Artsline

Artsline - Fall 2007

Letter from the Editor

Dear Readers,

This issue of Artsline focuses on collaborations between, artistic disciplines, and the difficulties and rewards that arts administrators face in organizing them.

Alyssa Timin discusses the rising trend in interdisciplinary collaborations, and what this means for arts administrators.  Matt Levy and Paula Marincola give an interview on the Interdisciplinary Professional Development Grant Program, in which they discuss one of the opportunities artists and organizations have for funding interdisciplinary works.

The AAGA is already busy with events for this school year.  President Zeek Weil discusses the Art Auction, the upcoming AFTA convention and other events the AAGA will have a hand in this school year.  Also, current Arts Administration student Kelli Fletcher talks about the most recent Organized Arts Trip (OATS), where Drexel graduate students from all disciplines went to the Wilma Theater to see BalletX.

Artsline will soon be adding a "Where are they Now?" section, which will highlight the achievements of some of our most prominent alumni.  Submit your nominations now! 

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this issue, and encourage all of our readers to continue to keep Artsline updated on your successes and accomplishments.

- Sarah Ellison

Interview with Matt Levy and Paula Marincola of the Interdisciplinary Professional Development Grant Program

Artsline: Could you give a brief introduction to the IPDG program?

Matt Levy: It’s a program designed to provide support for artists to do research - sort of like a research and development grant to explore collaborations with other artists from other disciplines, to produce work that is interdisciplinary.

Paula Marincola: We support organizations that would do that as well.

Social Theory, Politics and the Arts Conference

by Elizabeth McClearn

In early October I had the good fortune of presenting original research along with Professor Ximena Varela at the 33 ^rd Annual Conference of Social Theory, Politics and the Arts, (STP&A) held this year at New York University.

Disciplines represented at this international conference vary from law and arts education to economics and management, but STP&A is generally lauded as the foremost conference for cultural policy and the arts.   Typically reserved for professionals and researchers, our panel was comprised of the few students presenting at STP&A, including recent Arts Administration graduate Melissa Buchanan who presented her thesis, Arts Administration student Zeek Weil, and Music Industry student Joshua Erickson, who presented on the role of marketing new technology to college students.  

Professor Varela and I presented Research Based Audience Development: Targeting University Students, an extension of the ongoing College Audience Participation Project first conducted in Professor Varela's Fall 2006 Audience Development class.  The findings of the survey were discussed here in Winter 2007.

Speaking at an international conference is surprisingly fun, and it's a superb occasion to meet with other people in the field and to hear the latest and most progressive research.   

Elizabeth McClearn is a current student in Drexel's Arts Administration graduate program, and is an intern for the Arts & Culture Service at WHYY.

Drexel Graduate Students at Ballet X

by Kelli Fletcher

During each term, the AAGA sponsors Organized Arts Trips, popularly known as OATS. These trips are open to graduate students from any program at Drexel. Approximately 19 people from Drexel attended this session’s outing on November 4^th to see BalletX. The company, founded by former Pennsylvania Ballet members Christine Cox and Matthew Neenan, is in its first season as the resident ballet company at the Wilma Theater.