Interested in (nonprofit) arts management/admin but want to be marketable...options?

Graduate School Business School - MBA
1

<p>Hi guys. On the general grad forum, I have posted about arts management. I would love to eventually become an administrator of an arts organization, preferably a performing arts organization. I have been looking at several programs, including Yale, CMU, IU-Bloomington, NYU, Columbia, and UW-Madison that forcus specifically on arts/theater/performing arts management/administration. Yale has a joint program leading to an MBA and an MFA (theater management) and has a good rep in the world of nonprofit in general. This got me to thinking maybe I should also consider applying to nonprofit programs/MBAs that are strong in nonprofit. </p>

<p>I don't have a formal arts background, I'm just running off of a love for the arts. I'm an artist by hobby and have less than a year's worth of volunteer experience with various arts events and I am serving on three community-related committees, two of which are arts related. I have limited work experience in general after spending most of the last 7 years in college (BA and MA in another field that is non-arts/non-business related).</p>

<p>Anyway, I was wondering what you would suggest as far as programs that would be good options to consider as far as specializing in arts management but are also good for making me marketable in other areas of nonprofit or even the for-profit sector in case the pickings are rough at first upon finishing?</p>

<p>Also, would you have any other suggestions as I try to gain experience before applying to my "final" list of schools? I finished my first MA in December and after being in school forever I decided to take a couple of years off to finally fill my CV/resume with more than just academic achievements.</p>

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<p>Yale is the best of those schools for what you want to do. Not to be discouraging, but your shot without work experience at YSOM, CBS, Stern, and Tepper (maybe even Kelley) is pretty low.</p>

<p>If you really want a MBA/MFA now, you should aim for UW or IU. IU would be a reach school.</p>

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<p>I don’t plan to apply for at least another year because I want to have more work experience, but how many years do you think I should take a break from school in order to gain this experience? Should I consider taking 3 to 5 years? Or less? Do schools that focus on these areas (arts and nonprofit management/admin) consider volunteer work as valuable experience? Also, when I was in graduate school, I was funded as a teaching assistant for 3 terms, would they count that as “work experience”? Or do they only consider full-time, 40 hours/week positions as “work experience”? I always list this on my resume/CV, but I am unsure as to how this is viewed when it comes to gradschools that are more business-focused like the schools I am looking considering.</p>