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College of Creative Arts and Farmer School of Business partner for classes

By Sophie Whorf, For The Miami Student

This fall, Miami students interested in pursuing both business and the arts may have the unique opportunity to combine the two areas of study into one academic track.

Currently, there are 16 new courses within Miami's academic curriculum up for approval, half of which fall within the College of Creative Arts.

Several of these new courses in the College of Creative Arts are requirements for the brand-new arts entrepreneurship minor, which will become available in the fall 2016 semester. The College of Creative Arts has also created a new arts management co-major and revised the existing arts management minor.

Todd Stuart, the Director of Arts Management, has spent the last year designing the arts entrepreneurship minor and will oversee the curriculum once it is officially implemented.

The new minor is a result of a partnership with the Farmer School of Business - where Stuart consulted with faculty and drew inspiration for the program.

"This is a really fantastic program. It is only the 16th arts entrepreneurship minor in the country," said Stuart. "It's really growing as a field, and I think more and more schools are going to be offering it. We're on the leading edge."

Part of Stuart's reason for creating the arts entrepreneurship minor is a result of his personal dream of running a theatre before he arrived at Miami. Both the new arts entrepreneurship minor and the arts management co-major prepare students for similar managerial careers in the art industry.

"There's a really interesting synthesis between the arts and business," said John Weigand, associate dean of the College of Creative Arts. "Arts management prepares students for a bunch of interesting careers. Art museums, opera houses ... all kinds of arts organizations that need to be managed. Students have responded very positively."

Stuart said many business students at Miami have expressed interest in the arts, and vice versa.

"There's a demand for the arts management co-major. When I came in, the Dean asked me to look at the [existing] program and other programs around the country," said Stuart. "We have a lot of students who might want to major in marketing, but they have a background in the arts and they want to understand the business side of art."

Some of the new courses include Financial Management for the Arts, Arts Venture Creation and Arts Marketing.

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"It's a little bit more of a broad exploration," said Weigand. "You're going to learn about management, finance, fundraising - a lot of things that support arts organizations."

Stuart emphasized the importance of an entrepreneurship minor tailored to the arts specifically versus a basic entrepreneurship minor.

"A lot of students [in the College of Creative Arts] don't have any business training," said Stuart. "We're teaching the business side of arts. I think that students need to take business classes in an arts context, because there's a difference."

Weigand said the combination of these two seemingly opposite fields of study will encourage Miami students to approach their education differently.

"[The College of Creative Arts] students needed business courses. My personal belief is that we put too many lines in the sand - this is what I do and this is all I do," said Weigand. "[We think that] one thing is business and everything else is not. The reality is that our vocations often touch many things."

While arts management and arts entrepreneurship are very similar, they are not interchangeable disciplines, Stuart said.

"Art entrepreneurship focuses more on how you think as an entrepreneur. A lot of management is about trying to efficiently reach a goal. The difference in art entrepreneurship is it's about thinking, 'Okay, here's what I have, and here's the different things I could do with this,'" said Stuart. "It's more divergent thinking. It's trying to think how you could create an opportunity or build an idea. It's about creating your future."

Sydney Stevens, a junior strategic marketing major with a double minor in fashion design and management, agrees the art entrepreneurship minor is a progressive, attractive addition to the College of Creative Arts for students.

"Not a lot of people recognize the College of Creative Arts, but it's actually a really good program and has grown so much since my freshmen year," said Stevens.

Stevens said jewelry design is a College of Creative Arts major that specifically demands entrepreneurial knowledge. She stressed how artists are valued now more than ever for their skill, but need fundamental business knowledge in order to successfully market themselves.

"As we enter the digital age, artistic work is becoming more and more valuable," said Stevens. "People think, 'Okay, I know I can paint, but how am I gonna make money off of that?'"

Stuart said parents have found comfort in the new programs, as it provides clear direction for students to create fruitful careers that include their artistic passions.

"It's certainly something people in the arts have wanted," said Stuart.

"This program, because of the connection with the business school, can be one of the top programs in the country, I believe. That partnership is strong. I'm very excited about the minor and the co-major."

Weigand is confident in the future success of the new co-major and minor, as both create the opportunity for students to pursue diverse careers in the arts.

"It's just really appealing for people who have a creative side, but they're not the person who's gonna be on stage," said Weigand. "It's a wonderful way to put the two together."

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