Arts Administration as Resistance

I had not really thought about the business side to art until we met with Paul Casey and he was discussing how part of his job at O’Bheal is highly focused on administering the operations of O’Bheal whether that be fundraising, setting up grants, or communicating with other businesses to help O’Bheal thrive. Arts administration is a huge part of any artists success, as I am slowly finding out with my final project, and getting your art out there is all done using skills typically used in business. I think many people, including myself, forget just how important administration is to any artist. 

As far as arts administration as resistance go, I completely think they fit together. Even the choice of who to solicit business too can be an act of resistance. There are also different ways to establish your art as a form of resistance that uses administration skills. For example, an artist who creates art about woman's rights can strategically look for grants and create a partnerships with activism groups or with a women run business. Another way arts administration can be an act of resistance is through how an artist advertises her/his work. For example, using political images on social media to promote your work can definitely be used as a form of resistance. 

As far as my project goes, I definitely think that if I was doing more arts administration, that it would be a form of resistance. Because I am focusing my project on the repeal of proposition 8, it is already immediately a from of resistance against the current legislature and Irish Government.I think the biggest aspect of arts administration that could help my project would be a form of resistance is partnerships and social media usage. I got the chance to partner with some of the women and men within the Rebels 4 Choice movement and get direct quotes about why they put their lives on hold to fight for this repeal. By sharing their words and sharing photographs of them it will put a face to the people behind the repeal. Not only will this make the repeal seem more relatable, it will help my project be a form of resistance by sharing my stance on this issue as well through solidarity. 

I think it is so important to learn about arts administration as an artists because if you want your art to get a lot of expose and even make you some money, having the administration skill set is crucial if not mandatory. From what I have learned so far, a lot of arts movements and groups need avid funding and expose to stay afloat. In this case, administration is the very thing that can get you there. We talked a lot about grants and how difficult they are to get, therefore in order to differentiate yourself from the rest of the arts world, a good skill set in arts administration could go a long way.

Photo : NYU Steinhardt Performing Arts

Rebels for Choice: https://www.facebook.com/rebels4choice/

O'Bheal: https://www.facebook.com/obheal.poetry/