THE EXCHANGE

Mission:

The SUNY Purchase Arts Management Exchange is a place for Arts Management students of the past, present, and future to connect and share their talents, find employment, and spread ideas.

Community Building:

The goal is to create a supportive community that sheds light on current issues and needs within the Arts Management major and minor, and the outside world of arts business. The goal is for Arts Managers at Purchase to be happy in the classroom, while keeping an eye on what is happening beyond its walls.

Real-World Experience:

The Exchange is also a place for students from the conservatory at Purchase College to connect with a current or aspiring arts manager, creating a more productive, cohesive, and hands-on community.

Making Academic Decisions Easier:

For Current Students: Think RateMyProfessor.com Arts Management edition. The Exchange not only gives descriptors of Professors and classes, but also tells you how their teaching technique is unique, what you do and do not cover in their class, and how the class and Professor can address your specific arts background and career goals.

For Prospective Students: The Exchange allows an exploration into what the major / minor really are, and the unique advantages of studying Arts Management at Purchase College.

JOB OPPORTUNITY: DANCE

Ballet des Amériques is holding an audition for male and female dancers next Friday, April 18th!

See the full event description here.

Art Leadership As A Major?

Via The Huffington Post,

2/24/14 by Mark Nerenhausen

Parents across the country are often dumfounded when their child comes to them saying, “I’m going to major in arts leadership.” That declaration is occasionally embraced but more often than not, the response is some version of, “Wouldn’t you rather major in something you can actually get a job doing? Like accounting or finance?” What that concerned parent doesn’t realize is arts leadership provides career opportunities beyond the obvious image of managing a producing or presenting arts nonprofit and extends to fields as diverse as tourism, education, venue management and more.

As the arts have become more successful and as we have seen dramatic growth in the number of nonprofit organizations, we have also seen the role of the arts organization shift. Arts organizations have become more than vehicles to produce art. The arts have an impact on tourism, education, economic development, urban planning and more. With the recognition of those impacts comes a transformation from arts administration to leadership.

This change requires us to understand and act on the role the arts have come to play in the larger civic agenda. It is a change that requires arts leaders to understand what it means to be civic leaders as well as arts leaders and think of the organization’s relationship to that broader agenda, not simply as a means of justifying funding for the organization, but as a fundamental part of the organization’s identity.

The arts have become central to the lives of many people, thanks to the commitment of industry leaders to raise the stature of and drive awareness to the importance art plays in the larger societal conversation. As the opera singer and arts leader Beverly Sills once said, “Art is the signature of civilizations.”

However, if we believe in this linkage and that art is a signature of civilization, we have to be as concerned about the civilization as the art. We have to become engaged in the civic agenda. It is here that opportunity lies. As many of the leading art advocates begin to age and even bow out of the spotlight, it is essential that we train and prepare the next generation to continue the industry’s positive growth trajectory, a trajectory that includes careers in fields that might not always include the word “art” in the job title but very much are based on arts and culture. This includes careers in tourism, the entertainment industry, education, urban planning, sponsorships and marketing, social entrepreneurship, and more.

In order for more students to feel confident in their decision to major in art leadership, we — as educators and leaders need to be able to clearly communicate the degree’s value and prospective career opportunities. We have to understand and convey that arts leadership is more than simply a new metaphor for arts administration.

The differences are more than semantic, and rather speak to a fundamental shift in thinking about the nature of the arts organization. Administration and management is often about what we do, leadership is about who we are. Administration is about the organization and the organization as an end in itself. Leadership speaks to the question of where we are going with the emphasis on “we” and with that perspective comes expanded career opportunity, meaning, and impact.

See the article here

Popular Japanese Composer Confesses Musical Fraud

An NPR article today cites that famous “Beethoven for the digital age”  Japanese composer Mamoru Samuragochi has had all of his compositions done by a ghost composer by the name of Takashi Niigaki. Samuragochi went deaf at the age of 35 and has become synonymous with contemporary classical music in Japan. Niigaki stepped forward recently, however, and revealed Samuragochi’s secret.

Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images via NPR

This revelation raises several questions I think are important for arts managers and artists everywhere to ask:

Why would Niigaki ghost write for Samuragochi for so long in silence?

Why would Samuragochi fake his talent and even perhaps the extent of his disability?

Is the relationship between Niigaki and Samuragochi masterful marketing, or does it characterize the lack luster reception of classical music throughout the world? In other words, do we need such a story of woe, hardship, and survival to pay attention to the work of artists?

Why isn’t the music enough?

 

See the full article here