Fall 2013
Cultural Administration: This course provides a grounded foundation for your coursework in the Arts and Administration program. Readings and classroom activities are designed to introduce you to major functions and issues in the administration of a nonprofit organization, with particular emphasis on cultural organizations. Students are expected to analyze readings and form questions on the readings and topic for each class. The pedagogical goal is to both (1) map the practical terrain of arts administration, and (2) develop leadership, critical inquiry and presentation skills in the process.
Art in Society: This course examines the arts as expressive practice that manifest through material culture in society. Specific attention is given to the concepts of participatory and convergence culture. Participants in this course explore the relationships of art to society and individual values using folkloristic, anthropological, sociological, philosophical and art education literature. This is accomplished in a transmedia environment.
Collections Care: This course, held at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History, provides students with the opportunity to study the processes and practices of caring for objects in museums. Students will not only study the history of collection care practices, but also will have hands-on opportunities to handle and care for museum objects.
Marketing, Media, & Communication I: This class is part of a required two-course sequence that introduces students to practical and theoretical issues delineating ways in which media, marketing, and communication intertwine in arts and culture sector work. While emphasizing current concerns with digital culture and emergent technologies, we will explore the historical arc of practices and strategies constituting marketing, design, and the deployment of various technologies for arts and culture programming. Taking on marketing approaches, communications strategies, delivery technologies, creative tools, and archiving mechanisms, we will read widely and discuss critically the issues central to arts management across varying contexts. We will also develop and refine skills in marketing and communication through hands-on projects that synthesize readings and tools, while visits by professionals across a range of settings will give us opportunity for mentorship and advice. The goal is for us to move through these resources toward praxis—the translation of idea into action—preparing us to work effectively and efficiently with media in the arts and culture sectors. For the first course in the sequence, such preparation will manifest in a robust marketing plan for an arts or cultural organization. This plan will form the basis for assignments and activities will be undertaken in the second course of this sequence, entitled AAD 610 Arts Marketing, Media & Communication II.
Winter 2014
Planning Interpretative Exhibitions: Placing Pierre Daura. Interpretive exhibits bring objects, images, and ideas to life for visitors through storytelling, diverse presentation media, and opportunities for visitor engagement, learning, and participation. In this course you’ll learn basic principles of exhibit development, and gain practical experience with a proven approach to exhibit planning. Using examples from actual exhibit projects and working with real images and objects, you’ll experiment with ways to make exhibit content meaningful and memorable for visitors. Discussion, group work, and individual projects, with thoughtful feedback from the instructor, will give you a taste of the field of interpretive exhibit development and design.
Research Methods: This course is designed to introduce a range of research methodologies and methods of importance to the field of arts administration. In this course, students will explore the language, process, and dimensions of research. Students will develop critical thinking and writing skills useful in retrieving, storing, and managing information for the research proposal/process. Students will also compare and contrast a variety of research approaches in order to identify, describe, and develop elements of a research proposal toward satisfying the research component of the Arts and Administration program degree.
Marketing, Media, & Communication II
Spring 2014
Museum Theory: Following a brief introduction to the history of museums, this course surveys key issues and theoretical orientations informing contemporary museum practice and museological inquiry. To date, theoretical influences have generally been filtered through cognate disciplines (e.g., art history, anthropology), and the influence this has on museum studies will also be explored.
Youth Arts Curriculum Methods: Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art: This course is designed to provide educators with introductory knowledge and skills necessary for implementing substantive and appropriate arts instruction as an integral part of the core curriculum for young learners. Participants will learn to teach art as a unique means of thinking, communicating, understanding and learning about ourselves, others, and the world. Course content will emphasize the visual arts, with some integration to other arts.
Comparative Technologies: Exhibit Design using Google Sketch-up. Students explore and learn about various technology tools particular to their concentration area and professional goals. The objective of this seminar is to allow independent and small group exploration and demonstration of technology tools relevant to various disciplines within the field of arts administration. The structure of the course is based on a faculty-facilitated, peer-driven model. With instructor assistance and faculty mentorship, students determine project intents, necessary resources, project timelines, assessment and evaluation checkpoints and measures.
Events Management: The Creo Festival. Examines management practices and trends of special events, festival, celebrations, and fundraisers sponsored by organizations.
Research I: In Search of the Transformative
Summer 2014
Internship II: Portland Institute for Contemporary Art. Performing Arts Summer Intern, Exhibition Designer, & THE WORKS: closer.
Fall 2014
Cultural Policy: Cultural policy is an arena of public policy that pertains to political choice processes and governmental institutions involved in problem identification, agenda formation, and policy formulation, adoption, implementation, and evaluation actions made in the arts and culture sector. This graduate-level course explores the development of cultural policy institutions and processes in the United States and abroad, with a strong emphasis on understanding the context and issues of contemporary American cultural policy. The course shifts during the term from a theoretical to an applied lens, as we move from understanding the general cultural policy context, to understanding the implementation of cultural policy in the USA, to developing capacities and skills to influence cultural policy as proactive leaders in the field.
Research II: In Search of the Transformative
Winter 2015
Cultural Museum: This course examines museological practice from an anthropological perspective. The format of this course will primarily involve student and instructor-facilitated seminars, critically analyzing and debating literature and issues in the field. Experiential aspects of the course will involve the examination of key themes through classroom discussion and museum visits. Finally, students will also be exposed to current issues in professional practice through question and answer sessions with local museum workers.
Financial Management for Arts Organizations
Research III: In Search of the Transformative
Spring 2015
Museum Education: This course will provide an overview of the field of Museum Education including history, theory, and programming. Format will include lecture, discussion, class group activities, student presentations, fieldwork, videos, and guest speakers. Students will develop a major project: the creation of a significant component of a specific museum education program.
Arts Participation & Evaluation: This course will provide an overview of the field of generating participation in arts programming; furthermore, this course will provide an overview of the field of evaluation and assessment. Students will explore practical and theoretical directives leading participation and evaluation.
Research IV: In Search of the Transformative