they must juggle. The growth in the arts in America since 1945 has created
a tremendous demand for managers at all levels and in all arts disciplines.
Unfortunately, arts managers are not clearly identified as a work group when
counting the over 2.1 million people employed in all aspects of the arts. The
Census Bureau counts performers, architects, composers, print makers, and
instructors in the arts but does not include people in arts management, sales,
consulting, or promotion or public television employees. 29 Whether or not
the people who do not directly create art are counted in the census data, they
are obviously a central part of the culture industry in the United States.
One older source that provides information on the arts manager is Paul
DiMaggio’s 1987 book, Managers of the Arts. Originally created for the NEA
under the official title Research Division Report #20, the book outlines the background,
training, salaries, and attitudes of arts managers in theater, orchestra,
and museum management and community arts associations.
Unfortunately, DiMaggio does not include data about opera or dance managers.
In addition, the survey was conducted in 1981, which may make the data
less relevant to today’s market. DiMaggio’s book only samples a limited number
of people. With these limitations in mind, let’s take a look at some of the
highlights of this report ( Figure 2.1 ).
DiMaggio’s book reveals the following profile of arts managers: they are upper
middle class, highly educated individuals who either majored in the subject
they are managing or were humanities majors in English, history, or foreign
languages. At the time of this study DiMaggio found that a limited number
of managers had management or arts management degrees. The upper management
jobs tended to be held by men in museums (85 percent), theater
companies (66 percent), and orchestras (66 percent), but women held the
majority of positions in community arts associations (55 percent). 30 The data
also indicated that there were a variety of ways to enter the career path in arts
management, thus making it a fairly open system.
The section of DiMaggio’s report on training offers some interesting insights
into the opinions of those surveyed regarding their preparation for their jobs
in the early 1980 s. Figure 2.1 shows the results of a survey that asked how
well prepared participants felt to handle various aspects of the job, including
fiscal and personnel management, planning, and board, labor, and government
relations. These data indicate that “few managers felt they were well prepared
to assume many of [the] functions ” required for their jobs. 31 Labor
relations consistently stood out as an area for which respondents felt poorly
prepared. The survey results show that in many areas, less than 40 percent felt
that they had “good preparation ” for budgeting and fi nance, planning and
development, personnel management, and government relations.
DiMaggio also asked arts managers how they learned to do their jobs. An
overwhelming number of the respondents indicated that they learned how to
manage while on the job. These managers included 95 percent in theater and
orchestra management, 90 percent in museum management, and 86 percent
in community arts agency (CAA) management. 32 Around 20 percent said they
had learned through university arts administration courses.
Updating the profile
A 1997 survey of 641 professionally managed performing arts organizations,
undertaken by J. Dennis Rich and Dan J. Martin, examined the role of education
in arts administrative training. 33 The authors identifi ed 26 management
skills ranging from accounting to trustee and volunteer relations. Respondents
provided their ratings of the skills needed to be an effective arts manager. (See
Figure 2.2 .) The top skills, not surprisingly, included leadership, fundraising,
communication and writing, marketing and audience development, and budgeting.
The survey also identifi ed skills employers thought best learned in
the classroom versus those learned on the job. Interestingly, the respondents
could not seem to agree about whether classroom or on-the-job training was
better. For example, the authors noted:
- Arts managers want more training in marketing and fundraising
- (executive education).
- Arts managers prefer to hire marketing and development directors with
- formal arts administration training.
- They believe that marketing and fundraising is, by and large, best
- learned “on the job. ” 34
In the 1990s, the diversification of arts institutions continued to increase
the opportunities for women and minorities in the fieldof arts management.
As a result, today’s arts manager profi le is somewhat more representative of
our society. With that said, the profi le DiMaggio found of managers who were
well-educated, upper middle class with a background in an arts discipline is
still fairly accurate. Anecdotally, the retirement of the baby boom generation
seems to be changing the arts manager profi le. These individuals, many of
whom have worked in the fi eld of arts management for the last 30 years, are
being replaced by a younger workforce that is made up of a higher percentage
of women. A recent research study seems to offer evidence of what is anecdotally
reported.
A study that shed some light on the changing arts manager profi le was published
in the Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society in 1998. The National
Study of Arts Managers conducted in 1996 found that “67 percent of the upperlevel
(management) positions are held by males, whereas 33 percent of upperlevel
positions are held by females. ” 35 The percentage of males to females was
quite different at the middle-management level: 24 percent male and 76 percent
female. The survey also found signifi cant differences in salaries. “The average
salary for a male arts manager is $56,936; however, the average salary for
a female arts manager is $41,368. ” 36 Based on this survey, it seems logical to
project that a signifi cant percentage of females in middle-management jobs are
likely to move up to the senior level positions in organizations and thus, the
gender balance will undergo signifi cant change in many arts and culture organizations
over the next 10 to 20 years.
Today’s arts manager has access to a wide array of information resources and
skill building opportunities. There are numerous workshops and conferences
sponsored by national organizations such as Americans for the Arts. Closer
to home, many state and local arts agencies present information and training
opportunities for the arts manager and the artist to develop their skills
in leadership, marketing, fundraising, event planning, and utilizing computer
technology.
The option of pursuing a formal education in arts management is also more
widely available today. Master degree programs can be found at many universities
across the United States and internationally. The Association of Arts
Administration Educators (AAAE) Web site lists forty-four graduate programs
( www.artsadministration.org ). In addition, AAAE lists fourteen undergraduate
programs as current members. The European Network of Cultural
Administration Training Centres (ENCATC; www.encatc.org ) was founded in
1992 and lists 127 members operating in 39 countries.
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