Courses

• MET AR 723: Individual Fundraising
  This course will address the full range of issues related to attracting financial support from individuals. Topics will include: raising dollars annually for operations, raising funds through special events (fundraisers), cultivating and soliciting major gifts, and the basics of bequests and estate planning as well as ethical issues and working effectively with donors and volunteers. Course work will include readings, case studies, and guest speakers.
• MET AR 730: Political and Public Advocacy for the Arts
  Political and Public Advocacy for the Arts will address the politics of arts and culture through seminars with political and cultural leaders, class discussion, readings, and research. Students will develop advocacy campaign plans and analyze how cultural organizations interact with all levels of government.
• MET AR 740: Technology and Arts Administration
  The ever-evolving nature of computer technology presents opportunities and challenges in the work of arts administrators. This course will examine a range of technologies employed by arts organizations to improve their practice and extend their reach, including customer relations management, fundraising, collaboration management, ticketing, project management, and social media management. Students will examine emerging products and trends, interact with technology providers, engage in hands-on trials, and develop technology plans for specific organization scenarios.
• MET AR 749: Research and Program Evaluation in Arts Administration
  This course is designed to equip students with the tools and critical thinking skills to identify and apply appropriate methodologies to support the work of their organizations as practitioners and consumers of research. We will review the major approaches to social science research, including a range of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodologies, and consider the relevance of each research framework to specific questions in the arts. The course will consider the role of arts research in domains such as audience development and marketing; program evaluation and assessment; social and economic impact; decision-making and reflective practice; collaboration and creation; case making and communication with the public.
• MET AR 750: Financial Management for Nonprofits
  Analyzes issues of accounting, finance, and economics in the context of the not-for-profit organization. Stresses understanding financial statements, budget planning and control, cash flow analysis, and long term planning.
• MET AR 766: Arts and the Community
  An analysis of issues that involve the engagement of cultural institutions with their immediate community. Includes examination of local arts centers, local arts councils, arts service organizations, agency/government relations, urban issues, multiculturalism, and festivals.
• MET AR 771: Managing Performing Arts Organizations
  A review of topics essential for successful management of performing arts organizations.Examination of both facilities management and company management. Studies include organizational structure, trustee/staff relations, marketing, audience building, fund-raising, tour management, box office management, budgeting, mailing list and membership management, human resource management and contract negotiation, performance measurement, and strategic planning.
• MET AR 774: Managing Visual Arts Organizations
  Emphasizes museums, but also includes a review of alternative spaces, commercial galleries, and auction houses. Topics include the changing role of the museum, exhibition planning, fund-raising, crisis management, audience development, and strategic planning.
• MET AR 777: Comparative Cultural Policy and Administration
  Drawing on the resources of Boston University in Boston, London, and Dublin this course examines the nature of cultural policy in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, and the European Union from 1945 to the present. Through lectures and readings (drawn from public policy and economics), lectures by leading arts administration faculty members in Dublin and London, and visits to important international cultural venues, this course will examine the impact of cultural and national differences on the cultural policy making process.
• MET AR 778: Legal Issues in Arts Administration
  "Arts Administration Law" is not a legal field; rather, it is a series of highly specialized legal analyses lying at the intersection of tax, intellectual property, employment, corporate law, and the law of non-profits that defines the legal status and issues of arts organizations. It is an interdisciplinary area, including all aspects of the law connected with art, artists (both performing and visual), performance and objects. Topics include: nonprofits and tax-exemption, contracts, copyright for performing and visual artists and artifacts, artists' moral rights, employment law, cultural heritage and the First Amendment. The course is taught using case studies and the case method applied to legal decisions, to which legal analytic frameworks will be applied.
• MET AR 779: Public Art Program Administration
  A hands on project-based collaborative class that will conceptualize, plan, and execute a public art project during the semester. You will develop an understanding of the various challenges administrators face in all phases of a project, especially from the creative vantage of the artist. We will explore project funding, case study analysis of public art management, artist selection, and the unforeseen.
• MET AR 781: Special Topics in Arts Administration
  Topic for Fall2016: Arts and Culture in Mexico, from the Revolution to the 21st century.
  Mexican cultural and aesthetic production enables a unique understanding of Mexico's history and society. Through a combination of perspectives, including auteurism, cultural studies, and genre-centered approaches, this multidisciplinary course will focus on the intermingling of high art and popular culture. Students will be exposed to major works by well-known painters, and symphonic composers. However, they will also study the expressive practices of everyday life, including telenovelas, rock music, and street art, and how these practices contribute to convey a sense of identity, as well as to reproduce (or challenge) social values and norms. Finally, the course will expose students to a transatlantic/transnational approach to Mexico's cultural and aesthetic production by studying collaborative projects among Mexican and foreign artists.
