Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• MET AR 750: Financial Management for Nonprofits
  Analyzes issues of accounting, finance, and economics in the context of the nonprofit organization. Stresses understanding financial statements, budget planning and control, cash flow analysis, and long term planning. [4 credits] [Required course for Fundraising Management Graduate Certificate]
• MET AR 751: Commercial Production: The Broadway Model
  This course will examine the process of developing commercial Broadway productions from "page to stage." Students will examine the selection process that producers follow to identify a piece or property. We will examine the entire production process, from securing the rights and options, to legal processes including investor relations and collective bargaining, to assembling a creative and production team. Students will have the opportunity to meet with several Broadway professionals as guest speakers. Other topics covered may include securing a theater, residual, and subsidiary income as well as domestic and international touring. The leadership role of the producer will be discussed at every stage of the journey. [4 credits] [Required for Performing Arts Enterprise Graduate Certificate; Pre-requisite for MET AR 753 and MET AR 754]
• MET AR 752: Strategies for Performing Arts Businesses
  Strategies for Performing Arts Businesses explores the practice of producing theater as an act of entrepreneurship, and the strategic thinking necessary to take a concept for a creative business or initiative and make it a reality. Students will learn the skills of leadership and management as they are applied in a dynamic arts environment. In this course we will go behind the bright lights of Broadway to examine the variety of creative business that support or leverage the commercial theater industry, as well as the ways in which creative business people inside of the largest legacy institutions are creating new strategies to stay at the forefront of this highly competitive field. We will also consider the ways in which nonprofit theaters are increasingly seeking to build earned revenue strategies, and the growing number of commercial/nonprofit partnerships that operate within the industry.[4 credits] [Required for Performing Arts Enterprise Graduate Certificate]
• MET AR 753: Current Trends in the Performing Arts Industry
  Promoting a theatrical property extends beyond selling tickets to performances; be it a limited or open-ended engagement. Producers and artists continually seek new opportunities and environments for their properties. This requires strategic planning with a holistic view of an goals implementing a methodical process, of analyzing, decision-making and forecasting its business activity(s) to ensure future success. [4 credits] [Required for Performing Arts Enterprise Graduate Certificate; Pre-requisite - Online Lab or MET AR 751]
• MET AR 754: Global Performing Arts Presenting and Producing
  This course focuses on core concepts that are involved with offering a theatrical property to the touring market and other commercial presenting environments such as cruise ships, casinos, resorts or public/private partnerships. Leaders of these businesses and entertainment organizations must present or produce artistically rewarding programs that align with their missions to attract, retain and grow audiences, while maintaining sustainable financial support. The course explores the assessment of a commercial artistic/entertainment property for the purpose of placing the property on Broadway, an international tour or other settings in which the property can be presented and monetized. The specific legal and licensing requirements to accomplish a variety of presenting models, such as ADA requirements, international visa requirements, content licensing, and financial models etc. will be explored with a strong focus on international engagements and viability.[4 credits] [Required for Performing Arts Enterprise Graduate Certificate; Pre-requisite - Online Lab or MET AR 751]
• MET AR 766: Arts and the Community
  This course explores the dynamic, complex, and sometimes contradictory work of community-based arts programs, including program development and design, relationship-building, funding and financial models, evaluation, and ethics. Sharpen your orientation as a practitioner through case studies, research, and experiential learning that will deepen your understanding of community-based arts and how they can be leveraged to drive positive change in communities. [4 credits]
• MET AR 771: Managing Performing Arts Organizations
  Graduate Prerequisites: MET AR 690
  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, fundraising, tour management, box office management, budgeting, mailing list and membership management, human resource management and contract negotiation, performance measurement, and strategic planning. [4 credits] [Pre-requisite - MET AR690]
• MET AR 774: Managing Visual Arts Organizations
  Graduate Prerequisites: MET AR 690
  A review of topics essential for successful management of 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 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.[4 credits] [Pre-requisite - MET AR690 ]
• 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. Students 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
  The Special Topics course offers an opportunity for program faculty to focus on significant areas of current interest in the field of arts administration. [4 credits]
• MET AR 789: Creative Startups: From Idea to Impact
  This course explores the field of creative innovation and entrepreneurship. The first part of the course is dedicated to deepening students' understanding of creativity and ideation as building blocks to innovation, creative placemaking, the creative economy, and business models. During the second part of the course students work in teams to develop entrepreneurial projects at the intersection of Arts and Culture; Business and Technology; and Social Impact, while gaining practical entrepreneurial skills, including business models, customer identification, budgeting, pitching, personas, business plans, and delving into design, communication, marketing and networking. [4 credits]
• MET AR 802: Internship in Arts Administration I
  This course has two goals: to provide guidance and practical resources to help students identify, secure, and complete a successful arts internship and to enhance the understanding of working in the field. Topics include the internship search, tailoring application materials, interviewing strategies, networking, negotiating job and salary offers, understanding organizational culture, the impact of remote and hybrid work, career advancement, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and supervision. Internship I is an interactive, seminar-style course where students lead discussions, share their work, and provide feedback to peers. MET AR 802 must be taken before MET AR 803. Arts Administration M.S. degree students only. [2 credits]
• MET AR 803: Internship in Arts Administration II
  This course has two goals: to provide guidance and practical resources to help students identify, secure, and complete a successful arts internship and to enhance the understanding of working in the field. Topics include the internship search, tailoring application materials, interviewing strategies, networking, negotiating job and salary offers, understanding organizational culture, the impact of remote and hybrid work, career advancement, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and supervision. Internship I is an interactive, seminar-style course where students lead discussions, share their work, and provide feedback to peers. MET AR 802 must be taken before MET AR 803. Arts Administration M.S. degree students only. [2 credits]
• 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: Masters Thesis 1
  Two consecutive two-credit courses (MET AR 810 Masters Thesis 1 and MET AR 810 Masters Thesis 2) 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 a part-time faculty member with a doctorate.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Quantitative Reasoning II
  • Critical Thinking
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• MET AR 811: Masters Thesis 2
  Two consecutive two-credit courses (MET AR 810 Masters Thesis 1 and MET AR 810 Masters Thesis 2) 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 a part-time faculty member with a doctorate.
• MET AS 101: The Solar System
  The historical development of astronomy and the motion of the planets. The formation of the solar system. The sun and its effects on the earth. Description of the planets and the moons of our solar system including recent results from the space program. Use of the observatory. Carries natural science divisional credit (with lab) in CAS. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning I, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Scientific Inquiry I
  • Quantitative Reasoning I
  • Critical Thinking
• MET AS 102: The Astronomical Universe
  The birth and death of stars. Red giants, white dwarfs, black holes. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, and other galaxies. The Big Bang and other cosmological theories of our expanding universe. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning I, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Scientific Inquiry I
  • Quantitative Reasoning I
  • Critical Thinking
• MET AT 602: Laboratory for Actuarial and Financial Data Analysis II
  This course covers the usage of spreadsheet and database software in an insurance setting. The student will work on calculating premiums and analyzing loss metrics over the term while learning about the tools in Microsoft Excel and Access that help an actuary perform their analysis in a timely and accurate manner. Ten sessions.