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5000 Level Art Administration Course Descriptions
ARTSAD 5000
Independent Study: Elective
The independent study presents opportunities for research on special
projects, subject to the approval of a specific faculty member. Registration
forms must be signed by the faculty member with whom the student will
work.
ARTSAD 5001
Cooperative Education Internship
Graduate cooperative education and internships in arts administration
allow students to work in part-time, art-related co-op positions in
approved organizations and institutions. Students are assigned a co-op
faculty adviser. Participation requires a total of 225 hours, with a
minimum weekly average of 15 work hours with the internship organization.
Approval of the director of the Cooperative Education program is required.
You must be a Master of Arts in Arts Administration student to enroll
in this course.
ARTSAD 5004
Critical Issues in Contemporary Culture
Recognizing the complexity of theoretical, social, and aesthetic issues
that today’s arts administrators must confront, this course offers
a foundation in theories of Modernism, Postmodernism, and Visual Studies,
while offering strategies for re-thinking the possibilities of arts
administration. Topics include: the privatization of public space; post-colonial
theory; globalization; new technology; and the impact of macroeconomic
factors on culture. Emphasis is placed on developing strong writing
skills. You must be a Master of Arts in Arts Administration student
to enroll in this course.
ARTSAD 5005
Arts Organizations in Society
This course examines cultural policy issues within arts organizations
and society. A central objective of the course is to develop understanding
of the mission and operation of different arts organizations in the
context of society’s structures and needs. Cultural policy at the
National Endowment for the Arts, along with other national models, will
be critically analyzed. The philosophical foundations of the nonprofit
sector, and the developments that have taken place there in recent times,
will be examined. The educative role of the arts, and how this can be
effectively integrated with an arts organization’s program, will
be addressed through case studies. Alternative organizational models
will be introduced to encourage new thinking in the development of organizational
missions. You must be a Master of Arts in Arts Administration student
to enroll in this course.
ARTSAD 5008
Culture and Commerce: Comparing Profit and Nonprofit Organizations
This course examines practices and strategies in for-profit and non-profit
arts organizations, and the effective management and leadership of those
organizations. The relationship between for-profit and non-profit organizations
will be examined, with a view to the delicate balance between mission
and financial success. Student groups will write a business plan for
a new for-profit or nonprofit, enabling the class to address segments
of an organization in both worlds. Management and leadership issues
addressed include: managing change; decision making; crisis management;
human resources policies and procedures; negotiation skills; conflict
resolution; executive-level presentations; strategic planning; and for-profit
vocabulary and internal communications. You must be a Master of Arts
in Arts Administration student to enroll in this course.
ARTSAD 5009
Advanced Management
This course focuses on key factors which affect employee behavior and
the nature and purposes of leader and managerial roles. In addition,
it addresses recent research in leadership and management and the legal
environment of personnel management. In-depth analysis of transitional
and crisis management, including psychological systems, interpersonal
relations, and the relationship of rewards to performance will be addressed
through case studies, role-playing, and readings.
ARTSAD 5010
Departmental Colloquia
In the first semester students will attend monthly colloquia in which
a topic related to the field is discussed and analyzed. Presentations
are made either by faculty members or guest lecturers. The aim of these
sessions is to provide students with a critical and discursive engagement
with contemporary arts-related issues and late-breaking news. You must
be a Master of Arts in Arts Administration student to enroll in this
course.
ARTSAD 5012
Marketing and Communications
In this course, theories and practices of strategic marketing, and approaches
to effective written and oral communication for arts administrators
are examined. Marketing topics include: consumer behavior; definition
of both actual and potential arts consumers; market segmentation; market
research; planning, pricing, and distribution of the art “product,”
including the development of marketing plans. An array of descriptive,
analytical, and critical writing styles will also be covered: e.g.,
writing reports, proposals, and press releases, and writing for arts
publications. Effective public speaking will also be discussed and practiced.
You must be a Master of Arts in Arts Administration student to enroll
in this course.
ARTSAD 5014
Resource(ful) Development: Fundraising in the Arts
In this course theories and practices of effectively developing financial
resources are examined in an arts context. Topics include: strategies
of communication and promotion; donor development; fundraising for profit
and nonprofit organizations; operational and capital fundraising campaigns;
membership schemes; legal and tax implications of fundraising. You must
be a Master of Arts in Arts Administration student to enroll in this
course.
ARTSAD 5020
Exhibition and Curatorial Theory
This seminar focuses on the history and theory of exhibitions, and on
the contemporary curatorial practice. A wide range of exhibition paradigms
will be explored, from early encyclopedic notions of the exhibition
as source of authority and connoisseurship, to current dialogic and
contestatory models linked with issues of access and multiculturalism.
