艺术家也要修炼MBA

As a dancer, Elyssa Dole performed at the Metropolitan Opera as well as with Thomas/Ortiz Dance, a New York-based contemporary dance group. Today however, with her cohort comprising not dancers but business executives, she is one of a growing number of arts professionals seeking to boost their skills in areas such as finance, strategy and accounting by taking an MBA.

作为一名舞蹈演员，艾丽莎·朵尔(Elyssa Dole)过去曾在大都会歌剧院(Metropolitan Opera)表演，也参加纽约现代舞公司Thomas/Ortiz Dance的演出。然而，如今她的同伴不再是舞蹈演员，而是企业高管。越来越多的艺术专业人士希望通过攻读MBA，提高自己在财务、战略和会计等领域的技能，朵尔就是其中一位。

For Ms Dole, who is studying at New York University’s Stern School of Business, the decision to take an MBA does not reflect a change of career. “I’ve been in the arts my whole life – it’s my passion, she says. “I’ve spent a career in dance and I’m looking for ways to increase my ability to have an impact on the field I love so much.

对于正在纽约大学(New York University)斯特恩商学院(Stern School of Business)学习的朵尔而言，攻读MBA不代表她要转行。“我这辈子都在从事艺术工作，我对它充满热情，她表示，“舞蹈占据了我的职业生涯，我现在要设法提高自己的能力，希望能够在这个我如此钟爱的领域产生影响。

But these days, having an impact in this sector – as cash- strapped governments around the world cut their arts funding – means becoming increasingly businesslike and seeking out new sources of finance to support everything from dance performances to art exhibitions and piano recitals.

然而，近来，随着各国政府因资金紧张而纷纷削减艺术领域投资，要在这个行当取得成功就必须变得更加商业化，并找到新的资金来源，为舞蹈表演、艺术展览、钢琴演奏会等各种活动筹措经费。

In some ways this is nothing new. Arts organisations have often lived hand-to-mouth and have long had to become more business-savvy to guarantee their survival.

从某些方面来说，这一点也不新鲜。艺术组织经常只能勉强维持，长期以来，它们不得不变得更有商业头脑，以保证自己的生存。

“It’s a really smart sector, says Becky Schutt, fellow in arts and culture at University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School, whose MBA offers a concentration in culture, arts and media management. “A lot of organisations have been thinking in this way for a long time.

“这是一个非常聪明的行业，剑桥大学(University of Cambridge)佳奇商学院(Judge Business School)艺术和文化研究员贝基·舒特(Becky Schutt)表示，“很长时间以来，很多艺术组织一直在以这样的方式思考问题。该学院的MBA侧重文化、艺术和媒体管理等方面。

However, fresh budget cuts have increased the pressure on arts organisations – which has also made the task of securing a job in the sector far more competitive.

然而，新的预算削减加大了艺术组织的压力，而要在该领域找到一份工作也需要面对比以往激烈得多的竞争。

“Students who want a career in the arts are finding that the number of jobs has shrunk and the bar has been raised, says Mary Carlson, director of Arts Executive Search, a London-based recruitment company. “So you’ve a better chance of working, say, in development at the Royal Opera House if you have an MBA.

“希望从事艺术工作的学生发现，空缺职位少了，门槛高了，总部位于伦敦的招聘公司Arts Executive Search的董事玛丽·卡尔森(Mary Carlson)表示，“因此，如果你拥有MBA学位，你就会有更好的工作机会，例如在伦敦皇家歌剧院(Royal Opera House)发展。

Arts managers also need to develop new approaches to seeking business sponsorship as private sector funding shifts direction. In the UK, for example, while business financial support for the arts has been falling for the past four years, in-kind donations and corporate memberships are rising, according to Arts and Business, a UK advisory group.

随着私营行业资金转移方向，艺术组织的管理者还需要制定新的战略来寻求企业赞助。例如，英国咨询机构Arts and Business称，在英国，尽管过去4年商界对艺术产业的财力支持一直在下滑，但物资捐赠和企业会员数量却在增加。

Moreover, the most senior roles in arts management are changing. “Today, you have to have a background in finance and an understanding of HR at a sophisticated level, resource allocation, audience trends and distribution via broadcast – not to mention unions and management of labour issues, says Ms Carlson. “The days when a musician could turn impresario are over.

此外，艺术管理领域的最高级职位也在发生变化。“现在，你必须拥有财务背景，精通人力资源知识、资源配置、观众新口味以及通过广播发布的事情，更别提工会和劳工问题管理了，卡尔森表示，“音乐家转型为经理的时代已经过去了。

New challenges are presenting additional reasons for managers in the creative industries to try to boost their business skills. These include the erosion of intellectual property rights as it becomes increasingly difficult to prevent users from accessing everything from books to music and film online.

新的挑战使创意行业的管理者有更多的理由去努力提升商业技能。其中包括知识产权遭到侵犯的问题，因为阻止用户从网上获取图书、音乐、电影等内容已变得越来越困难。

Meanwhile, the way audiences expect to access arts content is also changing, something addressed in a course offered by Iese Business School in Spain.

