There are equal numbers of certificates, minors and degree programs. Eleven schools offer undergraduate degree programs, but only one also offers an academic minor. The school in question, the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, offers a BS or minor in Music Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology. A potential explanation for majors without minors is that the established degree programs are complex and interdisciplinary, with requirements from across departments or schools and/or intensive capstone projects. These programs may not translate easily to pared-down minors with less requirements.
Some arts entrepreneurship degree programs are exclusively centered on one art discipline and have entrepreneurship (or some other phrasing of the term, such as entrepreneurial studies) as a concentration, elective study or a track in a degree program. This sort of degree variety is not always possible within a minor, though it should be mentioned that at some institutions, students can create their own individual interdisciplinary course of study, which could generate a student-designed arts entrepreneurship curricula based on available and appropriate offerings.
The 13 degree programs listed (including graduate degree programs) have a greater affinity to specific arts disciplines relative to programs, minors and certificates. For comparison, of the 17 academic minors, 10 are not arts discipline-specific. Of the 14 certificates, nine are broadly categorized as “arts entrepreneurship.” In both areas, over half the programs are not affiliated directly with one art form. However, in the degree programs, only one of the 12 is not tied to art, music or theatre. The 11 other degree programs are conglomerates, as they are mostly curricular collaborations between specific arts departments and the business school or other departments—not campus-wide curricula. Of the courses offered, many are independent and available cross-campus but in other cases, courses have been developed within music or arts programs that specifically fit the needs of these students and discipline.
The variety of courses and curricula offered related to arts entrepreneurship results from the diversity of schools and departments, as well as the interdisciplinary nature of the subject matter. As past researchers have ventured, the resulting cross-campus and collaborative programs in higher education can be very beneficial to arts entrepreneurs in training because they offer a holistic and flexible approach. This survey demonstrates that most arts entrepreneurship programs are indeed interdisciplinary (at least at some level) as evidenced by where they are housed, availability across campus or through the incorporation of courses from multiple departments. This frequency of holistic programing is a hopeful sign for those desiring an interdisciplinary approach to the field’s development; further research, however, will be needed to assess potential effectiveness.
