Arts and Cultural Leadership at the University of Oregon

We educate cultural sector leaders to make a difference in communities.

The Arts & Cultural Leadership field of interest in the University of Oregon’s (UO) School of Planning, Public Policy, and Management (PPPM) prepares students for prominent management roles in the cultural sector. Combining knowledge across the visual and performing arts with social, cultural, managerial, and educational concerns that pertain to administering nonprofit and public arts organizations, coursework in this field of interest educates leaders prepared to successfully run arts organizations.

This PPPM field of interest was established in 2017 as the result of a merger of the decades-old UO Arts and Administration Program with the UO Department of Planning, Public Policy, and Management. Established in 1993, the UO Arts and Administration Program was recognized as the largest and strongest academic program of its kind in western North America. Master’s degrees, undergraduate majors, and undergraduate minors in Arts Management were conferred by the UO through 2019. Effective fall 2017, incoming undergraduate and graduate students pursue studies in this academic field within the PPPM Arts & Cultural Leadership field of interest.