The University of Houston’s new Center for Arts Leadership is up and running. Fleurette Fernando, Director of the Center’s Master of Arts in Arts Leadership Program, has been on place for a few weeks now and Sixto Wagan starts his new position as Director of the Center on Monday. Wagan will be in charge of creating innovative, collaborative programming outside the classroom; Fernando will run the M.A. program. In the fall, they will begin their programs and academic curriculum.
“The Center for Arts Leadership will explore how leadership, especially in the arts, can be responsive and reflective of the changing demographics in Houston and nationally,” Wagan said. “Through annual symposia and strategic partnerships between university and community entities, the center will investigate, create and test leadership practices.”
Basically, Wagan will bring the outside in and Fernando will prepare the in to go out, and they both hope to create a continuous back-and-forth dialogue between the university and the larger world.
The two year M.A. program, which “takes an entrepreneurial approach to preparing creative professionals to administer, launch, develop, and maintain arts organizations of all sizes,” is still accepting applications through June 28. There are some intriguing looking classes, such as PUBL 6310: Administrative Theory (which might be an oxymoron) and ARLD 6395: Leading the Turnaround (which promises that “students will acquire knowledge of basic rules and broad ideas for ‘turning around’ distressed arts organizations”).
1 comment
Check that first sentence. Needs some editing. It doesn’t make sense right now.