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Arts Administration

Department of Arts & Humanities

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Program Description

Prepare for creative leadership with the Program in Arts Administration’s (ARAD) comprehensive, two-year, 48-credit master’s degree that is informed by both research and professional practice. Our program welcomes students training to work in all artistic traditions and aesthetic styles, in the for-profit and non-profit sectors, both in the U.S. and abroad. In our program you will find:

  • An exceptional and renowned full-time faculty with active research projects and influence in the arts;

  • Accomplished arts professionals and highly successful instructors who offer courses on marketing, fundraising, accounting, and business planning;

  • A data-driven approach to arts administration that will uniquely position ARAD graduates as competitive in the field;

  • A partnership with the Columbia University School of Business enabling preferential registration;

  • Opportunities for hands-on learning with leading arts organizations in New York and beyond;

  • Individualized student advising and mentorship from faculty, fellow students, and alumni;

  • An academic internship program, supported by an in-house professional development coordinator;

  • A robust and global alumni network;

  • A supportive, dynamic, exciting group of peers—part of our “cohort experience;”

  • Opportunities for professional development, including an annual internship fair, networking opportunities, career and interviewing workshops, and microgrants.

Degrees

  • Master of Arts

    • Points/Credits: 39

      Entry Terms: Fall

      Degree Requirements

      The M.A. degree consists of 48 points of coursework:

      The 48 required points are comprised of: 30 points taken from the core program offerings, which includes 3 points of coursework through the Columbia University Business School, 1 point for the Practicum, 2 points for an internship, and 3 points for the capstone thesis or project; 6 points of Arts Administration Program (ARAD) electives; 6 points of coursework outside of the Arts Administration Program to fulfill the breadth requirement through Teachers College courses; and 6 points taken as electives at Teachers College or Columbia University.  

      The core curriculum represents a unique alliance among the faculties of Teachers College and Columbia’s Graduate School of Business, and access to diverse academic offerings across Columbia’s many graduate programs and schools. Included in the core requirements are training in cultural data and analysis, policy, fundraising, DEIA (diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility), accounting, financial planning, marketing, entrepreneurship, labor relations, contracts, and copyright law.  Each student is evaluated in the first year to ensure that satisfactory progress is maintained. Please note: tuition rates may vary for non-TC courses, depending on the offering school.

Faculty

  • Faculty

    • Davinia Gregory Assistant Professor, Arts Administration Program
    • Jennifer Lena Associate Professor of Arts Administration

  • Professors of Teaching

    • Tania Aparicio Morales Assistant Professor of Teaching
    • Lauren Elaine Van Haaften-Schick Assistant Professor of Teaching

  • Adjunct Faculty

    • Alexandra Perloff-Giles PT Adjunct instructor
    • Agnes Szanyi Adjunct Assistant

  • Instructors

    • Rebecca Carew PT Instructor

Courses

  • A&HG 4013 - Cultural Policy
    A seminar covering historical and contemporary issues in arts policy focused on moments of economic, political, and social conflict and consensus.
  • A&HG 4174 - Law and the Arts
    Permission required for non-AADM majors. Principal artistic applications of U.S. law in areas drawn from copyright law, unfair competition and trademark law, misappropriation, First Amendment questions, miscellaneous torts including rights of privacy and publicity, defamation, interference with contract, and other problems relating to authenticity of art works.
  • A&HG 4176 - Fundraising
    Permission from professor required for non-AADM majors. An overview of current thinking in the field on finding support and generating funds for cultural initiatives including traditional and non-traditional approaches, funding trend analysis and research, and social entrepreneurship and revenue generation.
  • A&HG 4178 - Marketing for the Arts, Entertainment & Culture
    This course encompasses a focus on both for and not for profit organizations. It covers the diverse fields of commercial entertainment and visual arts, nonprofit performing and visual arts, as well as service and trade-related organizations in the cultural arts realm.
  • A&HG 4370 - Practicum in Arts Admin
    Permission required. This is a required course that offers professional development sessions and in which students read and critique research and reports on the state of the field, and practices within it. This course must be completed prior to the required internship.
  • A&HG 4470 - Internship in Arts Administration
    Permission required. Internship arranged with host institutions on an individual basis, taking into account the student’s needs, interests, and capacities and the host’s abilities to integrate those with its operation in an educationally useful manner. Minimum 75 hours. Pre-requisite: Practicum in Arts Administration.
  • A&HG 4575 - IP Proposal
    AADM majors only. In this mandatory course, first-year ARAD students will develop a formal proposal for the integrative project for approval, secure an appropriate IP Sponsor, and complete an oral defense of their IP proposal.
  • A&HG 4970 - Supv Rsch-Arts Admin
    Permission from the Program Director required. Independent research in arts administration.
  • A&HG 5172 - Contemporary Issues Arts Admin
    Contemporary issues within arts administration. Topics evolve with the field but can include debates over deaccessioning art, the importance of new markets like China, etc.
  • A&HG 5175 - Entrepreneurship in the Arts
    Permission from professor required for non-AADM majors. Designed to integrate arts administration course-work from business, law, and the arts. Moves from the financial, cultural, political environment to strategic planning tools to specific arts situations in the creation and implementation of planning objectives.
  • A&HG 5178 - Race & The Arts
    Race and The Arts explores how, at every step, arts practitioners and administrators generate and reinforce meanings that we take for granted, but are being created all the time, by engaging in pre-established discourses that go back to the foundations of modernity and modern capitalism. Whether arts practitioners or administrators know they are engaging in discourse is irrelevant - they always are. The course aims to make us intentional about how we engage with the defining discourse of modern times - that around how we place value on people, human-made objects, and the earth's natural resources.
  • A&HG 5501 - Contracts, Conflict, and Negotiation in the Arts
    This course offers an overview of legal agreements in the arts, and gives students crucial tools for navigating related issues through a series of hands-on workshops in topics such as contract negotiation and conflict resolution. These skills will prepare students for the job market, and give them vital resources with which they can excel in future positions in arts organizations or businesses. Understanding contract terms and the power dynamics behind negotiations will also give students the crucial ability to identify and remedy contracts that might be unfair, as well as to hone their capacity to identify workplace inequities, thereby equipping them to establish and uphold business practices that are oriented towards social justice.
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