About

Welcome to the Arts Management Program at the College of Charleston! Our program prepares students to become leaders, managers, and integral members of arts organizations. The courses in the program emphasize management, organization, decision-making, and problem-solving skills relevant to the creative sector. Internships and participation in the School of the Arts and community arts organizations reinforce classroom experiences. We are fortunate to have local artists, administrators, managers, and other arts professionals engage our students in the classroom.

We strongly encourage students to pursue additional studies in the fine arts, business, or related disciplines to complement arts management coursework. Common double majors and minors include business, marketing, communication, and the visual and performing arts.

About Us

Learn more about our mission, vision, statement on diversity, and commitment to anti-racism and justice.
  • Mission

    The Arts Management Program prepares students for careers and engagement that advance a resilient creative sector. Through a multidisciplinary curriculum, faculty mentorship and experiential learning, the program emphasizes strategic thinking, collaboration and innovation in arts leadership.

  • Vision

    Through intentional and comprehensive education, the Arts Management Program advances equity and inclusion to foster effective scholarship, stewardship and leadership in the arts.

  • Diversity Statement

    The faculty and staff of the Arts Management Program and the Graduate Certificate in Arts and Cultural Management embrace an inclusive community of people from various backgrounds, experiences and thoughts. This diversity includes ethnicity, race, age, philosophies, socio-economic status, gender and sexual orientation, language, regionality, social and life experiences, religious beliefs and affiliations, political views and heritage. All are celebrated by our program.

  • Commitment to Anti-Racism and Justice

    The Arts Management Program at the College of Charleston joins the world in mourning George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the painfully long list of Black men, women, and children whose lives have been lost to police brutality and racial violence. We unreservedly condemn racial injustice in all its forms and stand in solidarity with all who are demanding a different future for ourselves, our children, and our communities.

    As educators and arts managers, we recognize our unique position of leadership and commit ourselves to embracing this responsibility. Racism and systemic oppression of any kind has no place at the College of Charleston, and we will proactively prevent it from taking place in our spaces. As a program, we recognize the power of the arts in socio-cultural change and will ensure that our future arts managers are equipped to facilitate that change in service to communities of color. 

    We support President Hsu and the College of Charleston community in our collective efforts to eliminate racism of any form. We also adopt the following commitments made by the Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE): (1) examine our standards of education through an anti-racist lens, to eliminate racist and exclusionary language and practices; (2) face the injustices we have been part of perpetuating in the past, and conduct our work in a way that makes us accountable to a higher standard; (3) listen to and learn from criticisms of our history and practices; and (4) share our knowledge base and expertise to support anti-racist work

    Join us as we actively work toward a more just and equitable tomorrow. #BlackLivesMatter

    The Faculty and Staff of the College of Charleston Arts Management Program

History

In 1993-94, the School of the Arts established the Arts Management minor as an interdisciplinary program in conjunction with the School of Business and Economics. In 1996-97, the Arts Management major became available to students. Jerry Spencer (owner of Spencer Art Gallery in downtown Charleston) and Stacy Shaw began teaching in the program and in 1998, Shaw became the Program Director. In 1999, Dr. Karen Chandler joined the program as Co-Director with Shaw and in 2001, she became the Director of the College’s Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. Scott Shanklin-Peterson, former Director of the South Carolina Arts Commission and Senior Deputy Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, became Director of the Arts Management Program in 2001 and served until she retired in 2014 at which time Chandler began serving as Program Director.

In 2008-2009, Shanklin-Peterson, in collaboration with Heather McDonald and other music industry professionals, then started working on developing a music industry concentration within the Arts Management major, which was launched officially in 2014. Today, approximately 30% of Arts Management majors are pursuing the music industry concentration. Chris Burgess served as Program Director for the undergraduate program from 2019-2021, followed by Kate Keeney from 2021-2023. Chris Burgess is the current undergraduate program director as of July 1, 2023.

In 2002, the Arts Management Program, in partnership with the Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program and the Graduate School, first offered an Arts Management concentration within the MPA Program, and in 2005, an Arts Management Certificate Program was established. A second Arts Management emphasis was established in 2016 in the Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing with its distinguished writing faculty including a former member of NEA's National Council on the Arts. In 2019, a new Graduate Certificate in Arts and Cultural Management (ARCM) was established. As of July 1, 2023, Hsin-Ching Wu serves as the director of the certificate program.