Art tourism an opportunity for socio-economic growth

Arts and culture is an important field since preserving heritage, developing audience, ensuring sustainability of cultural institutions, and increasing funding in the arts helps bolster local and national infrastructure. A growing interest in Asian art tourism destinations, including Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar, underscores the need to bolster arts management resources within those countries as part of their overall economic development scheme.

The arts and culture sector represents an opportunity to social and economic growth. Participation in cultural activities brings value to individuals and communities but sometimes institutions and organizations are missing this opportunity. Managing a cultural institution has peculiar characteristics and needs a specific set of skills. The love for the arts and the knowledge of the field is critical, but concrete management skills and competencies are now more than ever needed by cultural institutions globally. SDA Bocconi’s International Program in Arts Management(IPAM) aims at offering solid foundations in management, including practical, creative, and professional skills, by creating a stimulating environment, focusing on a multidisciplinary approach, and enriching it all with unique experiences such as the studying in three different countries and meeting professionals facing different challenges and management practices.,

IPAM allows students to study the management challenges specific of the heritage and performing arts sector, integrating the different functions and their peculiarities (i.e. communication, organization, strategy, marketing, etc). At the end of the programme participants will have management fundamentals and will be able to improve their impact in the arts and culture sector.

What is arts management? - Arts management is the cross-disciplinary function that reconciles the realities of business administration with the full and unrestrained creative expression of the arts. It's an unusual blend of practical skill and emotional imagination. As Jane Chu, former executive director of the National Education for the Arts in the U.S. put it, “Your heart is going to take you to the next place. I went to business school because I wanted to learn the language. But I was never in a box. Follow your heart. I don’t care if it’s linear or not linear.”

Art managers work in a variety of subfields. It's not a job that requires managing galleries filled with paintings or sculptures. Some managers work in arts tourism and others in performing arts management, cultural arts management, or culinary arts administration.



Why is arts management a growing field right now?

Arts management is not a small field. In the U.S. alone, it generates $135 billion for the country's economy each year, which creates 4.1 million jobs according to the Association of Arts Administration Educators. Even in newer economies such as those across South Asia, arts administration is growing thanks to an influx of tourists alongside a burgeoning middle class that now has the resources to take family trips to arts-infused cities or to spend a night out at the ballet and a starred restaurant. Although data specific to Asia remains sparse, organizations such as ArtThink South Asia propose that entrepreneurial approaches to the arts are springing up across the region.

How much do arts managers earn?

Business managers working in the arts, cultural, and heritage sectors can earn a wide range of salaries depending upon a variety of factors such as title, agency size, location, and experience. Arts organizations overall are willing to pay more for managers who bring knowledge and experience in strategic planning, team leadership, project management, and human resource development. Information about specific salaries across Asia is scarce, but as a benchmark, performing arts administrators in the U.S. earn about $107,520 and those working in museums bring home approximately $94,820.

Students with a background in the arts and humanities can pivot their knowledge and passion into a stable, rewarding, and well-paying career in arts management. Contact us to learn more about how.

Established in 1971, SDA Bocconi School of Management is the best international business school in Italy.
SDA Bocconi is built on the entrepreneurial spirit, academic excellence and long-lasting tradition of Bocconi University, on the excellence of its broad portfolio of programs and research.

SDA Bocconi is one of the few Business Schools that hold the so-called "triple crown", three of the most prestigious international accreditations: AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA. It is also the only Italian Business School to feature in all the major international rankings, including Financial Times, Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek and The Economist.

SDA Bocconi Asia Center, formerly named MISB Bocconi, is a pan-Asian hub in Mumbai that has been delivering Executive Education and Postgraduate Programs designed by SDA Bocconi School of Management, Italy since 2012.