Seventeenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

Most studies of Arts Management organization focus on contemporary cases, organizations, and institutions from the past sixty years. In the United States, the formal, academic field of study in Arts Management goes only as far back as the 1950s and 1960s. When organizational and institutional history before that is examined, if at all, it is usually in relatively hazy and abstract terms. This paper proposes that deeper historical analysis of Arts Management is essential to the field, including practice (audience engagement; fundraising for the arts; government and patronage support for the arts; programming and organizing arts events), organizational structures, and institutions. This paper proposes that the current and future relevance of the Arts Management field requires new field of study, currently absent from teaching and scholarship: Arts Management history. The paper presents the case of the York Cycle of Mystery Plays (YCMP) as an early and essential recorded instance of modern Arts Management in the Western world. Through rigorous review of historical documents and the field-forming trends and relationships they present, the paper also shows how lessons from the past can inform, clarify, and illuminate similarities and new opportunities for the arts today and in our future.