The Future(s) of Arts Entrepreneurship Education: Models to Prepare Today’s Students for Tomorrow’s Careers
Nov 7, 2024 3:00-4:30pm Eastern
How can university arts entrepreneurship programs prepare students to craft fulfilling, multi-faceted careers amid rapidly evolving artistic, political and economic realities? What curricular and co-curricular models have proven successful–and which ones haven’t? A panel of leading scholars and practitioners will discuss the current landscape of the field–and discuss what comes next.
Wen Guo and David McGraw will begin the session with a brief presentation of the findings from their paper, “Stepping Outside the Classroom: Connecting Contextual Factors’ of American Universities and Arts Alumni’s Entrepreneurial Intentions,” from the recently published book Innovating Institutions and Inequities in the Arts (ed. Joanna Woronkowicz and Doug Noonan). They will share their research drawing on SNAAP data to investigate the ways in which higher education arts entrepreneurship programs impacts choices of self-reliant careers for arts alumni of different racial and economic backgrounds.
Then, leaders from four top arts entrepreneurship programs–the Center for Arts, Migration, and Entrepreneurship at the University of Florida, the Center for Creative Economies at The University of Texas at Austin, the EXCEL Lab at the University of Michigan, and the Music Business & Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Florida–will respond to Guo and McGraw’s work and share their distinctive models for arts entrepreneurship education in and outside the curriculum and spanning pedagogy and research.
Registration
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Speakers
Oşubi Craig
Oṣubi Craig is an arts administrator, artist and engineer possessing comprehensive experience as a higher education administrator, ensemble director, performing artist, presenter, arts center director, arts integration advocate, and education facilitator. Oṣubi brings a great deal of experience and energy to his role as the inaugural director of the recently launched Center for Arts, Migration, and Entrepreneurship (CAME) in the College of the Arts at the University of Florida (UF).
Most recently at UF, Oṣubi served as Advisory Council member forCenter for African Studies and has served as the college representative on several campus-wide working groups: the UF Equitable AI group, the Advanced AI Faculty Learning Community, and the AI and Society workgroup. Nationally, last year Oṣubi was elected as a member of the Executive Committee to the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities(A2ru).
His current work focuses on the intersections of arts, science, technology, entrepreneurship, and diasporic communities. This includes the creative economy space and directly supporting Artists’ and Creatives’ entrepreneurial efforts in their communities with a view towards global impact. As the director of CAME, he brings together faculty, artists, and community organizers from around the world to more broadly connect, collaborate, and create.
Wen Guo
Wen Guo is an Assistant Professor and Director of the MA Program in Arts Administration within the Department of Art Education at Florida State University. She received her doctoral degree in Cultural Policy and Arts Administration from Ohio State University. She studies various topics in arts administration and cultural policy, including arts policy networks, entrepreneurship in the arts, and arts in community engagement. She was a 2021-2022 SNAAP Fellow and served as a panel reviewer for research grants of the National Endowment for the Arts. She currently serves as an editorial board member of the American Journal of Arts Management and a board member of the International Conference of Social Theory, Politics and the Arts. Her scholarly work is published as refereed book chapters and scholarly journal articles in Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts, Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogies, Cultural Trends, Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society, Journal of Dance Education, Review of Policy Research, Studies in Art Education and more.
Jonathan Kuuskoski
Jonathan Kuuskoski is Chair of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Leadership and Director of the EXCEL Lab and at University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, where he leads their comprehensive entrepreneurship, leadership, management and career development programming. Since 2015, EXCEL has helped launch hundreds of student-led arts projects, while incubating dozens of student ventures and delivering personalized training resources to thousands of aspiring performing arts professionals.
Jonathan has presented his work widely, including at the Peabody Institute (Johns Hopkins), Yale University, the Bolz Center for Arts Administration (Wisconsin School of Business), New World Symphony, the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna (mdw), and the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music. He has provided commentary on a number of music sector issues for CNN, Forbes, and Inc.com, and his work in the arts entrepreneurship and leadership space has been profiled by CNBC, Crain’s Detroit Business, Symphony Magazine, and other news outlets. His latest publication, “Narrowing the Gap: Implications of Arts Business Training onArtist Labor Market Outcomes” (co-authored with Dr. Christos Makridis, Artivate, Vol. 12), examines the impact of business training on artists’ earnings using U.S. Census Bureau data.
David McGraw
David McGraw serves as the Program Coordinator for Arts Administration at Elon University. Previously he created and led for ten years the Arts Entrepreneurship Certificate at the University of Iowa, holding a joint appointment in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and the Tippie College of Business. He co-authored with Dr. Wen Guo a chapter in Innovating Institutions and Inequities in the Arts as well as authoring chapters in 20Under40: Re-Inventing the Arts and Arts Education for the 21st Century and Off Headset: Essays on Stage Management Work, Life, and Career. Field research: Stage Manager Survey (2006-present), South African Creative Industries Technical Staff Survey (2019), SM2030 Project (2020-present), and Return to the Stage (2020-2021). He was a Research Fellow for the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project in 2021 and is the Executive Director of the Piedmont Shakespeare Company. www.davidjmcgraw.com
Sonia Montoya
Sonia Montoya is Director of the Center for Creative Economies at the University of Texas at Austin. Montoya came to UT Austin from the philanthropic sector, where she partnered with foundation executives and nonprofit leaders to advance mission-focused work for more than a decade. Most recently, she led relationships with foundation executives at the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), where she conducted quantitative and qualitative analysis to surface insights to improve their effectiveness. Prior to CEP, she partnered with nonprofit leaders in creating sustainable financial management strategies at Nonprofit Finance Fund and served as a project administrator for the International Center for the Arts of the Americas at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Before transitioning to the nonprofit sector, Montoya worked as an actor in film, TV and theatre. She holds a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, where she was named a Public Service fellow.
Gabrielle Piazza
Gabrielle Piazza (she/her/hers) is the Assistant Director of the EXCEL Lab within the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre and Dance. Career development, especially within the ever changing landscape of the arts, is a passion of Gabrielle’s, and her work with the EXCEL Lab is an exciting way to build connections and relationships with and for the SMTD community. Prior to this role, Gabrielle supported a portfolio of student organizations as a Program Manager in the Center for Campus Involvement’s University Activities Center, and worked as Assistant Manager of the Michigan Union Ticket Office, serving campus and community organizations. She has worked with a variety of arts institutions including the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Interlochen Center for the Arts, the Purple Rose Theatre Company, and the Utah Shakespeare Festival. As a performer and workshop facilitator, Gabrielle spent three years touring the US, Europe, and Japan with music outreach group The Young Americans. Gabrielle holds an M.F.A in Arts Leadership (Virginia Tech), an M.B.A. (Southern Utah University), and received her B.A. in Mathematics and Musical Theatre from Adrian College. Within the national community, she is a member of Arts Administrators in Higher Education, serving as Annual Meeting Committee Co-Chair 2020-2022.
José Valentino Ruiz-Resto
José Valentino, PhD, CEO of JV Music Enterprises and Founder & Director of the UF Music Business & Entrepreneurship Program, is a serial arts entrepreneur. He emphasizes business acumen, creative adaptability, and missiological outreach through experiential learning, preparing students for success in arts industries. By integrating cross-cultural and quality-of-life entrepreneurship, Valentino empowers students to use their talents to uplift communities worldwide. Learn more at www.josevalentino.com.