ma in arts management and entrepreneurship at the new school's college of performing arts graduates first cohort

The program will graduate 13 students as part of its first cohort on May 17, 2019

A visitor experiencing a collaborative graduate project: a series of three immersive 360° video installations

New York City—On May 17, 2019 the College of Performing Arts (CoPA) at The New School (TNS) will graduate a cohort of 13 students from its new MA in Arts Management and Entrepreneurship (MA AME), formally launched in fall 2017. This year’s graduating cohort is comprised of four (4) dual-degree students who attended one of the three conservatories at the College of Performing Arts and who added a 5th year, thereby graduating with both a bachelor’s and master’s degree; and nine (9) direct-entry students who graduated from other universities before enrolling in the university's two-year program, sometimes with considerable professional practice accrued during the intervening years.

Unlike other arts management or entrepreneurship master’s degree programs in the US, which are often attended by artists who have made a decision to sideline their artistic practice in order to pursue a career in arts administration, the MA AME program is designed exclusively and specifically for active professional and pre-professional artists who desire to continue working as artists while adding skills in such areas as creative producing, community development and engagement, leadership, entrepreneurship, finance, fundraising, marketing, strategy, and governance.

The most distinguishing aspect of the program is that students are required to maintain an artistic practice while in the program. To fulfill this requirement students have three options: they can take courses at one of the CoPA conservatories; they can take specially designed workshops that the MA AME program has curated for that purpose (in, for instance, Design & Storytelling in the 21st Century, Legislative Theater, or Festival Curation); or they can convert outside gigs into credit.

Says Diane Ragsdale, assistant professor, serving as program director for the MA AME, “This Master’s degree is designed for artists who are talented, socially engaged, and have an entrepreneurial spirit. Its aim is to give them the opportunity to gain skills and knowledge needed to start their own enterprises or transform existing organizations. Our expectation is that by the time they graduate our students will have an expanded network and resume, a broader range of career options, a greater sense of agency and purpose, and the capacity and ambition to have meaningful influence in their communities. ”

Here is a brief overview of the capstone projects of each of the 13 students who will walk in May 2019:

Dual-Degree Students (who attended one of the CoPA conservatories):
Latin Grammy award-winning musician, singer, composer, and producer Linda Briceño (aka/ Ella Bric) completed a BM in Jazz from TNS in May 2018. For her capstone, Linda wrote, directed, and produced two short animated films set to new songs she recently wrote and recorded. She intentionally worked with a Venezuelan animator (living in Colombia), in an effort to support and draw attention to artists living in or fleeing countries in crisis. (Linda is originally from Venezuela.)

Lucille M. Edlund, who graduated from TNS in May 2018 with a BFA in Dramatic Arts and with two minors from the Parsons School of Design (in Fashion Communications and Photography), launched a new website and platform (The Artist The Human) to provide image/fashion consultancy to artists and help them tell their stories on camera.

Lili Stiefel, who graduated with a BFA in Dramatic Arts in May 2018, took a process for fostering creative project development that she piloted and launched as an undergrad (Experimental Studio) and expanded upon it to include one-on-one coaching for artists and group/team coaching for both artists and non-artists.

Victoria Tamez, who graduated with a BFA in Dramatic Arts in May 2018, piloted a series of audio and visual guides to aid teachers and students in underserved settings where dramatics is undertaken by teachers without formal theater training.

Direct-Entry Students:
Musician and producer Folahan (Ola) Aiyedun recorded and mixed a new song, “Monster in ME” and created a short film to officially launch a production company and band called PUSHERS, which stands for People Using Sound and Hope to Evoke Revolution.

Musician and producer Nathalie Barret-Mas created THRIVE 2.0 an online space for female artists of all fields (Music, Dance, Literature, Visual Art, and Design), to showcase their work, interact with their audience, connect with a new audience and network.

Member of the brass ensemble, The Westerlies, Willem de Koch, undertook planning, fundraising, and pre-production for Westerlies Fest, a multi-day music festival featuring New York and Seattle-based artists, creative music workshops, and a residency in local public schools, which will culminate in Seattle, WA in February 2020.

Composer and immersive media artist Carlos Johns-Dávila collaborated with another MA AME student, dancer-choreographer Navarra Novy-Williams, on a series of three immersive 360° video installations around TNS called “While You Wait … 1.1.” Novy-Williams recruited professional dancers and those from across TNS for the project, which she choreographed. Additionally, Johns-Dávila built a portfolio of 360° videos featuring his work as a composer, collaborator, and specialized videographer on a new web platform. As part of the process the two collaborators raised more than $5,000 through a crowdfunding campaign.

Theater director Alan Ostroff used his capstone experience to explore the reception of immersive digital projections (in place of traditional analog scenery) by an audience of senior citizens through a workshop of THE FANTASTIKS produced under the aegis of his theater company in Annapolis, Maryland.

Actor and teaching artist Tricia Patrick wrote and performed a new one-woman 40-minute workshop / performance with projections called Move towards the Light. Geared to 4th through 8th graders the piece tells the story of Ida B. Wells and Bessie Coleman and is intended to highlight the achievements of lesser known women of color in history.

Opera singer Sarah Schultz completed the first episode for a new podcast called The Muse_ing, that explores, contextualizes and calls attention to the female experience in the practice and production of music. It connects past and present social, political and cultural movements with personal narrative. For her first guest, Schultz interviewed fellow MA AME student Linda Briceño (aka/ Ella Bric) who, as mentioned above, won the Producer of the Year award at the 2018 Latin Grammy awards and who had the distinction of being the first female ever to win in that category.

Internationally recognized bass player Luke Stewart organized The Free Jazz Convention, an intergenerational meeting of musicians, advocates and other constituents of the historically and aesthetically marginalized Free Jazz community in New York City, aimed at addressing issues in the field and generating a Manifesto to be presented at the Vision Festival in June.

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