AAAE 2017

Cultural Data Systems in the United States: A Brief History and Appraisal
Douglas DeNatale, Ph.D.

During the past 25 years, technological and conceptual advances in data science have provided new approaches to understanding complex systems in various domains. While arts organizations and agencies in the U.S. have been slower than some sectors to adopt new technologies, they have increasingly employed ever more sophisticated vendor systems within their business practices. During this period, public agencies and foundations have sought more reliable data on arts organizations’ activities, and have promoted a variety of new data collection efforts. As the work of cultural organizations has been reconsidered within a creative industries framework and the importance of the arts in placemaking has gained recognition, arts leaders have become increasingly willing to consider and promote their work within a larger social ecology.
The need for reliable, comprehensive data on the work of U.S. arts organizations within their communities to support the development of effective public policy is evident, and significant advances have been made in this direction. While the potential of data to illuminate the role of the arts and inform policy is widely appreciated, the effects of longstanding habits of thought and practical barriers to collaboration remain to be addressed.

Getting on the Map: Developing Learning Outcomes for New Tools and Data Sources
Neville Vakharia

With the rapid growth of online analytical tools and data sources relevant to the arts and cultural sector, new skills and methods of teaching are needed. The ability to make informed decisions using an array of new and emerging analysis tools is no longer a research skill but a leadership skill. As educators, how do we ensure students are entering the field with a working knowledge of these tools combined with the skills to use them strategically? How do we include the use of these tools as part of our coursework and curricula? In this interactive session and group discussion, new and emerging geospatial cultural mapping/research tools and data sources will be shared and discussed from the perspective of their potential for usage in the classroom. Participants will engage in discussions on how these tools can be linked to specific learning outcomes and understand how to incorporate a range of tools and data into arts administration courses and coursework. Ideally, this facilitated group discussion will lead to preliminary consensus on the role of these tools and associated learning outcomes that educators can seek to achieve.

Parallel Tracks Approaching the Same Station: The “Arts Entrepreneurship” and “Cultural Entrepreneurship” Constructs in US and European Higher Education 
Linda Essig

Expanding on a paper presented at the most recent ENCAT conference, and using new data recently gathered by the authors about US arts entrepreneurship education, this paper asks: how has ‘arts entrepreneurship’ developed as an academic field of education and inquiry in the US and in what ways is it the same or different from ‘cultural entrepreneurship’ as it is conceived of in Europe and Australia. ‘Cultural Entrepreneurship,’ especially as conceived of in the European context, seems to have matured both earlier and on a somewhat different but parallel track from ‘arts entrepreneurship.’ As Kuhlke, Schramme, and Kooyman (2015) note, “In Europe, courses began to emerge in the late 1980s and early 1990s…primarily providing an
established business school education with an industry-specific focus on the new and emerging creative economy.” Conversely, the development of “arts entrepreneurship” courses and programs in the US seem to have been driven as much or more from interest within arts disciplines or even from within the career services units of arts conservatories as a means toward supporting artist self-sufficiency and career self-management This paper looks at the parallel conceptual development of “arts entrepreneurship” in the US as differentiated from “cultural entrepreneurship” in Europe and elsewhere, the ways in which the two fields are converging or not, and draws on new data about the US landscape of arts entrepreneurship education to consider where the field may be heading.