Program Overview
The Arts Administration Certificate equips students with leadership acumen in the arts, providing foundational knowledge in arts leadership, governance, management, and development. Through a hybrid format, students gain competencies in essential arts administration functions, preparing them for careers in arts administration, management, development, education, museum studies, and nonprofit management.
Program Outline
Degree Overview:
The Arts Administration Certificate is distinctly designed to help develop leadership acumen in the arts while supporting students’ primary field of study or chosen career path. The curriculum provides foundational courses in arts leadership, governance, management, and development. Students in the certificate program may include working artists, professionals from other disciplines, and current arts managers or teachers who want to expand their knowledge base and scope of skills. The Arts Administration Certificate is 12 total credit hours and can be completed in two semesters.
Learning Outcomes:
- Students will gain an understanding the social, political, economic, and artistic environment in which nonprofit arts organizations work.
- Students will recognize the challenges facing arts organizations and how relationships with boards, donors, and stakeholders shape the interconnectedness of these systems within the organization.
- Students will gain competencies in essential arts administration functions including communication, public relations, cultural policy, marketing, advocacy, governance, ethical leadership, community engagement, and resource development and management.
- Students will become familiar with organizational culture in a nonprofit environment including relationship building, roles of various stakeholders, strategic thinking, and the spoken and unspoken thoughts, assumptions, and principles that arts administrators might employ to guide management practices and decision making when working with diverse groups of people.
- Students will begin to apply theories and use a variety of communication platforms to develop a strategic plan, build an audience base, promote nonprofit arts organizations with internal and external stakeholders, and advance culturally responsible management practices.
- Students will create an effective fundraising and development strategies to raise funds from a variety of available sources and individual donors.
Outline:
Module 1: Introduction to Arts Administration
- Overview of the arts administration field
- The role of arts administrators in the nonprofit sector
- The challenges and opportunities of working in the arts
Module 2: Arts Leadership
- The principles of effective leadership in the arts
- The different styles of leadership
- The challenges of leading a creative team
Module 3: Arts Governance
- The role of the board of directors in arts organizations
- The legal and ethical responsibilities of board members
- The different types of governance structures
Module 4: Arts Management
- The principles of effective management in the arts
- The different aspects of arts management, including financial management, human resources management, and marketing management
Module 5: Arts Development
- The principles of effective fundraising in the arts
- The different types of fundraising
- The challenges of fundraising in the arts
Assessment:
Students in the Arts Administration Certificate program will be assessed through a variety of methods, including:
- Class participation
- Written assignments
- Presentations
- Case studies
- A final project
Teaching:
The Arts Administration Certificate program is taught by a team of experienced faculty members who are active in the arts administration field. The program is taught in a hybrid format, with a combination of online and in-person classes.
Careers:
The Arts Administration Certificate prepares students for a variety of careers in the arts, including:
- Arts administration
- Arts management
- Arts development
- Arts education
- Museum studies
- Nonprofit management
