The College of Arts has set its sights on creating “an arts ecosystem” by connecting students on campus with the Arts Entrepreneurship minor.
Diane Petrella, the dean of the College of Arts, said the Arts Entrepreneurship minor is one of a kind because it allows students to tailor their classes to their discipline, whether they are an art major or not.
The minor gives students the tools they need in order to succeed, she said, even if life takes them in another direction. The minor covers contracts, engagement, management, finance and other key tools they’ll need in the future.
“There are many companies who look for people with arts training just because of their collaborative nature, their creativity, their ability to work together and think outside the box of their discipline,” Petrella said.
Launched in 2019, Diane Petrella and Nick Petrella, a professor and entrepreneur-in-residence, have worked to expand the minor and refine its requirements. The goal, they said, is to make the courses more convenient, to create a valuable, unique experience and send students off with practical strategies they can take with them into the workforce.
“What I find really interesting about it is it gives you a great opportunity to network with people who are also interested in the arts,” Nick Petrella said. “You know, you can be a music major and a lot of times you’ll just sit in there and you’ll only know other music majors. But this is a great way to meet and be exposed to other artists and people who are artistically minded on campus, which I think also helps us to think outside the box more. It just expands your viewpoint.”
As of February 2024, at least two of the courses are asynchronous, but Nick Petrella says they plan to make more of the courses asynchronous in the future to ensure students can easily fit these classes into their schedules.
The course catalog for the minor requires at least 15 credit hours. Six of the credits must be upper division coursework (30000 and 40000 level). Additionally, at least another six out of the 15 credits must be outside of the course requirements for any other major or minor the student has declared. As of February 2024, students can choose from 18 classes in disciplines such as business, theater, dance, art and music.
Many disciplines have a strict outline on what is expected of students and when. While this minor has an outline too, it gives students the opportunity to fill in their own blanks, creating their own structure and learning experience.
“This is not a course where you have to spit back facts,” Nick Petrella said. “It’s almost as if most of your life, to use an arts analogy, you’re painting by the numbers, right? You have clearly defined boundaries; this color on this number. What we’re teaching is a blank canvas.”
Diane Petrella and Nick Petrella said they intend to gain the approval and support from faculty to keep refining the Arts Entrepreneurship minor. The school also plans to add more classes in partnership with the colleges they have already collaborated with and hope to expand to more disciplines, such as communications.
This process can take up to several years as the programs go through planning, proposals and a review before the board of trustees. For now, the arts ecosystem is a work in progress.
Tessa Poulain is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].
