New course plays a dual role

The Wharton School and the College of Arts and Sciences are teaming up next semester to teach students that "there's no business like show business." The schools will be offering a new interdisciplinary Management 253 course entitled, "Creating, Managing and Presenting the Arts." The course, according to its description, will illustrate the relationship between "the creation and presentation of art, the cultural context of creativity and the management of the arts in the profit and not-for-profit sectors." Wharton Vice Dean Richard Herring said the class is the product of a University-wide competition to "stimulate curriculum innovation." It was designed by professors from both the College and Wharton and will feature a host of prominent guest speakers from the film, recording, theater, music and museum industries. Management Professor Larry Robbins, one of the course's designers and teachers, said the course readings will cover a wide range of topics, including "how culture is made, the whole social milieu? pop culture, finance and management." As director of the Wharton Communication and Wharton Arts Management Programs, Robbins will give one of several unique perspectives to the course. Theatre Arts Program Chairperson Cary Mazer, another of the course's creators and instructors, noted that the curriculum is a "combination of intellectual rigor and informed spirit of applied knowledge." Explaining its relevance to the business world, English Professor and course designer Craig Saper said the class will teach students the "practical considerations of art, film and theater management? involved in making these productions." Mazer agreed that Management 253 will promote the idea that business plays an integral role in the presentation of theater arts. "The condition upon which art is created is dependent upon how it is received by the audience, or one could say the consumer," he said. Although the course is open to all University students, it is aimed at Theatre Arts majors and Wharton students concentrating in Management. Class size will be limited to 35, and Robbins expressed hope that the registered students would be equally distributed between the two schools. "I'd love to see a whole variety of students take it," he said. "That's the meaning of interdisciplinary." College freshman and Theatre Arts major Hannah Sassaman praised the new course, noting that "there are a lot of parallels between theater [and business]?. A businessman or woman is one of the best actors in the world." Janet Casamento, a Wharton sophomore who is concentrating in Marketing and is also planning to major in Theatre Arts, added, "It's unavoidable that if you want to do theater you'll have to get involved in the business of it." As is routine University policy for new classes, Management 253 has only been approved as an experimental course. It will have this status for at least two years, at the end of which Wharton and the College will decide whether or not to include it in the University's permanent academic program. Herring has faith in the course's success. "I hope it finds a loyal constituency," he said. "I wouldn't mind taking it myself."