Basic curatorial issues, including that of the relationship of the curatorial
thesis to the artist’s intent, and of the role of curator as interpreter
and arbiter, will be discussed. This course complements the Exhibition
Implementation course.
ARTSAD 5021
Exhibition Seminar: History and Practice
This seminar focuses initially on the history and theory of exhibitions
and continues with an analysis of contemporary exhibition practices.
A wide range of exhibition paradigms will be explored, from early encyclopedic
notions of the exhibition as source of authority and connoisseurship,
to current dialogic and contestatory models linked with issues of access
and globalism. Basic curatorial issues, including that of the relationship
of the curatorial thesis to the artist’s intent, and of the role
of curator as interpreter and arbiter, will be discussed. Students develop
and present their own exhibition proposals for the final project.
ARTSAD 5024
The Exhibition Process
This course offers a perspective which asks what the curatorial and
educational goals of an exhibition are, and how to devise technical
and logistical procedures which are appropriate to those goals. Course
work may include the design and installation of an actual exhibition.
Technical areas covered will include: layout/visitor flow; lighting
and color; wall texts; climate control; security; art handling; basic
museum registration and condition reporting procedures; preparation
of artwork for transit and loans; and installation project planning.
ARTSAD 5032
Social Issues in Art and Technology
An overview of various issues in the relationship between art and technological
innovation. Do artists lead the way with technology, testing it and
finding new ways to use it, or does technology set the terms and tools
for artistic innovation? Using the advent of the music industry as a
case study, we will explore the possibilities and limitations this new
technology put on the development of music as an art form. We will address
as well the relationship between new media and art dissemination, concentrating
on the effects of televisions, radio, and computers on the distribution
and marketing of art: how are developing media related to what art can
say, where it can say it, how frequently, and to how many people, etc.
ARTSAD 5033
Live Culture: Politics, Performance, and the Contemporary
Where and how might radicalism be located in the corporate, populist,
heavily generic, and high-tech landscapes of contemporary culture? In
a media-saturated culture, what kind of political agency might be attributed
to liveness? Focusing on the different contexts in which art and cultural
products are exhibited, performed, and received, this course analyzes
the efficacy of art practices based on liveness, the destabilization
of representations, interdisciplinarity, marginal identities, ambiguity,
transient statement and local resistance. Topics include: Popular Culture
and its Margins; Independent Film; Public Access TV; Ephemeral Performance;
Public Art; Environmental Interventions; Club and Drug Culture; Queer
Art; The American Culture Wars; New Technologies.
ARTSAD 5034
Collections Management and Conservation
Collections form the core of a museums’ programs and activities.
They are the means by which histories and cultures are recorded and
interpreted. Given the contemporary redefinition and expansion of many
museum’s public mandate, there are many important questions regarding
the care and accessibility of collections that must be addressed. This
course examines current standards and procedures for developing, organizing,
and managing collections including: the development of collections policies,
including acquisitions, ethics, loans, and deaccessioning; systems of
classification, registration, documentation, storage, and retrieval;
legal aspects of collections; security concerns, loans, and preparing
work for transit; restitution, return, and repatriation; environmental
control, care, and conservation of works. This course focuses on collections
of artworks, but also addresses a broader range of types of collections.
ARTSAD 5035
Givers, “Getters” and Gurus: Philanthropy and the Arts in
the United States from 1900 to present
This seminar-style class offers the professional arts administrator
and interested students in general an opportunity to learn about the
history and practices of philanthropy and giving in the United States
as it relates to the arts. The course will examine such topics as the
difference between philanthropy and fundraising; the ethical aspect
of philanthropic activities; and the impact that specific philanthropists,
including Ford, Carnegie, MacArthur, and Bill and Melinda Gates, have
had on the cultural landscape of the United States. The course will
also focus attention on corporate giving, especially how it relates
to such controversial exhibitions as Sensation and Armani. Questions
the class will examine include: Why do individuals begin giving to the
arts in the first place?: Is corporate philanthropy somehow less ethical
than private philanthropy?; What kind of governmental mechanisms exist
to encourage philanthropic activities?; What role does public opinion
play in making decisions about the direction of philanthropy? In addition,
the course will focus special attention on the state of philanthropy
in the post-September 11 environment.
ARTSAD 5040
Curating History
A recent spate of controversies has erupted regarding how museums should
interpret histories via exhibitions. At the Smithsonian Institution,
for example, exhibitions focusing on the Enola Gay and on Sigmund Freud
have been cancelled as a result of controversy, while the Metropolitan
Museum’s presentation of Treasures of Chinese Art caused
a storm of public disapproval in Taiwan. This course will ask questions
about who has the right to tell these stories, who should be involved
in that process, and how it should be undertaken. How should museums
deal with controversial scholarship, and with “public” pressure?
