Ashley Peters    Photo: Scott Shaw

Over the years, I have asked arts administrators, in a variety of roles and organizations, the following question:

How is arts administration a creative and artistic endeavor? 

Today I share 4 responses from previous blog posts. Click on any person's name to read more about an artist and her work.

From Nicolle Wasserman, Director of School Administration at the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC:

There are many ways to encounter creativity and artistry in the work of an arts administrator. The unique challenges found in a nonprofit organization, often due to the reality of small-scale budgets, necessitates creative problem solving. It may not always feel artistic, but you certainly must be resourceful and inventive when you can’t just throw money at a difficult situation. As an arts administrator, you might get the opportunity to direct the design of marketing materials, create a curriculum or syllabus, or curate a performance series. These, and other arts administration tasks, require a creative background and can be artistically satisfying in a myriad of ways.

The artistic experience, whether a theater or dance performance, orchestra, museum, or book reading, takes a group of people with different skills to produce. The art presented could not be fully actualized without a full production team. Arts management is a major component of the entire artistic experience. As an artist-turned-administrator, it is important keep this in mind when pushing through some of the less creatively gratifying work of administration: spreadsheets, budgets, reports, database entry, etc.

From Ashley Peters, Accounts Manager and HR Staff Liaison at Gibney Dance in NYC:

I have had the unique opportunity to create and develop my own role within a growing organization. There is something about working within our dance community. Each artist has his/her own visions and own processes, and even as an administrator, you need to work creatively with that artist to make her/his visions come to life. Due to the growth of the organization I have had to be creative in building, implementing, and revising systems to fit our expanding needs. I am part of a community that already thinks outside the box, so to see that come to life in an administrative setting is exciting! 

No day or problem is the same in arts admin, and I often find myself saying that I feel like a detective in my day-to-day work life. I find a problem, I have to figure out what caused that problem, and then work to find a creative solution. There is quite a dichotomy in the work I do as Accounts Manager versus the community I serve. It is an exciting challenge to combine something concrete like numbers with the ever-changing artistic world. 

From Kathryn Humphreys, Director of Education, Youth and Community Programs at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago:

Good leaders have to understand the strengths and weaknesses of their staff and work to place them where they can do their best work. Learning to lead and manage a large team has been among the most difficult work I've done. With a full-time staff of 6 and a part-time staff of 30, it takes a lot of time. So much time.

I'm a big believer in bringing many voices to the table, but someone also has to make the decisions. Choreography and improvisation—I use those skills every day. Especially when budgeting (and partnering with the Chicago Public Schools!). Both things are constantly off balance, requiring comfort with risk, weight sharing, and constant evolution.

For me, leadership means posing questions constantly, questioning our own work, and making sure all the voices can be heard. Then tuning some of them out. Particularly in the non-profit sector, leadership is the ability to deal with change and lack of resources creatively and positively. 

From Laura Faure, Director of the Bates Dance Festival in Portland, Maine:

Often arts administrators are the liaisons between the artists and their audiences.  They can help support the making of work, build audiences for the work, connect artists to a network of resources and provide context. Being on the admin side of the arts is demanding and challenging work but when done well with insight and good intention it can be very creative and rewarding.  It  can be a great way to supplement one’s own dance career or help others realize their creative potential.

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