As engaged, leading arts practitioners, the Arts Administration faculty contribute to the knowledge of the field through research and writing. Here is a sample of articles, publications, and conference presentations by our faculty:
Douglas DeNatale
“Career Impacts of the Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study.” Social Theory, Politics, and the Arts Annual Conference, Seoul, South Korea, December 2022.
“The Changing Nonprofit Landscape in the U.S.” 8th Annual Conference of the Chinese Arts Management Professional Committee, Nanjing, China, October 2019.
“Using Geographic Information Systems in Arts Administration Instruction.” Association of Arts Administration Educators, Houston, Tex., June 2018.
“Cultural Data Systems in the United States: A Brief History and Appraisal.” Association of Arts Administration Educators, Edinburgh, Scotland, June 2017.
“Demystifying the Creative Economy.” Americans for the Arts Annual Convention, Philadelphia, Pa., June 2008.
Markusen, A., Wassall, G., DeNatale, D., and Cohen, R. “Defining the Creative Economy: Industry and Occupational Approaches.” Economic Development Quarterly 22, no. 1 (2008): 24–45.
Keating, E., Pradhan, E., Wassall, G., and DeNatale, D. Passion and Purpose: Raising the Fiscal Fitness Bar for Massachusetts Nonprofits (Boston, Mass.: The Boston Foundation, 2008).
DeNatale, D., and Wassall, G. The Creative Economy: A New Definition (Boston, Mass.: New England Foundation for the Arts, 2007).
DeNatale, D., and Wassall, G. Creative Economy Research in New England: A Reexamination (Boston, Mass.: New England Foundation for the Arts, 2006).
Documenting the Arts: A Practical Handbook for Cultural Organizations (Boston, Mass.: New England Foundation for the Arts, 2005).
“Creative Economy Tools: The New England Cultural Database.” Technology in the Arts Conference, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa., October 2005.
“The Creative Economy: What Presenters and Artists Need to Know About Economic Development.” Association of Performing Arts Presenters Annual Conference, New York, N.Y., January 2005.
“Thinking About Making: Research Pre-Conference.” Grantmakers in the Arts Conference, Pasadena, Calif., October 2005.
“Positioning New England in the Global Economy.” New England Board of Higher Education Conference, Groton, Conn., October 2005.
“Understanding Maine’s Creative Economy.” Blaine House Conference on Maine’s Creative Economy, Lewiston, Maine, June 7, 2004.
Barringer, R., Colgan, C., DeNatale, D., Hutchins, J., Smith, D., and Wassall, G. “The Creative Economy in Maine: Measurement and Analysis.” The Southern Maine Review, paper 4 (2004).
Wassall, G., and DeNatale, D. New England’s Creative Economy: The Non-Profit Sector, 2002 (Boston, MA: New England Foundation for the Arts, 2004).
Wassall, G., and DeNatale, D. New England’s Creative Economy: The Non-Profit Sector, 2001 (Boston, MA: New England Foundation for the Arts, 2003).
“Building a Regional Research Database for New England.” Social Theory, Politics, and the Arts Annual Conference, Columbus, Ohio, October 2003.
DeNatale, D., and Ito, K. Internationalizing New Work in the Performing Arts: A Ford Foundation Initiative, Phase II (New York, NY: Arts International, 2002).
DeNatale, D., and Ito, K. Internationalizing New Work in the Performing Arts: A Ford Foundation Initiative, Phase I (New York, NY: Arts International, 1999).
“Cultural Asset Evaluation” (with Jackson, M. R.). Arts Transforming the Urban Environment Conference, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, October 9, 1998.
Lauren O’Neal
“A Sidestep: Inhabiting Invisible and Speculative Artistic Research.” In Transgressive Tendencies: Stepping Over to Go Beyond panel, College Art Association Annual Conference, New York, N.Y., 2023.
“Invisible Research.” To Be Opaque and to Glitch, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria, 2022.
“Choreographic Thinking as Artistic Research: Following Desire Lines in Your Practice.” Viewpoints to Artistic Research, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland, 2022.
“What Moves (Us) in Exhibitions? From Representations to Relationships.” UMAC–Universeum Joint International Conference, 2021.
“It Begins (Again and Again).” Presented at I Experience as I Experiment—I Experiment as I Experience: Experience and experimentality in artistic work and research, Academy of Fine Arts/University of the Arts Research Days, Helsinki, Finland, 2019.
“Arranging Spaces of Relation(s): What Can Objects Do?” Presented at “University Museums as Cultural Commons: Interdisciplinary Research and Education in Museums,” UMAC Tokyo Seminar, Tokyo, Japan, 2019.
