Arts & Cultural Management

This program encourages participants to consider their role in society and their respective communities as cultural arbiters and educators. The Arts and Cultural Management Program (ACMP) is a two-year program that expands traditional arts business and management courses to include public policy, the impact of multiculturalism, cultural education, and innovation in operating and communications technology. Classes are held in Manhattan.

We offer a graduate degree in Arts & Cultural Management M.P.S.

By expanding the course work to include nonprofit management practices, public policy, and other contemporary issues, the ACMP stresses the importance of simultaneously developing business acumen and a sense of social responsibility. Courses are offered on weekends so that students may continue their full-time work or obtain full-time internships. The field of arts and cultural administration has grown politicized as a result of the so-called culture wars and increased social activism on the part of artists. In unprecedented ways, the directors of arts and cultural institutions are increasingly compelled to address the broader social and political issues raised either through the work that is presented or by the public’s response to the work.

While some might view these changes as challenges, others see them as opportunities for developing new ways to incorporate arts and culture into the daily lives of Americans. In general, traditional arts management
education does not prepare administrators for the increasing demands placed on them by external sources and the need to cultivate new sources of financial support and collaborating partners. Pratt Institute’s ACMP produces arts and cultural leaders equipped with the necessary theoretical, analytical, and practical skills to respond creatively to the changing cultural, economic, and social environments in which they work.

 

The goal of this program is to prepare arts and cultural professionals to assume leadership roles within philanthropic and nonprofit public sectors and private sector arts and cultural agencies. This goal is accomplished by:
• Stretching each participant’s ability todeal with a wide range of critical artistic, , and business problems in practical and theoretical terms;
• Increasing the individual’s ability to manage complex, cross-disciplinary, and competing problems and tensions that inherent in arts and cultural business environments;
• Providing practical skills for negotiating organizational and artistic conflicts;
• Broadening outlooks on the social, economic, and political climate and the role of arts and cultural institutions in society;
• Sharpening personal capacities for understanding and solving organizational and human relations problems;
• Developing communications skills for the effective exchange of ideas and information;
• Sharpening the individual’s capacities to anticipate and effectively manage change fueled by external forces;
• Developing the leadership capabilities of each participant;
• Sharing the ideas and experiences of a diverse group of promising arts and cultural managers.

The ACMP is designed for arts and cultural professionals who wish to develop their managerial skills and effectiveness in order to assume senior-level management responsibilities or run their own organization. Applicants should have an undergraduate degree in a related field—an arts discipline, social policy, or organizational theory—and some arts/cultural work experience. In some cases volunteer experience will be an acceptable demonstration of interest in the field. An interview (in person, by phone, or e-mail) with the Program Director is required for admission. A 3.0 undergraduate cumulative index is required. For international students, a minimum Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) score of 550 is required.

Because this program is designed for the working professional, classes are held for twelve hours every other weekend, coupled with a full week of instruction at the beginning, and a summer intensive that includes three weekdays. Students are required to take 42 credits to complete the program and receive a Master of Professional Studies (M.P.S.) in Arts and Cultural Management.

The curriculum covers five study areas:
• Making connections—marketing, development, and education;
• People and organizational dynamics;
• Operating environments;
• Finance, decisionmaking, and information systems; and,
• Experience-based learning.

The ACMP’s academic calendar is modeled on successful executive M.B.A. programs. With a schedule of alternating weekends (Saturday and Sunday) that allows participants to carry their full job responsibilities while they study. A full week of instruction at the beginning of the program and a summer intensive that includes three weekdays provide the opportunity for highly interactive behavioral simulations and negotiation modules. The two years of classes are divided into five continuous semesters, which include the summer between the first and second year. These semesters are divided into two sets of 10-week classes. Within each set, students take two courses, each of which meets for three hours on Saturday and on Sunday. Course work is concentrated in these sessions and moves at a fast pace. Class attendance is critical, since each alternating weekend of classes is one-tenth of the entire course.

As their “capstone” experience, students have the opportunity to take one of three experience-based learning options—internship, Team Pratt (three students are retained by an arts/cultural organization to address a specific management problem), or case study development. Each option is divided into Thesis Part I (2 credits), taken in the fall semester of the second year, and Thesis Part II (2 credits), taken in the spring of the second year.