<p>I'm beginning my music studies at TCU this fall as a music education and vocal performance double major, studying both voice and piano full time. Although music education is still my passion and first love, I would be interested in working someday in arts administration, specifically in opera education/community outreach. My minor is in arts administration and I would love to get an internship at the Fort Worth Opera that will give me some hands on experience, but I'm curious: do I need to have a business degree in order to fare well in arts administration? Should I minor/major in business or management, or should I try to get my masters in fine arts administration and bypass business? I don't hate business, but I feel like I am more skilled in public communication or program development. What major or minor would enhance my degree if I was looking to make a career in arts administration?
Thanks in advance for your help!</p>
<p>You could take public administration, which offers a lot of information on non-profits (which many music orgs are), and gives you the a business education from a less business-y perspective.</p>
<p>Your current double major/minor sounds like a lot of work, but also good preparation for what you’d like to do. My advice is to keep informed about the three areas you’re interested in, performance, education and administration. When you are closer to finishing your bachelor’s and maybe have had that opera internship, you will know which way to go. There will be lots of changes in the arts admin world while you are in undergrad. Symphony orchestras are imploding right and left, with a lot of fingers being pointed at the top administrators who are earning top salaries. I think their days are numbered. I would not be surprised if opera companies were the next to feel the pinch. Arts organizations will always need administrators, but the way it worked 5 years ago will not even be close to the way it works when you are looking for a position.</p>
<p>At the undergrad level, I would focus on voice, and piano, and maybe, if you have time, do some interning with the opera company (but that can wait a couple of years).</p>
<p>My daughter did a BA in music and interned with a small orchestra that was also affiliated with an opera company. I don’t think anyone at any level of the organization had studied business or arts administration. Instead, they had focused on music performance of one kind or another.</p>
<p>Interning will give you hands on experience with donor management, fundraising/grants, website management etc. etc.</p>
<p>There are grad programs in both education and arts administration, as you know, but for the latter, I think you can pick up most of the skills needed through interning, at least for entry level. I have also seen certificates in arts administration.</p>
<p>Others may have a different viewpoint. i realize the world is becoming quite specialized and vocational in a narrow sense, but from the people I know, it has worked fine to do undergrad performance and go from there.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your helpful responses. I feel that arts administration requires an eclectic skill set based on a passion for the art form, so I will be focusing on developing my musical skills and trying to pick up some practical experience along the way. If one was to attempt a certificate or masters in arts administration, do you think it would be best to study at a school that has a well recognized music school? Usually fine arts administration is considered part of the business school and fairly separate from the music department, but would it help to be affiliated with a prestigious school of music?</p>
<p>I think you can do arts administration entirely separate from the music school. I know BU, Goucher, UMass all have programs. Many others. It’s also not much different from other non-profit areas. </p>
<p>You may not need to study it formally, honestly. Some programs use the work you have been doing as a basis for the coursework, so that can come later, too. Try volunteering or interning in your community. You can get the skills and the resume in many ways. It’s not that useful to study, say, board recruiting, or budgeting, when you haven’t done anything in the field yet.</p>
<p>I think this kind of planning about careers can sometimes get in the way of your focus in the present, meaning music, and can add a lot of stress without added benefit. Again, that is my point of view and others may differ. I feel that focusing on your music is quite enough and that it could suffer with these other directions, unless you really want to do undergrad music education more than performance. Of course, voice is a little different too, so I defer to those who know that field.</p>
<p>You might want to take a look at the Arts Management major at Baldwin-Wallace. While I realize that the OP is attending another school, BW has an excellent program and reading about the various “tracks” for the degree could provide some insight.</p>