Closing the circle: What we can learn from arts entrepreneurship

ECM Director Jeff Nytch, Sharon Alpi and Jim Hart.

Earlier this spring, our Entrepreneurship Center for Music (ECM) Director Jeff Nytch and Lecturer Marilyn Brock participated in the annual Society for Arts Entrepreneurship Education (SAEE) Conference in Kansas City. Both Nytch and Brock presented at the conference and networked with collegiate arts entrepreneurs and teachers from across the country.

Nytch has been attending the conference since its inception in 2014.

“The conference was formed because there was a small group of us educators who felt we needed to collaborate, share best practices and learn from each other, and advance the cause of research and pedagogy,” he says. “I was part of that initial founding group and it's one of those conferences where you return home with stuff all the time.”

Nytch’s talk—”An entrepreneurial approach to corporate/community partnerships”—was co-presented with his husband, Jeffrey Kash.

“It was a case study on a different way for corporations to support the arts in their community. The example that we used was at Premier Members Credit Union, which supports a classic film series that’s at the Dairy Arts Center and curated by my husband,” Nytch says.

“Rather than just giving a check to the organization, which is the typical way companies support community groups, Jeffrey partnered with the Dairy  to underwrite the cost of a new series. Then all of the ticket sales and all of the concessions went directly to the Dairy Arts Center. It's a win-win, really, because it not only leverages the gift for greater impact for the arts organization, but it's also an event that is exclusively sponsored by Premier members, so their brand is front and center and very visible. It is a great way to build your brand in the community.”

Brock presenting.

A unique perspective that stood out to Nytch during this year’s conference was shared by the outgoing SAEE president, Jim Hart.

“He had a great line in his opening remarks—he said, where we used to ask, how can we take the business school principles of entrepreneurship and apply them to the arts? Now I feel like the next stage in our development is for us to take what we've learned about our own practice and share that with the business schools … it's time to close the circle.”

This year was Brock’s first time at the SAEE conference. Her talk—”Arts entrepreneurs' responses to employee experiences of intimate partner abuse”—was rooted in the research she did for her dissertation.

“My talk looked at what influences decisions around supporting employees who've experienced intimate partner abuse and trauma in general. Then more specifically, how do we, as educators, help our students who may be going through something—and also help them as future entrepreneurs understand how they can best respond to difficult situations that their employees are experiencing.”

Brock said her first time at the conference was wonderful and she enjoyed meeting other arts entrepreneurs.

Nytch with Jose Leonard Leon.

“Here at CU Boulder, Jeff and I are the main people who are focusing specifically on arts entrepreneurship within the college,” she says. “So to get to talk to other educators who are teaching the same things we are and to get insights from all of them was really great—making those connections was really nice.”

At the conference, the ECM team ran into an ECM alum, Jose Leonard Leon (DMA ’18, trombone), who is now an assistant professor at Florida Atlantic University where he runs the trombone studio and is building an arts entrepreneurship program.

“[Jose] shared how he really took a lot of what he learned here from the ECM and used it in his own teaching career and in the program he's built at Florida Atlantic. Seeing all these connections that have happened and seeing how this is a space that's growing is really impactful!” Brock says.