What is the appropriate role of the curator as broker between “scholarship”
and “public?” Are there differences in these roles and responsibilities
for public and private institutions?
ARTSAD 5050
Arts Administration Internship I
Graduate internships in arts administration allow students to work in
part-time, art-related positions in approved organizations and institutions.
Students are assigned a faculty advisor, who assists in setting clear
objectives for the internship, makes site visits, and participates in
final written evaluation of the project. Participation requires a total
of 225 hours, with a weekly minimum average of 15 work hours with the
internship organization. In addition, four seminar classes address issues
of entering the workforce, and include discussion of internship experiences
and a workshop on internship evaluation techniques. You must be a Master
of Arts in Arts Administration student to enroll in this course.
ARTSAD 5051
Arts Administration Internship II
All MAAA students are required to do two internships, the second more
rigorous and focused on working with a mentor in the internship organization.
Students will attend at least one board meeting in the internship organization,
and gain an insight into board operations. For the second internship,
the student will again be assigned a faculty advisor, who assists in
setting clear objectives for the internship, makes site visits, and
participates in interim and final written evaluations of the project.
Participation requires a total of 225 hours, with a weekly minimum average
of 15 work hours with the internship organization. Each stage of the
project reflects the more focused nature of the second internship. In
addition, four seminar classes address issues of relevance to advanced
MAAA students, as well as offering discussion of internship experiences.
Students will usually develop work from their second internship into
their Thesis project. You must be a Master of Arts in Arts Administration
student to enroll in this course.
ARTSAD 5060
The Collaborative Project
The Collaborative Project involves working with students from one or
more of the Graduate programs at SAIC or elsewhere on a collaborative
project, culminating in an on-line presentation of that project. The
project should foster collaboration, and encourage working with artists
and artworks. The on-line presentation might involve for example: documentation
of an exhibition; production of a virtual art gallery or hypertext essay;
web-based ‘zine. SAIC’s web site would house the on-line presentation.
You must be a Master of Arts in Arts Administration student to enroll
in this course.
ARTSAD 5502
New Technologies and Arts Organizations
Questions of technology span virtually every department of contemporary
arts organizations, and impact each area of operation and programming.
This course examines current trends and practices in the following areas,
and develops methodologies for integrating them effectively and creatively
into the organization’s work; students will also receive practical
training in these applications: (a) Business Software—including
effective internal network communication, financial management, publicity
databases; (b) Graphic Design Applications—to develop in-house
designed publicity and other information; and (c) HTML Internet programming—to
enhance potential for effective marketing of arts organizations, and
develop programming on the internet. You must be a Master of Arts in
Arts Administration student to enroll in this course.
ARTSAD 5505
Law, Politics, and the Arts
This course provides the student with an understanding of the legal
system and the political process as they relate to the arts. The first
part of the course is a survey of the American legal system and laws
affecting arts organizations. The second part of the course explores
the philosophical foundations and the practical experience of the relationship
of government and the political process to the arts. You must be a Master
of Arts in Arts Administration student to enroll in this course.
ARTSAD 5890
Extreme Arts Administration
This class is an investigation into new (as well as some old, but overlooked)
ways of organizing cooperative cultural spaces; interactive public-art
projects; art actions for political demonstrations; as well as community
gardens and recycling centers. The course will critique and re-think
contemporary administrative practices, fashioned from select readings,
class discussions, media presentations that will culminate in the development
of new organizational prototypes. Frequent guest seminars by noted and
unorthodox arts innovators and cultural activists will provide a variety
of working models from which to travel to the edge of the known organizational
universe, where art, politics, and institutional planning converge.
Throughout the course, participants will ground the critique of contemporary
institutional practices in historical and sociological analysis with
a strong materialist bent.
ARTSAD 5892
Publication as Curation
There has been a proliferation of compilation activities in the literary
world and in such fields as music, sound art, and CD-ROM production.
What assertions can be made about connections and differences between
the individual parts and the outcome of the whole? How does order affect
perception, and does the curator serve as editor and arbiter? What does
it mean to select works, and what is our notion of the archive? Is it
the responsibility of the curator to be objective, and can one escape
personal preference and conflict of interest? Publication as a form
of curation can be explored through the examination of the small press,
literary journal, artist book, home publishing, CD-ROM production, archival
series as museum, and multimedia hybrid. The preparation and organization
of materials for commercial and non-commercial distribution, from limited
edition to mass production and dissemination, question the common ground
between curation and the editorial. From representation to the review
panel, from the implied curator authority to conflict of interest, this
course will examine this genre both from a theoretical consideration
and with hands-on pragmatic experience.
