BWW Blog: Arts Managers and Where to Find Them

Do you know that feeling when you love the arts so much, but you don't really want to pursue them as a career, but you also don't want to let them go? Well, let me tell you something: Arts Management & Entrepreneurship is the major for you.

You may have read it on my first post, but I play the violin, and I also dance jazz ballet. However, I always knew I didn't want to be a professional artist. For many reasons but mainly because I am aware of the difficulties of the gig industry, especially coming from Brazil (a country that does not value the arts that much). I couldn't, however, make dance and music just a hobby in my life. I don't want to work on stage, or behind the curtains, but rather from a desk and behind a computer. Boring? Well, thankfully, I don't think so.

I started Business School in Brazil, in a dual degree program, meaning we have to take our senior year abroad in one of the partner universities and we get diplomas both from Brazil and from the country we choose. I could have decided to go to Spain, Ireland, Germany, or the US. Since freshman year, I was sure about going to Baldwin Wallace University in Ohio, mainly because of its well-known arts community. BW's Conservatory of Music is well renowned, and earlier this year, the University made it to Billboard's Top Music Business Schools for its Arts Management & Entrepreneurship program, and its upcoming Music Industry major. Although I'm at BW finishing my School of Business degree, I managed (with a lot of help from my advisors) to add Arts Management as a second major. It literally combines my education with my passion. What else could I ask for?

The program approaches how to manage various arts organizations, from dance studios to theatres, or as we like to say: "from Bach to Broadway." On our first Introduction to Arts Management class, we wrote on a whiteboard all the careers we could follow as Arts Managers, and I kid you not, it was over forty. Company managers, house managers. We can work at music festivals, museums, orchestras, recording studios, you name it! We all have different art interests varying from all styles of music, dance, theatre, and visual arts. AMG alumni are all over the country working in the entertainment industry.

Some of our classes are:

• Principles and Practices of Arts Management,

• Fundraising for the Arts,

• Marketing & Audience Development in Arts,

• Financial Management of Arts Organizations

We also have to take classes from the School of Business and the Conservatory.

One of my favorite things about the Arts Management program at Baldwin Wallace is the Arts Management Association (AMA). It is a student organization that provides networking opportunities through luncheons with guest speakers, and a once-a-year networking trip to a major arts city. It gives students a chance to practice all that we learn from organizing fundraising events, to help manage art/music festivals, to producing musicals. And this year, I am especially excited about AMA because I got voted as Director of Marketing! It's another opportunity to combine both my majors and understand a little bit more about the marketing industry for the arts.

I have been given a chance to combine my majors in more than one project already! In Fall 2019, I was part of the producing team for the academic premiere of Kinky Boots, creating the marketing strategy for the show (I will tell you all about this experience on my next post). And during the spring semester of 2020, I participated in a marketing consulting project for Ingenuity Cleveland through the Baldwin Wallace Digital Marketing Clinic.

All these experiences I get to be a part of because of the Arts Management major and other campus' organizations such as the Digital Marketing Clinic are helping me build a solid and more specific resume, as well as enlarging my network of professionals in the business. My professional goal is to work for marketing agencies and create strategies and content for Broadway musicals. Being a fan first, I know the importance of connecting the show to the audience, and I want to make sure this is never left aside. As a famous character once said, "there's a million things I haven't done, but just you wait."

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