The Master of Fine Arts Degree is Now the New MBA
May 18th, 2007 at 11:45am Chad Bauman
It seems that every couple of months I run into an article somewhere with the above title. This time it was in the San Diego Business Journal. It has long been rumored that the MFA degree would be the “new” MBA degree as our industrial economy shifts to a creative economy. This always makes me chuckle, mostly because as having an MFA degree, I wish that I were paid anywhere near what most MBA alums are currently making. If the MFA degree is the deus ex machina of the new economy, one would think the value of having one would increase tremendously. I can only hope.
As more people compare the pros and cons of the MFA vs. MBA, I only have one major fear: that the MFA will become too business oriented. Arts organizations in the past have been criticized for having managers who didn’t come from business backgrounds. Many have made the argument that arts organizations suffer because they are lead by artists, not business professionals. I have the opposite fear. I received my MFA in Theatre Management and Producing from the California Institute of the Arts(CalArts) a little over three years ago. The program at CalArts provides an education in all the aspects of arts administration: marketing, fund-raising, law, finance, etc. However when I was there, it was made clear to us that we were artists, first and foremost. We took advanced classes right along side our “artistic” counterparts–directing, acting, dramaturgy, writing, design, etc. We were always encouraged to look at problems creatively, to come up with unusual solutions. I will never forget the day that I decided to take a class in technical direction, and the professor said, “by now you all should know how to build the standard theater elements–let’s try something that is going to force you to be creative.” My assignment: figure out how to build an 8 foot tall, double-helix structure out of pine needles. It took me all semester, and many failed attempts, but it was done.
I hope that most MFA programs in arts administration provide the necessary business training, but keep at the forefront what makes their students valuable–their artistic and creative abilities. Creativity is the commodity that is in high demand.
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