ARTSAD 5900
History of The Museum and The Museum In Society
Museums trace their origins to earlier sites of collection and ritual
display such as religious shrines, princely galleries, and cabinets
of wonder/curiosity. The role of these places has variously included
housing idiosyncratic arrays; making manifest wealth, power, and prestige;
asserting civic or national identity; and codifying interpretations
of cultural legacy. This course traces the development of museums from
these early manifestations to the present day, relating the trajectory
of this class of institutions to currents of political, intellectual,
technological, and aesthetic development. Recent trends in museum identity
and practice, including the mandate to become more educational and more
“public,” and the barrage of new construction internationally,
are assessed. The museum’s presence in contemporary society, as
both home for art and as potent cultural signifier, are examined.
ARTSAD 5902
Exhibition Process
This course offers a perspective which asks what the curatorial and
educational goals of an exhibition are, and how to devise technical
and logistical procedures which are appropriate to those goals. Course
work may include the design and installation of an actual exhibition.
Technical areas covered will include: layout/visitor flow, lighting
and color, wall texts, climate control, security, art handling, basic
museum registration and condition reporting procedures, preparation
of artwork for transit, loans, and installation project planning.
ARTSAD 5905
The Next Museum
While once organized according to generally agreed-upon principles of
order and value, museums are being rethought, reorganized, redesigned.
In some cases (such as the Musee National des Arts d’Afrique et
d’Oceanie in Paris) they’re even being closed, completely
upending the underlying principles of cultural meaning and relatedness
that museums once embodied. Then, too, museums themselves have become
increasingly the subject of contemporary art in the past twenty years.
Such changes are being propelled and reflected in the practice and theoretical
work being done in many disciplines related to the current art scene.
This seminar will be structured around bi-weekly lectures by some of
the pioneers in the field of museum studies, including artists, curators,
art historians and architects. Alternate weeks will consist of discussion
and related project work and gallery and museum visits.
ARTSAD 5906
The Net as an Exhibition Environment: Sites, Streams, and Distributed
Spaces
This course focuses on the unique possibilities of the Internet as a
site for creation and exhibition of art. It also approaches the network
as a unique forum for reflection on the new issues prompted by the Internet
both as a medium and a new form of public space. The goals of the course
include for the students to understand the structure of the Internet
and of a website as an artistic medium, and either curate a show online
or develop artwork to exist in cyberspace. The underlying assumption
is that the Internet is an important space in which and through which
artists and arts administrators work. This work is in some sense an
extension of the questioning of the “white cube” as exhibition
space, and of artistic strategies which have sought to open new avenues
for both the placement of work and in which the meanings of their work
are produced.
ARTSAD 5907
Museum as Machinery
Museums are permanent institutions in the service of society and of
its development, and open to the public, which acquires, conserves,
researches, communicates, and exhibits, for the purposes of study, education,
and enjoyment, material evidence of man and his environment. Today’s
art museums are challenged by the globalization of culture, art, and
economy; the new technologies, mediums, and forms of contemporary art;
new theories and disciplines that re-think and re-interpret the history
of art; and the mass culture. When considering the idea of public service,
art museums have to develop projects and programs that fulfill their
mission according to the new challenges. Museum leadership and management
are concerned with the effective and efficient implementation of ideas,
from conception to realization. Defining museum objectives is not enough.
Individual staff members should also have clearly defined objectives
which relate directly to those of the institution as a whole. This course
explores the complexity of the structure of museums. In studying the
leading strategies and management of museums, collections, and projects,
this class closely examines collaborative working structures that build
up the museum to operate as a functioning whole. The main focus of the
course is on historical and contemporary art exhibitions which require
the collaboration of museum leaders, curators, fundraisers, marketing
and public relation managers, and other departments of the museum which
are responsible for copyright, credits, insurance, design, publications,
education, museum communication, and customs, shipment, installation,
and documentation. The secondary focus of the course is on the coordination
of these activities, which enables the museum-machinery to meet its
goals.
ARTSAD 5911
International Issues In Arts Administration
The purpose of this course is to provide students with the skills necessary
to conceive, implement, and evaluate international visual arts programming.
Primary to the methodology is the integration of the “theoretical”
with the “technical”: for example, obtaining visas for artists
is not discussed in the absence of considerations of what it means to
the artist and to the understanding of the art work for it to be imported
We examine cross-border presentation of the arts, including: issues
of ‘translation’ (how does an audience understand work from
another culture?); curatorial authority vs. self-definition; the ethics
of encyclopedic international events; equity in multi-national partnerships
and collaborations; cultural and language differences; national cultural
programs: comparison of various models of public/official support; resources
for international projects; art for export as an aesthetic and as a
political gesture; artwork as world citizen; international transport
of art work; international marketing; customs regulations, visas, and
immigration and national patrimony.
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