Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City. “El sentido de lo habitado” by Mexican artist Marianna Dellekamp (photo by Rik Singley, a current MA in Art Business & Fine Art graduate student). This image was taken on a Fall 2019 CBMArts field study trip to Mexico City, where the Museo Universitario del Chopo was one of the destinations.
Artists and arts organizations are facing serious challenges today. Most of these challenges can be boiled down to money, as in: most artists and arts organizations don’t have enough of it, and the ones that do are learning that the systems and people attached to it don’t align with their values.
The Center for Business and Management of the Arts (CBMArts) at Claremont Graduate University is facing such challenges head-on by:
- Having open and honest conversations about how these challenges are rooted in the economic and political infrastructure of the arts.
- Launching new programs designed to make artists and arts leaders smarter about markets and management.
- Overhauling our own academic infrastructure so that we, as an institution dedicated to transformative graduate education, aren’t part of the problem.
For example, because practicing artists must understand the economic conditions and drivers of their field, we developed a first-of-its-kind Master’s program in Fine Art and Art Business, which mixes studio practice with an education in business fundamentals. Similarly, CBMArts responded to calls from arts employers with a growing need for hires with advanced tech skills by starting the Masters in Art Business and Information Systems & Technology, another first.
We couldn’t have inaugurated these programs had it not been for the dynamic arts ecosystem of Los Angeles. CBMArts is learning from the city, launching new fellowships to serve it, and graduating leaders that are making a difference today.
For more information on CBMArts at Claremont Graduate University, visit cgu.edu/cbmarts.
