program

Established in 1971, the M.A. Program in Visual Arts Administration was the first in the nation to focus specifically on administrative careers in the visual arts, in both traditional and alternative contexts. Taking into account the cultural and economic impact of the visual arts, nationally and internationally, the program prepares administrators who can adapt to the rapidly changing demands of the field. As institutions and corporations turn to the visual arts to serve the aspirations of their communities, the administrator becomes a powerful educator, helping to shape cultural values.

The program promotes a thorough understanding of the visual arts and the ideas and forces affecting them, as well as the development of keen management, marketing, and financial skills. Students study traditional methods of presentation and audience development as well as new media and technology. Through consideration of conceptual and practical issues, students are prepared for the increasingly specialized opportunities in this challenging field. Faculty expertise, alumni experience and success, and a strong international applicant pool ensure that students are provided with the optimal resources of an advanced professional program set in the context of a major urban cultural center.

The program is primarily oriented toward the non-profit segment of the field, but it also offers a for-profit concentration. This innovative first-of-its-kind specialization provides the training necessary to succeed in today’s competitive for-profit marketplace as dealers, gallerists, consultants, and auction-house professionals.

enrollment

The program enrolls up to 25-30 students each academic year (about 10 of this number elect the for-profit concentration). Admission is for the fall semester only. Students may participate in the program on a full- or part-time basis. Two years are required for completion of the full-time program, generally including one summer. Most students already work in the arts or arts-related fields.

admission prerequisites

To be considered for admission to the program, applicants must have a minimum 3.0 GPA and a strong art history background as well as appropriate internship and/or work experience.

curriculum

The program requires 54 points of course work for graduation. Courses are offered on a rotating basis so that part-time students can finish the program in three years. Students take entry-level business courses at the NYU Leonard N. Stern School of Business and the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and fulfill 9-12 points of internships with a range of sponsors, including galleries, museums, and other arts organizations. The course sequence is determined by advisement and tailored to the needs of each individual student.

In addition to business and internship re-quirements, students in both areas of the program must complete a substantial, well-researched master’s thesis. Research focuses on a particular interest or issue in the visual arts administration field; this is a two-semester sequence that begins with an interactive seminar. Students complete the thesis during their last semester in the program.

An international study abroad seminar is also offered that provides graduate students, alumni of arts administration programs, and arts management professionals with a unique opportunity to observe exciting changes in the visual and performing arts in a broad range of European venues. Students explore current cultural and social issues affecting international arts practices in both nonprofit and for-profit institutions.

degree requirements

Core Courses (9 points)
Marketing the Arts
Information Systems for the Visual Arts
Law and the Visual Arts

Business Courses (9 points)
Three courses at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business or the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service:
Financial Accounting
Managing Organizational Behavior
Marketing Concepts and Strategies

Not-for-Profit Concentration (12 points)
Urban Development and the Visual Arts
Development for the Visual Arts
Principles and Practices in Visual Arts Administration
Strategic Planning and Governance

For-Profit Concentration (12 points)
Art Collecting
Exhibition Design
Visual Arts Markets
Appraisal and Valuation of Art

Internships (9-12 points)

Thesis (3 points)
Research in Visual Arts Administration
Final Project

Electives (12-15 points)
Four or five courses selected from the following:
Cultural Tourism
Cultural Marketing in the Arts: Corporate Sponsorship
Art History Since 1945
Introduction to Galleries and Museums
Corporate Art Programs
Contemporary Art
Art in Alternative Spaces
Function and Structure of Museums
Art Education in Museums
Modern Art Seminar
The Artist's Career
Art Collecting
People in Visual Arts Organizations
The History of Taste
Art Theory and Criticism

Program Total: 54 point

application procedures

Follow the instructions outlined by NYU Steinhardt's Office of Graduate Admissions for filing your application form. The following is a list of all items that must accompany the completed application form.

Transcripts: Must be obtained from undergraduate and graduate institutions.

Three Letters of Recommendation: Should be obtained from academic and professional sources.

Current résumé

Personal Interview: A personal interview is required for qualifying students living close to New York City; for qualifying students living outside the metropolitan area, a telephone interview is required.

Statement of Purpose: A type-written, double-spaced, two-to-three page statement explaining your purpose in undertaking graduate study in the Visual Arts Administration program. This personal statement should describe your interest in the field and the direction you wish to pursue. Please include your name and Social Security number (if available) on each page of the statement.

For further information contact Prof. Sandra Lang, Director, Visual Arts Administration Program, 212.998.5723

Send application materials to NYU Steinhardt's Graduate Admissions Office. For general information pertaining to admission and financial aid, and/or to download an application (PDF file), visit the Office of Graduate Admissions.

faculty

Sandra Lang, Director and Full-time Faculty
sandra.lang@nyu.edu
Extensive experience in both non-profit and for-profit organizations. Formerly Administrative Director, Art Advisory Service, The Museum of Modern Art, and Executive Director, Independent Curators International. Advisor to corporations and not-for-profit organizations on administrative, programmatic and fundraising issues including strategic plans, policy and procedures, exhibition development and tours, acquisitions and commissions of art, feasibility studies, communications programs, budgeting and contracts.

Carlo M. Lamagna Full-Time Faculty
Carlo Lamagna is an art historian of modern and contemporary art and material culture; a former art museum curator (DeCordova Museum), gallerist (Carlo Lamagna Gallery), independent curator, and non-profit management consultant (Landmark West!). He is a current board member of the Committee on Museum Professional Training, a standing committee of the American Association of Museums; Vice President of Trademark West! a historic preservation advocacy organization. Director, Visual Arts Administration M.A. Program 1991-1998. Chair, Department of Art and Art Professions, 1997- 20005. Coordinating Director, Visual Culture and Costume Studies M.A. Programs.

