Arts management as practice
Management isn't a theory, it's an evolving repertory of embodied expertise.
I learn like a baby, I learn like a seed
Spread out my tubers wherever I need
I find any way to attach and connect
And I run like water, no cause or effect
–Peter Gabriel, from “i/o (Bright-Side Mix)”
Across the ArtsManaged platforms (Field Notes, online Field Guide, and short video series), I define “Arts Management” as “the practice of aggregating and animating people, stuff, and money toward expressive ends.” The word “practice” deserves some focused attention, because it can (and does) mean so many things.
The Oxford English Dictionary lists 31 definitions for “practice,” with 16 of them still in active use. The two definitions that capture my intention are these:
The actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method, as opposed to the theory or principles of it…
Repeated exercise in or performance of an activity so as to acquire, improve, or maintain proficiency in it…
In other words, Arts Management is informed by theory, assumptions, beliefs, and abilities, but it manifests through action. It is a bundle of embodied and situated knowledge that is acquired, improved, and maintained by actually doing things in ways that allow you to learn.
Organizational scholar Karl Weick takes this one step further by asserting that thinking and action aren’t separate in decision-making, but rather, thinking is action.
The crucial activities for decision making are not separate episodes of analysis. Instead, they are actions…. The decision making is the memo writing, is the answering, is the editing of drafts. These actions are not precursors to decision making, they are the decision making.
Some professions – law and medicine, as examples – call their business entities “practices” (law practice, medical practice). And, of course, artists and craftspeople maintain a “creative practice.” It’s worth noting that all of these professions involve complex collective action in continually evolving social systems.
But how, exactly, does this practice appear in and as Arts Management? It’s useful to understand practice through two different lenses:
Deliberate Practice – defined by Anders K. Ericsson and colleagues (1993) as “a highly structured activity, the explicit goal of which is to improve performance. Specific tasks are invented to overcome weaknesses, and performance is carefully monitored to provide cues for ways to improve it further.” If you’ve learned a language, a musical instrument, a skills-essential artistic discipline or handicraft, you likely engaged in deliberate practice.
Reflective Practice – defined by Donald A. Schön (1983) as “the practice by which professionals become aware of their implicit knowledge base and learn from their experience.” It combines deliberate inquiry, experimentation, and evaluation both during (reflection-in-action) and after (reflection-on-action) you act. If you’ve had a professional coach, kept a profession-relevant journal, participated in learning simulations, or done debriefs or postmortems with colleagues, you’ve experienced some form of reflective practice.
Each form of practice fits a different learning context. Deliberate practice is effective for skill development when standards are known, stable, and easily observed, and feedback is immediate. Reflective practice is preferred when contexts are shifting or novel, standards are complex, subjective, or dynamic, and feedback is conflicting or delayed.
Schön offers creative studios and arts conservatories as model environments for productive practice toward professional artistry:
…freedom to learn by doing in a setting relatively low in risk, with access to coaches who initiate students into the “traditions of the calling” and help them, by “the right kind of telling,” to see on their own behalf and in their own way what they need most to see (Schön 1987).
Why does it matter if we call Arts Management a profession, a skillset, or a practice? It matters to the way we approach and prepare for the work. Arts Management as practice acknowledges the centrality of action, the complexity of performance improvement, and the continual nature of learning through doing in a changing world.
From the ArtsManaged Field Guide
Function of the Week: People Operations
People Operations involves designing and driving systems and practices that attract, engage, retain, and develop people within the enterprise (also called human resources).
Framework of the Week: Levels of Mastery
The Dreyfus brothers' "Five-Stage Model of Adult Skill Acquisition" describes milestones on the journey from novice to expert. These Levels of Mastery can provide a useful lens on learning for yourself and your team.
Photo by Clark Young on Unsplash
Sources
Ericsson, K. Anders, Ralf T. Krampe, and Clemens Tesch-Römer. 1993. “The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance.” Psychological Review 100 (3): 363–406.
Schön, Donald A. 1983. The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. New York: Basic Books.
Schön, Donald A. 1987. Educating the Reflective Practitioner: Toward a New Design for Teaching and Learning in the Professions. 1st ed. The Jossey-Bass Higher Education Series. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Weick, Karl E. 1983. “Managerial Thought in the Context of Action.” In The Executive Mind: New Insights on Managerial Thought and Action, edited by Suresh Srivastva, 1st ed., 221–42. The Jossey-Bass Management Series & The Jossey-Bass Social and Behavioral Science Series. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.