同时，观众希望获取艺术内容的方式也在发生变化，西班牙IESE商学院(Iese Business School)开设的一项课程就涉及这个问题。

“Young people are leaving culture because they don’t understand it, says Beatriz Mu?oz-Seca, a professor at the school and director of its arts and culture initiative project. “We’re doing lots of things with technology but we need something much deeper – we need to immerse people in a different experience.

“年轻人正在离开文化，因为他们不了解，IESE商学院教授、该学院艺术和文化计划项目主管比阿特丽斯·穆尼奥斯-塞卡(Beatriz Mu?oz-Seca)表示，“我们用科技做了很多事情，但我们需要更有深度的东西，我们需要让人们获得一种不同的体验。

Of course, in some ways the arts sector is facing trends all industries need to address, which are covered in many mainstream MBA programmes. “It’s globalisation, commercialisation, intellectual property and digitisation, says Ms Schutt, who is also a strategy consultant to arts and media sector organisations.

当然，从某种方面来看，艺术产业面临着所有行业都需要应对的趋势，很多主流MBA课程都涵盖了这些方面。舒特表示：“这就是全球化、商业化、知识产权和数字化。她还是多家艺术和媒体行业公司的战略顾问。

Certainly, the MBA programme appears to attract a wide variety of arts professionals. At Canada’s Schulich School of Business, which has an MBA in arts and media administration, alumni include Tricia Baldwin, managing director of Canada’s Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir, Luc Déry, a film producer, and Jason Van Eyk, executive director of ArtsSmarts, which works with schools to apply art forms to education.

当然，MBA课程似乎吸引着各种各样的艺术专业人士。加拿大的舒里奇商学院(Schulich School of Business)开设有艺术和媒体管理MBA，加拿大塔菲尔古乐团(Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir)的董事总经理翠西亚·鲍德温(Tricia Baldwin)、电影制片人卢克·德里(Luc Déry)以及ArtsSmarts执行董事詹森·范·埃克(Jason Van Eyk)等人曾在该校就读。ArtsSmarts与多所学校合作，将艺术形式融入教育之中。

Of course it is not always easy for students to finance a two-year MBA programme. At Schulich, says Joyce Zemans, director of the Arts and Media Administration MBA, some manage by taking the degree part- time over an extended period.

当然，筹钱攻读一项为期两年的MBA课程对有些学生来说并不容易。舒里奇商学院艺术和媒体管理MBA负责人乔伊斯·泽曼斯(Joyce Zemans)表示，在该学院，一些学生采取延长学时的方法，在业余时间攻读学位。

“We have some scholarships dedicated to arts and media to support students during internships – but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s an expensive degree.

“我们设立了一些专门针对艺术和媒体专业的奖学金，在实习期间为学生提供支持，但这并未改变这是一个昂贵学位的事实。

Nevertheless, it is a degree that arts professionals say they find valuable. Ms Dole says what she has learnt has changed the way she looks at her profession. “Things I’ve seen in the arts I’m now able to translate into business language and see them through the lens of business?.?.?.?.?Without doing this, I would have missed out on so many different kinds of partnerships.

不过，艺术专业人士表示，他们认为这个学位物有所值。朵尔表示，她从中学到的知识改变了她看待自己职业的方式。“我现在能够把在艺术中看到的东西转化为商业语言，并以商业的眼光来看待它们……如果没有这些，我会错过很多各式各样的合作。

In addition, the MBA programme gives artists and arts professionals the chance to spend time with individuals from a range of different business sectors – helping to build networks for potential private sector sponsors and exposing them to new ideas.

另外，MBA课程为艺术家和艺术专业人士提供了与各种不同行业的人士交流的机会，这有利于在私营部门建立潜在的赞助商网络，并让他们接触到新的思想。

Nevertheless, some argue that the arts and business have more in common than is often supposed.

然而，一些人辩称，艺术和商业之间的共性超出人们通常的想象。

“The market economy is the context for all our lives, says Amy Whitaker, who teaches a mini-MBA called Principles of Business at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art. “Whatever you’re doing, understanding how business works is a way of being able to navigate and have some control over the design of your life or the organisation you’re working in.

“市场经济是我们全部生活的背景，苏富比艺术学院(Sotheby's Institute of Art)迷你MBA课程“商业原则(Principles of Business)的授课教师艾米·韦泰克(Amy Whitaker)表示，“不管你在做什么，了解商业的运作原理让你能够驾驭自己的生活方式，或者在自己供职的组织拥有一定的控制能力。

Ms Dole agrees. “Whether you’re an artist taking risks in a studio or you’re developing new software, being able to stretch your mind is a skill that crosses from arts to business.

朵尔同意这点。“不管你是一名在工作室里冒险的艺术家，还是你在开发新的软件，能够开拓思维是一项从艺术跨越到商业的技能。