Discipline Overview


As a response to poor student outcomes, colleges and universities have been offering arts career-based courses and services for decades. Originating from career services offices (workshops, job fairs, guest speakers, etc.) and intermittently offered one semester courses, Arts Entrepreneurship is quickly becoming the most preferred method to assist students in creating an arts career.


The discipline itself is in a shaping process. Given the suffix - "entrepreneurship" - much of the curricular content and thrust is presently drawn from the business school. Accounting, management, organizational principles and New Venture Creation (NVC) are weighted heavily in many Arts Entrepreneurship efforts. In the past decade, however, a number of new ideas about entrepreneurship theory and education, coupled with various trends in higher education, have exerted some pressure on the discipline. No longer is NVC the total curricular or philosophical thrust.


Today, college arts administrators are wrestling with a number of issues in this context. Questions of curricular design are perhaps the most obvious. Yet as the financial realties of higher education funding collide with a sense of moral duty to the students they nurture for four or more years, decision makers are increasingly looking for the most effective method to a "successful student outcome" and the benefits institutions may enjoy thereafter.


The following describes the state of the discipline and the pressures that NVC is undergoing in Arts Entrepreneurship curricula.


Traditional Issues


The traditions and micro-cultures in Arts higher education are fairly well known, though briefly describing each here will describe the basic issues.


Institutional, Departmental & Disciplinary Culture - the relative tendency to embrace changes in direction, tradition or philosophy.


Popular Culture - the shared culture of everyday life.


Faculty Resistance - in the minds of many, it is faculty (mostly applied) who oppose an Entrepreneurial component in Arts higher education. This is, however, somewhat misleading.


Romantic Aesthetics - the aesthetic tradition of the German model of arts higher education. Often referred to as the "Arts for Arts sake" aesthetic where Art and its creator are objectified.


Outside forces frequently play a role in new disciplines - both as hindrance and as a catalyst.


Business Schools - Since many entrepreneurship departments are housed within B-Schools, it comes as no surprise that they have had a significant influence on Arts Entrepreneurship education. Their effect beyond curriculum modeling has yet to be fully felt, however. For example, Entrepreneurship departments are engaging Fine Arts units by helping to provide curricula, assist with program design, etc. This purpose of this outreach is to develop synergies with both student populations.


K-12 Arts Education - Perhaps the least mentioned issue in this context, arts undergraduates are products of other educational systems and traditions. This means that the relative propensity for incoming students to embrace Entrepreneurship education in the arts will be based somewhat on their exposure to the topic during their K-12 experience.


Accreditation Standards - Institutions must meet the requirements of their accreditation boards. Since Arts Entrepreneurship degrees are not accredited by the National Office of Arts Accreditation (NOAA), it comes as no surprise that the topic is not in the forefront for most.


State Mandated Degree Requirements - Public institutions must meet the state mandated credit hour limits for most degree plans. For these institutions especially, adding an Arts Entrepreneurship component into the degree plan directly puts significant pressure on those institutions.


Bloated Degree Plans - The combined accreditation, institutional, departmental and state mandates have reduced the number of electives for undergraduates significantly in recent years. Thus, many of today's arts students do not have the opportunity to explore other topics of interest unlike their predecessor's decades before. This challenges Arts Entrepreneurship educators and administrators alike when considering the delivery method of courses, workshops and guest speakers.


Student Need - There are always students who desire in-depth career assistance. For decades, however, these needs have been met inconsistently. Yet increasingly, faculty and administrators are becoming more vocal about these needs.


Career Service Offices - Traditionally, these professionals have helped young artists with internships, resumes, gigs and most importantly, jobs in the arts. As Arts Entrepreneurship has taken hold, many of these professionals have embraced the concept when resistance or logistics from other units precludes any formal effort.


The chart below identifies some of the primary pressures being applied to program implementation and curricular design. By cataloging these forces, we can better understand how they shape the discipline.