My first University of Houston class teaching Arts Administration was a success on Monday! The students are superb. Most of them are back at University after years in the business world. Others have recently graduated but actually came back to take the class. I have to take my classes up a notch because they are so savvy – which is a great challenge.For those of you that want to follow along on our coursework here is what we discussed day one.
Class 1 – January 23, 2006
What is art? What is arts administration?
Discussion Topics:
-Arts as a business and why we will focus on nonprofits in this course
-What are nonprofits
-Conversation about the history of art –the earliest forms of art, culture, craft
-Brainstorm about types of art
-Art in Houston, the U.S., the world
-How does art touch you every day
-Who makes art and why
-Understanding the creative process - previsualization
-Who “consumes” art and why
-What competes with the arts
- What is a nonprofit
-Why nonprofit arts
-Defining the bottomline – mission-driven organizations
-Discussion of why arts administration its own course – who are arts administrators
Homework Assignment;
Read and write a two page paper responding to the Introduction of the article What is an Artist? by Donnell Butler of Princeton University
