Arts administrators work behind the scenes in art galleries, dance companies,
local arts councils, symphonies and university art departments.
Arts administrators may work as artistic directors, publicists, promoters,
managers or consultants. All of these jobs require them to do administrative
work for an arts organization.
Depending on where they work, an administrator may have the following duties:
- Deciding how to spend the budget
- Planning performances, fund-raisers and other functions
- Helping artists find funding grants for their work
- Researching and applying for grants from government or foundations in
order to fund their arts organization
- Acting as representatives for their organization within the community
and other agencies
All these tasks make for some busy days for art administrators. Depending
on how many concerts or exhibitions they're planning, or how many grant applications
they have to finish before a deadline, arts administrators can expect to work
long hours.
"It's almost never a 40-hour week. There's lots of weekend work, lots of
overtime and sometimes travel -- none of which you get paid for," says Randy
Follett. He works for an arts council.
For most administrators, these long hours aren't a problem. It's all part
of the job.
"I look at my watch and suddenly it's 6 p.m. There's so many things to
do all day, and it's enjoyable, so time flies. It beats the heck out of looking
at your watch all day," says Francis Thomas, an arts administrator.