Munira Khapra

According to a survey conducted by MetLife, American students (grades 6–12) believe that studying the arts – in addition to history, government, and politics – is important to understanding other nations and cultures and international issues.

This is in contrast to their teachers, who view other languages and the arts to be less essential in the understanding of other nations.

"The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Preparing Students for College and Careers" examines education priorities for high school students; what being college- and career-ready entails; and the implications of this goal for teaching.

The results are based on a national survey conducted in the fall of 2010 of public school teachers, public school students, parents of public school students, and Fortune 1000 business executives.   

Every country, society, and culture places a different value on the arts.

It’s no secret that Americans love pop culture.  Meanwhile, our symphonies, orchestras, and ballets are struggling to stay in business.

In Holland, social workers are trained in the arts for the purpose of improving communities and everyday quality of life through arts learning and participation.

Meanwhile, in Bali, gamelan concerts can last for hours and sometimes days.

In Lima, Peru, concerts often start two hours later than scheduled.

No matter where you go, there may be subtle or obvious cultural differences from the way we do things in the United States.

Working in the realm of international arts management means learning to understand and work with those cultural differences.  

“You must remember, when I was in college, there was no such thing as an arts management major. You’re lucky…”

In the past two years as an arts management masters student, I have heard this phrase come from more arts leaders in my community than I can count.

If it keeps up, this phrase will soon oust the old saying, “When I was your age, I had to walk to school in five feet of snow. Uphill, both ways!”

Needless to say, I hear it a lot.

I say this with a slight amount of tongue in cheek, but I honestly have heard this sentence come from the mouths of many substantial lecturers the past two years.

During my career as Director of Bands for a high school, the need for advocacy and awareness for arts education became ever more prevalent as state-initiatives focused on standardized testing.

Wanting to do more on a larger level, I discovered there were opportunities in arts management beyond the classroom for preserving quality arts programming in our public schools.

Upon much self-reflection and consultation with friends and family, I moved to Washington to further my education in arts management. I knew that this career change would provide an opportunity where I could fulfill these new ambitions.

Career shifts are a difficult process for most people, and the ability to improve and expand upon one’s knowledge of a new field, on the fly, is imperative to maintain a competitive edge in the new industry one works for.

I hope by sharing my experiences in changing career paths from music education to arts management that you will gain some insight on how you too can survive your own career transitions.

Leadership. As someone who loves to lecture (sorry, students), even my own eyes glaze over at the word. Go to any business section of any bookstore and you can find hundreds of tomes that boil down to one extended metaphor in the form of a book length advice column:  "The fiction writer’s way of leadership,” The housewife’s way of leadership,” “Leadership:  the Mad Men Method,” “How Would Jesus Lead (HWJL)?”

Okay, I made those up, but among this blizzard of works on leadership, what actually helps? We’ll try to find some answers at the symposium. My views are too complex to reduce to sound bites or slick metaphors, probably because I believe leadership is not solely about the leader as much as it is his or her interaction with co-workers, or followers.

We make too many assumptions that the CEO is The Leader. But one can lead from the middle (director of marketing) or even below (program associate). The weird irony of organizations seems to be that those who hold leadership positions are not necessarily any good at leading. Yet spectacular feats of leadership can occur at any level. Followers influence leaders with their ideas and their ways of working, and more importantly, they influence each other. 

You know those surreal professional moments where you're overwhelmed with the coolness of the situation but have to act like you travel to Washington, DC, for conferences all the time? You have to focus extra hard to avoid doing a happy dance, and say things like "I love your city's public art policy" instead of "THIS. IS. AWESOME."

I had one of those moments on January 13. After being elected to the Emerging Leaders Council (ELC) in December, I’d traveled to Americans for the Arts’ offices for my first council meeting.

The Emerging Leaders Council Overview

The Council represents emerging leaders (ELs) in the field of arts management nationwide. The term "emerging arts leader" gained popularity in the 1990s, as the field identified a need to foster the next generation of high-level arts leadership. Americans for the Arts defines ELs as arts administrators under the age of 35 or with fewer than five years of experience. Many ELs also facilitate the creation and guidance of local Emerging Leader Networks.

Since 1999, the Emerging Leader Council has served as a bridge between Americans for the Arts and emerging leaders throughout the country, using local networks to disseminate information and resources.  Although the missions of the 30+ networks nationwide vary, most focus on professional development and networking activities.