Melissa Rachleff Burtt, Full-Time Faculty
Melissa Rachleff Burtt was formerly a program officer at the New York State Council on the Arts’ Museum Program. She began her career as a curator at Exit Art, and later worked as a manager of adult programs at the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of the City of New York. Rachleff Burt has worked independently as a guest curator, and has published articles/reviews.

Arthur Cohen
Arthur Cohen is Chief Executive Officer and Strategy Director of LaPlaca Cohen, media and marketing strategists for the arts. Prior to co-founding LaPlaca Cohen, Arthur served as a consultant to leading cultural organizations, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the American Museum of Natural History. He was also a public relations consultant to Giorgio Armani USA, and was communications director and later acting deputy director at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. Arthur serves on numerous boards including the Smithsonian Institution Archives of American Art, Americans for the Arts, the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, and the Harvard University Art Museum Contemporary Collections Committee.

Charlotte Cohen
Charlotte Cohen is Fine Arts Officer for the US General Services Administration. She manages both new art commissions at federal buildings as well as the fine arts collection in the New York region. She is the former director of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art Program, prior to which she worked at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Charlotte has lectured extensively about public art in the United States and abroad. She curated a group of artists and public art experts who visited Russia to lecture and initiate public art projects, and has developed a collaborative public art and urban design program in Belgrade, Serbia.

Anne Edgar
Anne Edgar founded Anne Edgar Associates in 2000 to help art museums, not-for-profit organizations, and corporations secure media coverage for their most significant cultural projects. Current and recent clients include the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Jewish Museum, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; and the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, Florida. Edgar serves on the boards of trustees of the Sir John Soane Museum Foundation in America and the non-profit artists organization, Art in General.

Alan Fausel
Alan Fausel is Director of the Fine Art Department, Bonhams Auctioneers & Appraisers, New York. Formerly he was Senior Vice President, European and American Paintings at Doyle/New York Auctioneers and Appraisers. He was previously Curator at the The Frick Art Museum, Pittsburgh; Assistant Curator, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco; and Director of Museum Services and European Paintings at Butterfield & Butterfield. He can frequently be seen as one of the Appraisers on the “Antiques Roadshow”.

Shelley Sanders Kehl
Shelley Sanders Kehl is a full-time legal practitioner in private practice with a focus on employment and non-profit corporate work. Her prior positions include General Counsel and Secretary at Pratt University and Associate, Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn.

Susana Torruella Leval
Susana Torruella Leval is an art historian and curator of Puerto Rican and Latin American contemporary art working in New York City since 1970. She was Chief Curator (1990-1994) and director (1994-2002) of El Museo del Barrio. In 2001-2002 Ms. Torruella Leval served as Chair of the Cultural Institutions Group, an association of cultural organizations housed in city-owned buildings, and as Vice President and President-Elect of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD).

Laura J, Miller
Laura Miller has over twenty years of non-profit and for-profit marketing and business development experience including more than ten years as Director of Visitor Services and Director of Marketing at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Prior to working in the museum world she founded Marketing Innovation, a consulting firm specializing in direct marketing and revenue enhancement for entertainment, communications and publishing companies. After receiving an MBA from Columbia University she was employed by American Express as Director of Telemarketing and Director of New Industries Marketing. Miller is frequently a guest speaker at Arts & Business Council seminars and international marketing conferences. National Art Marketing Project Steering Committee member. Advisory Board Member of City Arts.

Elizabeth Marcus
Elizabeth Marcus is an art historian and associate Director at Galerie St. Etienne, New York. She is also Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute. Prior positions include research associate at The Cooper-Hewitt Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and faculty at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art, New York.

Sam Morse
Sam Morse is the president and co-founder of South Side Design & Building in Brooklyn, NY. South Side works with museums and the arts community bringing exhibits to life as designers, fabricators, and construction consultants. For over 10 years, Sam has been working with museum and gallery directors, curators, architects and designers to make their ideas take shape in reality.

Vida Schreibman
Director, Cultural Destinations NYC, customized educational art tours and advisory service serving foreign and domestic corporate, philanthropic, academic and alumni organizations. Prior positions include directorships at Germans Van Eck Gallery, NY; Margulies Taplin Gallery, FL; and South Florida Art Center.

Koven J. Smith
Koven J. Smith is currently Associate Manager of Interpretive Technology at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where his primary focus is the presentation and visualization of diverse data sets using Web technologies. He is the project lead on a number of projects at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met), including the Greek & Roman Study Gallery interactive kiosks, MetStory, and MetFinder. In addition, he is also a member of the steve.museum steering committee, which is engaged in the first examination of social tagging in art museums. Prior to working at the Met, Smith was a systems architect at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Smith is also a composer and musician; while not writing music in his capacity as musical director for Ellen Cornfield Dance, he can be found leading the 10-piece Monster Zero Orchestra or drumming with NYC's highly suspect ukulele underground.

Alice Zimet
Alice Sachs Zimet is Founder and President of Arts + Business Partnerships LLC, a consulting group with a focus on corporate sponsorship marketing. During nearly 20 years at The Chase Manhattan Bank, Ms Zimet created the first Cultural Affairs Marketing Group in a commercial bank. Recent client assignments include: American Express, Fleet Bank, International Center of Photography, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Sephora USA, U.S. Department of State and the Arts & Business Council, Inc. Zimet is a member of the Collections Committee of the Harvard University Art Museums.

information sessions

Informal information sessions for the Visual Arts Administration M.A. program are held alternate Thursdays from 6-7pm in the Barney Building located at 34 Stuyvesant Street. Upcoming dates are 10/29, 11/12, 12/3, 1/14 and 1/28. Contact kht229@nyu.edu to RSVP.