• MET AR 787: The Arts in Barcelona
  This course will look at the ways in which the arts have played a key role in the history of Barcelona and Madrid and by extension, Spain. To understand the city and its inhabitants and their sensibility one needs to have some knowledge of history -- particularly 20th century history and art history. To the Catalonian, Spain is to some degree an intellectual and political construct and there is a complex history in its relation to Madrid. With its own language, cultural traditions and cuisine the Catalonian sees himself as distinct from the Castilian Spanish speaking population of Spain. As a culture that experienced considerable oppression -- especially during the Franco regime, Catalonians are eager to celebrate and preserve their distinct customs and traditions. This has become particularly important over the past years as the Spanish economy has been in recession and the movement for Catalan independence was put to a vote this past winter. The course will focus on the relationship between the two cities and on the visual representations of social conflicts, civil unrest, violence and Foucauldian representations of madness in the arts.
• MET AR 789: Cultural Entrepreneurship
  This course explores the emerging field of cultural entrepreneurship and covers a variety of topics, including: the artist as entrepreneur; new business models for creative entrepreneurs; branding, storytelling and design; the artist and social impact; and the role of entrepreneurs in cultural organizations. Through case studies, guest speakers, readings, and group exercises, students learn about innovative entrepreneurial initiatives that straddle the boundaries between the private, nonprofit, and public sectors. Guided exercises enable students to assess and develop their skills as future change agents and entrepreneurs. This class is designed for graduate students in the Arts Administration program.
• MET AR 802: Internship in Arts Administration I
  The purpose of this course is to provide guidance in identifying, securing, and preparing for your internship experience. There will be three class meetings which operate basically on a seminar model. Students will have the opportunity to discuss their plans and concerns as they begin the process of identifying an internship site and applying for internships. Class sessions will also include specific instructions on preparation of resumes, job-hunting techniques, effective presentation, and the like. There are also two Saturday morning workshops, one devoted to resume preparation (required) and one on making effective presentations (optional but strongly recommended). Arts Administration degree students only.
• MET AR 803: Internship in Arts Administration II
  The purpose of this course is to provide guidance as you go through your internship experience, helping you to ensure that you gain career insights as well as specific job skills. There will be three class meetings which operate basically on a seminar model. Students will have the opportunity to share their experiences and "lessons learned" with their classmates, and to provide advice and guidance to students who are in the planning stages of their own internships. Class sessions will also include specific instructions on preparation of resumes, job-hunting techniques, effective presentation, and the like. There are also two Saturday morning workshops, one devoted to resume preparation (optional, if you have already attended this workshop when you took AR802, Internship1) and one on making effective presentations (optional but strongly recommended). Students may not register for MET AR 803, or begin their actual internship until they have completed a minimum of six of the ten required courses. Arts Administration degree students only.
• MET AR 804: Advanced Management and Consulting for Arts Organizations
  The purpose of this course is to increase students' ability to analyze and solve problems that confront arts organizations. Students will apply financial, marketing, fundraising, and legal knowledge and techniques to (1) in-class discussion of key management issues of concern to senior leadership, and (2) a semester-long consulting project which partners and team of students with a local arts organization. Permission from instructor required/arts administration students only. Students may not register for MET AR 804 until they have completed a minimum of six required courses.
• MET AR 810: Thesis I
  Two consecutive two-credit courses (MET AR 810 Thesis I and MET AR 810 Thesis II) will give students the tools they need to be informed consumers and producers of arts administration research. The thesis must be completed within 12 months. Only students who have completed six courses in the Arts Administration master's degree program and have a GPA of 3.7 or higher may enroll in MET AR 810 and MET AR 811. Students are responsible for finding a thesis advisor and a principal reader within the department. The advisor must be a full-time faculty member; the principal reader may be part-time faculty member with a doctorate.
• MET AR 811: Thesis II
  Two consecutive two-credit courses (MET AR 810 Thesis I and MET AR 810 Thesis II) will give students the tools they need to be informed consumers and producers of arts administration research. The thesis must be completed within 12 months. Only students who have completed six courses in the Arts Administration master's degree program and have a GPA of 3.7 or higher may enroll in MET AR 810 and MET AR 811. Students are responsible for finding a thesis advisor and a principal reader within the department. The advisor must be a full-time faculty member; the principal reader may be part-time faculty member with a doctorate.
• MET AS 101: The Solar System
  One of the great achievements of modern science is to understand where we are in space and time. Since the 1920's, we have known our cosmic address in the Milky Way galaxy, and from the 1930's on we have been refining our understanding of where we are in the history of the universe. This perspective has been hard-won, through persistent questioning, observation and creative thinking, and its historical development parallels the development of the process of science. It has also led to our present efforts to understand the origin and evolution of life as well as the future of our planet and the very existence of humanity. Since the 1970's, we have been enjoying a remarkable period of solar system exploration. We have landed on and flown by worlds both nearby and far away allowing us to download maps of other solar system objects onto our hand-held devices. With new, larger telescopes, we have discovered new planetary systems, new classes of objects in our solar system and even revised the definition of the word planet. Most profoundly of all, we are actively searching for life elsewhere in our solar system. In this course we will examine how we came to our present understanding of our place in the universe and the recent discoveries that are making solar system science so exciting.

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