What is arts leadership? What and where is the arts sector? How do various players – artists, administrators, audiences, producers, funders, educators, journalists, and community members – engage with and lead in the arts? This seminar provides a broad and fast paced overview of the arts sector in the United States (and globally) with a focus on leadership practices and nonprofit structures and how these have been shaped and continue to evolve today. Through the themes of aesthetics, publics, organizations, and research, we will explore key components that create the operating framework for arts leadership and arts organizations, as well as trends, challenges and opportunities, making use of the Seattle region's arts ecosystem of theaters, museums, galleries, performance venues, and other arts organizations as an example and laboratory.
Topics of study engage theories and practices in the arts sector including: Aesthetics, Publics, Performance, Ephemerality, Identity, Creative Economy, Creative Placemaking, Cultural Policy, Organizations and Management, Missions and Manifestos, Community, Equity, Research, Audience, Controversies, and Futures. Guest speakers across the arts sector such as Executive Directors, Artistic Directors, and Development Directors will visit our course to enhance learning. Course assignments include arts leadership tasks across community engagement, literary management, season planning/curation, arts education, marketing, advancement / fundraising / development, granting, and arts policy. Students will also articulate their own career goals (and refine them through resume and cover letter writing), and research and present on an arts organization.