“Of Accidental Origin: Discussion-Based Pedagogy Meets Student-Driven Curation.” University Museums and Collections as Cultural Hubs: The Future of Tradition, ICOM/UMAC General Conference, Kyoto, Japan, September 2019.
“Performing in the Museum: Some Questions on Labor, Identity, and Artistic Research.” Practice, Participation and Politics: Nordic Forum for Dance Research Conference, Theater Academy, Helsinki, Finland, June 2019.
“Generative Encounters: Choreographic Thinking in Curatorial and Visual Arts Research.” Per/Forming Futures Conference: Investigating Artistic Doctorates in Dance and Performance/ADIE, Middlesex University, London, UK, April 2019.
Lauren O’Neal and Olivia Knauss. “The mystery of a lost portrait: The Lamont Gallery and its rediscovered Diego Rivera.” The Art Guide, 2018.
“Creative Chaos: Collaborations with Student Curatorial Teams.” Independent School Art Instructors Association Conference, Trinity School, New York, N.Y., December 2017.
“Moving Subjectivities.” Movements, Flows, Resistance: Southern Humanities Council Conference, Louisville, Ky., January 2017.
“The Aesthetics of Refusal: Fatigue, Counter-Choreography, and Glance-Time.” The Third Nomadikon and Center for the Ethics of Seeing Conference, Memphis, Tenn., November 2016.
“I Am Interested in Dragging: Fatigue Aesthetics & Counter-Choreography.” In Conference Proceedings, Expanding Notions; Dance/Practice/Research/Method, Nordic Forum for Dance Research, Reykjavík, Iceland, 2015.
“Arts Administration Faculty of the Future: Academic Pathways to the Profession.” Panelist, Association of Arts Administration Educators Conference, New Orleans, La., March 2013.
“Nothing to Look At? Irritated Vision, Counter-Choreography and Subjectivity.” Panelist, Performative Tendencies, College Art Association Annual Conference, New York, N.Y., February 2011.
“Sensorial Archives: Subjectivity Beyond Visuality—Counter-Choreographic Practices in the Work of Xavier Le Roy, Nell Breyer, and Anna Schuleit.” European Artistic Research Network Conference, Kuvataideakatemia, Helsinki, Finland, April 2010.
“Better Learning through Chaos: Embedded Service Learning.” Association of Arts Administration Educators Conference, Philadelphia, Pa., April 2009.
“Contemporary Feminist Aesthetics: One Artist’s Perspective.” Panelist, 15th Annual Women & Society Conference, Marist College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., November 2006.
“Report from Helsinki.” Art New England (October/November 2006).
“Transcending Traditions: Women and New Media Art.” Women’s Caucus for Art National Conference, Atlanta, Ga., February 2005.
“Installation: Art in Your Garage.” Art New England 25, no. 2 (February/March 2005).
“Pomus Ingenium by Michelle Lougee,” Boston Sculptors Gallery/Boston. Art New England 26, no. 1 (December/January 2005).
“The 4 Elements,” Forest Hills Cemetery/Boston. Art New England 25, no. 1 (December/January 2004).
“On the Spiritual in Photography: Artists’ Panel.” Photographic Resource Center at Boston University, Boston, Mass. March 2004.
“Denatured Beauty: Matthew Barney’s Cremaster Cycle.” Art New England 24, no. 4 (June/July 2003).
“Recasting the Past: Niho Kozuru,” Clark Gallery/Lincoln. Art New England (April/May 2003).
“Summer Camp: David Williams,” Kidder Smith Gallery/Boston. Art New England, (December 2002/January 2003).
“Terrors and Wonders: Monsters in Contemporary Art,” the deCordova Museum/Lincoln. Art New England 23, no. 1 (December/January 2002).
“On Our Own Time: Artmaking, Teaching, and Learning in Community Centers.” Panelist, Massachusetts College of Art/UrbanArts Institute, January 2001.
