Build on your performing arts background and prepare for a leadership role in national and international performing arts organizations. You’ll combine intensive study with internships at leading New York City organizations. Learn how to imagine creative solutions to emergent problems, think critically, communicate effectively, and manage both human and material resources.
Request InfoDegree Details
Official Degree Title
Master of Arts in Performing Arts Administration
Format
Full-time or Part-time
Credits
39
Start Date
Fall
Application Deadline
Take advantage of unparalleled training within a university that is acclaimed for its preparation of leaders in business, management, and the arts. Your curriculum can be completed in two years of full-time study and will include course work in management studies either at the Stern School of Business or the Wagner School of Public Service. You’ll also study diverse areas of industry-specific interest – such as the environment of arts administration and marketing, finance, planning, and governance in the performing arts – and choose from electives with advice from the program director, as well as complete internships throughout New York City’s performing arts scene.
A major paper, project, or case study is required in the Seminar on Cultural Policy: Issues in Arts Administration. You’ll learn to apply fundamental tenets of business and management (marketing, law, audience development, board development and board relations, and fundraising) to the administration of performing arts organizations.
As part of the required curriculum for the MA in Performing Arts Administration, you will complete internship credits that provide hands-on experience in the field. Students intern at leading arts and cultural organizations in New York City and beyond, applying classroom learning while building practical skills and professional relationships.
Recent internship placements have included American Ballet Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York Foundation for the Arts, Paul Taylor Dance Company, and Atlantic Theater Company. Through these experiences, students gain exposure to areas such as marketing, finance, programming, education, fundraising, and other aspects of arts administration.
By the time you graduate, you will have developed not only practical experience but also a growing network of colleagues, mentors, and alumni across the field. Our graduates are frequently connected to professional opportunities through the program’s extensive alumni network.
Learn how students have put this required internship experience into practice through their stories and reflections.
Every other summer, we offer you a unique opportunity to explore vital challenges and opportunities facing global cultural policy and arts administration leaders. The summer study abroad program in Europe explores the theoretical and practical aspects of pressing political, economic, and cultural issues facing cultural, government, and community leaders in the Netherlands and Germany.
We offer our Comparative Creative Industries course every spring break at the NYU London campus. In this course, you'll learn from leading UK academics and top arts leaders about the role and impact of the creative and cultural industries in the UK and how arts, government, and business leaders utilize culture as a tool to address important economic and social issues in the UK and the US.
I feel very lucky to be part of a program that offers this kind of international exposure and connection, which feels like a truly special part of the PAA experience and has made the professional world feel much more tangible to me.
Global Network
NYU's Performing Arts Administration is a proud member of European Network of Cultural Administration Training Centres (ENCATC), Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE), and the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA).
Questions
If you have any additional questions about our degree, please feel free to contact Richard Maloney at richard.maloney@nyu.edu
Take the Next Step
Advance your personal and professional journey – apply to join our community of students.