Master of Arts in Arts Administration: Landing: Masters: Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs: Indiana University Bloomington

Focus your passion and advance your career in the arts

It takes more than passion to successfully lead an arts organization. Future arts administrators need business acumen, marketing expertise, and management skills to tackle the art world’s greatest challenges.

As a Master of Arts in Arts Administration (MAAA) student at the O'Neill School, you’ll learn from top scholars in arts management and cultural policy. In addition to being committed educators, O’Neill faculty members are highly regarded by their peers in the arts management industry and at academic institutions across the country.

Combining faculty and practical expertise with the variety of cultural offerings on campus and in Bloomington, students can look forward to an intellectually and culturally stimulating experience in the study and practice of arts management, while preparing themselves for leadership in the arts in the decades ahead.

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Over 60% of O’Neill master’s students receive funding.

Competitive funding packages are available to assist in making our top-ranked school affordable. If you apply by the priority deadline, you will automatically be considered for fellowship funding.

93%of reporting 2021-22 MAAA masters students go into employment or continuing education upon receiving their degree

Create opportunities for the arts to thrive

Description of the video:

Anjali Varma, MAAA student: I want to help build a world where arts is not just appreciated, but is highly regarded as a viable career option.

Tehvon Fowler-Chapman, MAAA’18, Executive Director, Washington Concert Opera: The MAAA program prepared me to manage by showing me how important it is to consider everyone who's impacted by your decisions.

Eric Ashby, MAAA-MPA student: Arts administration in a very basic sense is being the bridge between arts and audiences. And you have people helping raise money. You have people in operations and this program helps you understand those unique management considerations that are attached to the arts so that you can effectively be that bridge.

Karen Gahl-Mills, Director, O’Neill Arts Administration Programs: Here at the O'Neill school, which is a school of public and environmental affairs, you get the benefit of not only studying the best in management for the arts, but you get to do it surrounded by students from around the country and around the world - thinking about the big problems facing our communities.

Eric Ashby: Arts, artists, the creative economy have unique attributes that can be leveraged as community problem solving vehicles. And so I really think leading for the greater good lies at the intersection of the arts and community.

Chloe Dukes, MAAA student: I chose O'Neill because affordability was very important to me, as well as the large network of alumni. Just to see where they are now, how they were prepared for the work that they're doing. I wanted that for myself.

Michael Cervantes, MAAA’19: O’Neill absolutely set me up for success. Every single aspect of my time within the program was something that has contributed to my ability to succeed in my current role.

Karen Gahl-Mills: This is a residential program, but you don't pause your career. You come here and get more professional experience through practicum assignments that you get to direct through a really robust internship program, which we help you fund.

Anjali Varma: The MAAA program encourages hands-on experience and a hands-on experience in an arts organization helps you seal the information that you're learning theoretically in classes.

Eric Ashby: No matter what you're interested in, whether it's visual arts, music, dance theater, it's all here. And there's opportunities to engage in that in a really meaningful way.

Chloe Dukes: I've been able to work with organizations such as Artisan Alley and the Bloomington Creative Glass Center and use the things I'm learning in the classroom to help the community.

Eric Ashby: Bloomington really does have the cultural resources and assets of a large city, but it's in a smaller community, which means that you actually have the opportunity to go in and be a part of big decisions and do really hands-on work.

Karen Gahl-Mills: We have researchers who are really on the cutting edge of what research in cultural affairs looks like. We also have extraordinary practitioners as our faculty folks who have done it, who have run organizations and the combination of theory and practice from our faculty benefits our students.

Chloe Dukes: They care a lot and they want to push their students to be the very best version of themselves and to make sure that they're ready to enter in the workforce.

Eric Ashby: One of the great things about the arts administration program here is that they make big feel really small. So you have access to the resources of a Big Ten institution, but you also have a cohort. So you get kind of the best of both worlds.

Colin Knapp, MAAA student: The relationships that I have built here are going to serve as really incredible resources moving forward.

Eric Ashby: That community is just invaluable. And I think that's something that has to happen organically and it's happening organically at O'Neill.

Chloe Dukes: You'll learn from your teachers. You'll learn from your colleagues. You'll learn from walking down the street and just seeing things that inspire you every day.

Off-screen speaker: I've really relished my time here, time that I'm able to spend growing as a leader.

Anjali Varna: If you're really passionate about the arts and you really want to facilitate the continuation of it, I would highly recommend this program.

The MAAA Program

2years to complete

45credit hours

280hour internship

Consider a dual degree

Combine your MAAA with IU's #1-ranked MPA degree and further your career possibilities. The course requirements for the dual MAAA-MPA can be completed in just five semesters, plus an internship usually carried out during one of the summers in which you’re enrolled in the program. This dual degree provides a combination of skills especially well suited for you if you have an interest in doing applied research for arts organizations in the commercial, nonprofit, or public sector.

Establish an international career in cultural policy and management by combining the MAAA with the Master of Arts in Cultural Policy and Arts Management at University College Dublin in Dublin, Ireland. Spend your entire second year learning and working abroad.

Important dates

Fall term: Classes begin in August

Priority Deadline*: Jan 15
Final Deadline: June 1

*Applications received by the priority deadline will be automatically considered for fellowship funding.

The MAAA-MPA Program

2degrees

5semesters

The time I spent in my work study role at the IU Auditorium and my courses with MAAA faculty provided foundational knowledge of nonprofit leadership, finance, and communications I use in my day-to-day work.
—Henry Bowen, MAAA'21, Manager of Artistic Planning and Administration, NY Philharmonic

Master of Arts in Arts Administration