Course Requirements

The program consists of 12 courses for a total of 48 units. There are four required courses in management, four required courses in the humanities, and four elective courses.  Subject to faculty approval, a student may transfer up to 8 graduate-level semester units of credit towards the MA.

The program may be completed in two years of full-time study. A student who can demonstrate significant management training may request a waiver of one or more required courses and substitute elective courses. The student, with the help and approval of an advisor, determines the actual arrangement and sequence of courses taken.

Core Courses in Management and Humanities

Drucker  (16 units)

• The Drucker Difference (4 units)
• Budgeting/Finance/Accounting for Nonprofits (4 units)
• Organizational Theory and Behavior (4 units)
• Marketing (4 units)

Arts & Humanities (16 Units)

• Theory and Practice of Arts & Cultural Management (4 units)
• Arts and Cultural Policy (4 units)
• Research Technologies & Methods (one course*- 4 units)
• Final Research Paper or Arts Consulting Clinic (4 units)

Areas of concentration (16 Units)

Research Tool

Only approved courses will satisfy this requirement. Depending on the needs and interest of the student, this may include statistics, quantitative methods, foreign language, research methods and technologies or other relevant course with approval of faculty member.

*You may fulfill the requierement by registering for the summer workshop, HUM 340 for zero units.

Master's Final Research Paper

The master's final research paper demonstrates the student's ability to integrate arts and cultural theory with techniques of applied research and analysis in the area of arts and cultural management. Students will select a topic of interest that reflects an understanding of key issues or challenges in the area of arts and cultural management, theory, and/or policy.

Arts Consulting Clinic

The Arts Consulting Clinic is a capstone experience for the second year students in the Master of Arts Management. It is a graded, 4 units semester-long project. 

The students are partnered with local art or cultural nonprofit organizations. The participating organizations are selected by the Arts Management department through an application process in the fall. The selected organizations provide the student with a project, a problem or challenge to be solved, the expected goals and objectives. The student will have the responsibility to integrate his/hers arts management skills to provide professional consulting with the support of a faculty advisor.

The required deliverables are status reports during the semester, a final written report plus a final presentation to the organization and faculty members from the School of Arts & Humanities and the Drucker School of Management. The deliverables will be shaped to the organization needs and will be approved by faculty before being sent to the organization.

Each student (or team) will receive a stipend award provided by the Norris Foundation and/or the organization assigned that will defray part of the cost of tuition.