Symposia
The Arts Administration Program periodically organizes public symposia and webinars on important topics in the field. Recent gatherings include:
Broadway: Emerging from the Pandemic, November 6–7, 2021
A special weekend-long seminar on the current state of the Broadway industry as it emerged from the pandemic. Speakers included Bryan Campione, creative director, Playbill; Michael Coco, general manager of theater operations, The Shubert Organization; Bonnie Comley, producer and cofounder, BroadwayHD; Ray Collum, founder and CEO, EastHub; Don Frantz, executive producer, Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment; Stewart F. Lane, producer and cofounder, BroadwayHD; Robert Nederlander, Jr., CEO, Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment; Steven Schnepp, president, Broadway Booking Office NYC; Erica Schwartz, vice president of theatrical programming, Ambassador Theatre Group–North America; and Andy Señor Jr., theater maker, film director, and actor. As part of the symposium, a public panel discussion was moderated by Michael J. Bobbitt, executive director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
The Commercial Theater Forges Ahead in a Period of Change, November 23, 2020
It has been said the only constant in the universe is change. Whether it’s initiating change through new ideas, or reacting to the unexpected, leaders emerge from within the field of commercial theater to meet these challenges through innovation. This webinar featured arts and entertainment professionals who exemplify the ability to create new ways of working in the midst of change—having spent their careers developing new concepts and opportunities that have benefitted the field. The pandemic has challenged us to generate new ways of delivering artistic products and services out of necessity to keep the industry alive. Some of these innovations may just become the new “norm” of doing business after the pandemic. In an environment where few of the old rules apply, the following panelists discussed the possibilities and new opportunities that can be set in motion:
Dori Berinstein, producer, The Prom; Joshua Grossman, ASTC, partner, Schuler Shook; Rachel Reiner, director of audience engagement, the Broadway League; and Steven Schnepp, president, the Broadway Booking Office
“In It For the Long Haul”, October 28, 2020
The Boston University Arts Administration program hosted a presentation and discussion of the important 2020 report, “In it for the Long Haul,” co-authored by Zannie Voss of SMU DataArts and Jill Robinson of TRG Arts.
Panelists from SMU DataArts included Zannie Voss, director; Monica Williamson, engagement associate; and Michelle Higgins, manager of strategic engagement.
Challenges and Possibilities for the Commercial Arts Sector, August 27, 2020
The pandemic brought Broadway to a standstill, with the prediction that commercial theater will not reopen until January 2021 at the earliest. With rare exceptions, touring productions were suspended worldwide. At the same time, new forms of access to commercial theater became available through streaming platforms and commercial television. Similarly, within the commercial visual arts sector, the marketplace was forced to move online in ways that were long thought impossible. Asking “How will commercial theater emerge from the pandemic? Will new forms of performance and access forever change the nature of the commercial arts?” were the following panelists:
Melissa Caolo, managing director, Camp Broadway; Jason Grossman, theatrical producer, Plush Theatricals; Susan Lee, CEO, Camp Broadway; Steven Schnepp, president, Broadway Booking Office; and Robert Nederlander, Jr., CEO, Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment, and partner in BU MET’s Performing Arts Enterprise Certificate.
Challenges and Possibilities for the Nonprofit Arts Sector, August 20, 2020
While both visual and performing arts organizations were shuttered starting March 2020, organizations pursued a variety of strategies to remain engaged with their audiences and make up for lost income—from Zoom performances, to virtual exhibitions, to online educational outreach. Performing and visual arts organizations faced significantly different challenges to reopening. What strategies were successful during the pandemic? Did experiments with audience engagement transform the ways in which nonprofit arts organizations operate in the future?
Panelists included Brooke DiGiovanni Evans, interim director of learning, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Blair Hollis, head of corporate partnerships, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Jennifer Ritvo Hughes, executive director, Boston Baroque; and Nicholas Peterson, director of marketing, Central Square Theater.
The Role of Arts Leadership in Navigating the Pandemic, August 13, 2020
As never before, effective arts leadership is essential to organizational survival and future development. In an instant, accepted norms for financial planning, outreach, programming, and organizational management were overturned. Organizations were forced to rethink their entire short- and long-term strategies almost overnight. The pandemic presented an unprecedented test of leadership. What are the characteristics of arts leaders who can rise to the challenge?
Panelists included Janet Bailey, president, Janet Bailey Associates; and Anita Lauricella, project manager, Boston Downtown BID.
Financial and Legal Impacts and Effective Strategies, August 6, 2020
Arts nonprofits were financially devastated by the pandemic. In Massachusetts alone, a survey by the Massachusetts Cultural Council revealed that the sector lost $425 million in revenue, affecting 17,000 jobs, with an additional $117 million needed to implement recovery strategies. In addition, existing and future legal obligations posed a major challenge. The outcomes for individual organizations varied widely based on their management practices, fundraising programs, and financial planning. What are the questions and actions that organizations needed to consider to survive financially? When is it time to consider merging or restructuring? Are there opportunities for positive change in the midst of this storm?
Panelists included Michele Beasley, principal, Cleantech Advisors; Mary Doorley-Simboski, managing director, Changing Our World; Michael Ibrahim, program manager, Massachusetts Cultural Council Cultural Investment Portfolio; and David Orlinoff, founder/principal, Concord Financial Organization (CFO).