Number crunching abilities, acute analytical skills, a keen business sense and entrepreneurial initiative - these are the attributes traditionally associated with and most in demand in an MBA graduate. But design instinct, art appreciation and cultural knowledge? Could an MBA program also develop these? Well, yes...some sure can. A growing realization of the importance of inculcating administrative and business skills even in those who wish to grow their careers in the long term in creative fields such as art, fashion and entertainment have led to a number of management programs with an interdisciplinary bent that can groom managerial talent for these fields. While some are offered as three-year dual MBA-MFA/MBA-MA degree programs, others are uniquely structured two-year programs that offer a combination of core and elective courses that blend instruction in management and aspects of art and design. We take a look at 5 prominent MBA programs that have a special thrust on management education for those geared towards a creative career pursuit.
Want to make great films and also make them economically viable? This one could be for you, then.
The joint MBA/MFA degree is a partnership of two world-class programs, NYU’s Stern School of Business and Kanbar Institute of Film & Television at the Tisch School of the Arts.
The three-year program claims to bridge the gap between the “creatives” and the “suits,” and imparts knowledge to aspiring entertainment industry professionals to help them navigate the fast-changing landscape of contemporary financing and filmmaking.
Students must be accepted by both schools, satisfying the respective admission requirements and spend about half their time on courses in each. Students are also involved in practical film-making projects and most find time for internships sometime during their program.
Admissions however are very selective with Variety magazine reporting that of the 100 or so applicants who have applied each year since the launch of the program in 2008, NYU has accepted about four students per year, with plans to boost enrolment to six.
ReutersThis two-year unique Design Strategy program is targeted at self-motivated students “who are pioneers, interested in collaboration and meaningful change in the world.”
The curriculum weaves together perspectives of systems thinking, design and integrative thinking, sustainability, finance, entrepreneurship, and generative leadership into a holistic strategic framework, and builds innovative leaders for the future to take charge in an entire gamut of industries – both conventional MBA-recruiting industries as well as more creative and off-beat ones.
The program equips graduates to not only create innovative products, services, and policy, but also more importantly, to help organizations develop new business models for the future. Each semester, students develop individual and team solutions to a variety of economic and social challenges using design techniques, including customer-centered research, prototyping, critique, and iteration, as well as business metrics.
The MBA in Design Strategy has dedicated studio space on CCA's San Francisco campus, the location of its nationally recognized design and architecture programs. Students have access to wood and metal shops, and model-making, welding, and rapid prototyping studios (featuring a 3D prototyping machine and laser cutters), as well as media studios for editing digital media, film, video, and sound.
ReutersFounded in 1969, the Bolz Center for Arts Administration – one of the ten career specialization centers at the Wisconsin School of Business – is now in its fourth decade of preparing administrative leaders for the arts and culture segment. The Center combines an intensive focus on business disciplines, theory and practical application, with a deep and dynamic exploration of mission-driven management.
While arts-related businesses come in many forms, the Wisconsin “Arts Administration” places special emphasis on nonprofit or public organizations. These businesses make only a portion of their total revenues from earned income (such as ticket sales or gate fees), relying also on contributed income to cover the true costs of their work.
As a group, nonprofit arts and culture organizations foster a vast array of cultural experiences in small towns, big cities and through many media— from symphonies to jazz bands, theaters to sculpture gardens, museums to community arts centers, public radio to on-line ventures. The MBA in Arts Administration prepares graduates for business leadership in this segment. Graduates from the program have gone on to hold designations such as ‘Manager, Dance Programming, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ or ‘Director of Museum Services, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.’
ReutersWell, this is not technically an MBA but nevertheless one of the forerunners among programs combining rigorous finance, marketing and fund-raising coursework with practical experience to prepare students for excellence in a for-profit or non-profit arts environment.
Offered at CMU’s Heinz College, the MAM provides an ideal mix of classroom and real world experience. Future Tenant, an art space in downtown Pittsburgh, serves as a working lab for the direct application of the course concepts taught in class.
Students can pair the degree with a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law or with a graduate degree in Innovation and Organization of Culture and the Arts from the University of Bologna, Italy. They even have the option of spending one semester at the University of Bologna in Italy to gain an understanding of cultural policy on an international scale.
Graduates are employed in a variety of decision-making roles across functional areas found in arts and cultural organizations as well as related agencies that shape and influence the arts community. Only a few of the prominent recruiters from the program have been The Brooklyn Academy of Music, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, National Gallery of Art, New York Philharmonic, Samsung Foundation of Culture and even for-profit organizations such as Concert Artists Guild and Johnson & Johnson Ethicon.
ReutersThe new Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences will give a boost to education and research in the areasReuters
