in "watching" music being played.

Perhaps YouTube has solved this problem by having classical music played by the muppets:








Ok, so not EXACTLY, but surely we can find ways like this to make music interesting in a visual world.

What is Arts Administration

I'm taking the Program in Arts Administration (what we call a Minor) to the Educational Policy Committee on Monday for approval. I've been thinking about how I will explain what Arts Administration is. I think, at its heart, Arts Administration is understanding the importance or relevance of Art, and then explaining that importance to various audiences. You can explain the value of art as entertainment or intellectual stimulation (we call this marketing), you can explain art's value to a community (fundraising, public art), or you can explain the economic value of art (financial analysis, budget reporting).

One of the challenges to this conceptualization of arts administration in an educational setting is that it sort of requires that there be ways for students to learn about the cultural history and a way for them to learn cultural analysis - a rarity in a small liberal-art curriculum like Albright's. Are there ways to teach cultural analysis as part of an arts administration curriculum (as opposed to "in conjunction with an arts administration curriculum?)

Whither Students?

One of the challenges of doing publicity for a student arts center is how to balance our desire to be as "professional" as possible with the reality that most of our audience members are students. So our faculty and performance students want (or at least expect) us to do things like print posters and programs, have advertising in the local paper etc. But, if we were really to target the student audience I'd do more marketing via facebook and other student-centric media. Also, the productions themselves try to feel like "real" theatre - the lights go down, audience members are asked to silence all cell-phones etc. However, if we were really programing for students, why wouldn't we encourage texting during the performance? On the one hand, it's good to train future audience members how to behave, but on the other, shouldn't the arts be adapting to their audiences rather than trying to get their audiences to adapt to them?

Arts Management Program

So here at Albright, we don't have Majors and Minors. We have Programs, co-Concentrations, and Concentrations. The Programs are like Minors. Concentrations are like majors and co-Concentrations are sort of like demi-Majors to make it easier for students to have a double-major (i.e. two co-concentrations is only a few more classes than a single concentration).

There is a task-force here looking at bringing Arts Administration to our students. We pretty quickly agreed that we should get an Arts Admin Program going ASAP. I've submitted a proposal to the appropriate powers-that-be so we'll see how that goes. A Program has only five courses so I needed to be pretty selective in what we submitted. Here's what we went with for the initial submission - I haven't heard a response from the PTB yet so this may change:
1) An Introduction to Arts Management
2) An art production class - painting, acting, singing etc
3) An art history class - again, could be in Theatre, Music, or Art and I've sort of included crit classes in this category as well
4) A business class - management or marketing
5) An internship in Arts Administration

Mission Statement

The Center for the Arts here at Albright is a building that houses the Visual and Performing Arts. However, the Center itself doesn't have much of an identity - the individual arts groups have separate identities. In trying to create some unity and some strategic planning, we've begun the process of creating a mission statement for the Center itself. I've begun the process by sitting down with faculty representatives from all the departments. Next, I'll meet with student representatives. Once that happens we'll begin to craft a message and shop it around the departments, the college itself, and into the community. Once it's torn to shreads, we'll tweak it until everyone buys into it. Stay Tuned!

Arts Management Class

Here's my very first pass at the "Intro to Arts Management" class syllabus. This is not intended to be a final document that I would ever use, but is supposed to show the bones of a stand alone class that could eventually be the basis for a program or even a major in Arts Management.

Rough Syllabus for Introduction to Arts Management

The course explores how arts organization (including theater, dance, music, and visual arts) engage artists and audiences and how they are governed, both internally (formal leadership) and externally (public policy and market forces). The course also includes overviews of historical contexts, economic conditions, organizational cultures, and financial systems. The course will highlight similarities and differences between arts management and non-creative-industry management.

The course objectives are:
• to define basic organizational models and operating strategies of various types of arts organizations;
• to present an historical overview of creation and management of the arts and arts organizations;
• to create a theoretical underpinning to practices in arts management;
• to highlight the was that arts organizations impact and interact with the communities in which they exist;
• to examine professional practices and different career possibilities within arts management;
• to expose students to professionals working in various different managerial positions in the arts through guest lecturers; and
• to provide experiential educational opportunities for students interested in arts management through course project work

Possible texts:
• Florida, Richard The Rise of the Creative Class: and how it’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community, and Everyday Life (2002)
• Bourdieu, Pierre The Field of Cultural Production (1993)
• Byrnes, William Management and the Arts – Third Edition (2003)
• The Fundamentals of Arts Management Arts Extension Service (1987, 1994, 1998, 2003)

• Andrew Taylor The Artful Manager - Blog
• Lee Rosenbaum Culturegrrl – Blog
• Seth Godin Seth’s Blog – Blog
• Americans for the Arts ARTSBlog – Blog

• Center for Arts Management and Technology (CAMT)Technology in the Arts – Podcast

• ArtsJournal - Listserv

Possible guest lecturers:
• Head of Goggleworks
• ?


Week Topic Notes

1 What is Arts Management - An overview of what we mean by “Arts Management” positions, structures, duties, responsibilities etc.
2 History of Management in the Arts - History of how Theater, Dance, Music, and Visual Arts have been supported and organized in various epochs in Western History
3 Cultural Capital - Starting with Pierre Bourdieu’s work on Creative Capital, discussions of audiences and audience behavior focusing on the question of “why do people attend the arts?”
4 Creative Communities - Focusing on Richard Florida’s work explaining the creative economy and exploring the intersection of the arts and community, and continuing the inquiry into “ why do people attend the arts?”
5
6 Mission, Vision, and Values - The creation of mission, vision, and values statements and the ways that these ideas permeate through an organization
7 Governance and Oversight - The role of the board and senior management
8 Marketing - An overview of basic marketing concepts and how they are applied specifically to the arts
9 Development - Exploring the interaction between audience development and fundraising. Also a look at private foundations and government funding
10 Finance - Discussion of basic financial terms and ideas and the ways that for-profit and not-for-profit organizations use these separately
11 Planning - How different arts organizations set goals and quantify the success of various strategies and tactics
12
13 Public Art - An overview of the way that public art is being deployed by various communities and organizations
14 The Internet and the Arts - Using new technologies to cultivate arts audiences and donors
15