MALS 4050 World Visual & Performance Art (4 Credits)

This course draws upon global artistic traditions of visual art and performance in conveying how human beings express ideas, themes, and emotions. Students view and experience artistic forms and movements throughout history and from a variety of traditions across the world, critically analyzing art movements and forms across time. They synthesize ideas across cultures, traditions, and types of creative expression and make connections and distinctions between genres and art forms. A different, rich, artistic theme is the focus each time the course is taught.

MALS 4200 Grant Writing (4 Credits)

This course gives students the opportunity to develop a thorough understanding of proposal writing. Students will receive practical grant writing advice and support, and they will work to sharpen their writing, program design, budgeting, and evaluation skills with the ethical use of AI. Prospect research, donor cultivation and stewardship are also covered.

MALS 4281 Event Planning (4 Credits)

Events play a large role in connecting community and audiences within the arts and culture sector. Students will learn to develop and manage arts and culture events to achieve an organization's mission, goals, and objectives within the constraints of the event’s scope, timing, and budget. Event management systems addressed include strategic planning, event design, marketing and audience development, site management, and partnership development. Students will create a program and plan for an event supporting a particular arts and culture organization.

MALS 4283 Strategic Marketing Planning for Arts and Culture (4 Credits)

This course provides a strategic approach to attracting audiences through arts marketing. Students learn to build a cohesive strategic marketing plan that aligns with the mission and programming of a real-life arts organization. Students will make a wide range of strategic marketing management decisions, preparing them for decision-making positions in arts marketing.

MALS 4284 Arts and Culture Entrepreneurship (4 Credits)

In any sector of the Arts and Culture field, whether government, nonprofit, or for profit, it is essential to be able to develop programs and/or organizations from conception through implementation and assessment. This development requires the clear communication of what is needed to develop, implement, and sustain this plan over time. In this course, students take an entrepreneurial approach to develop a program or organization in the arts and culture field. Students will develop and present a comprehensive business plan to define, map, structure, and assess the program/organization in either the nonprofit or for-profit sector.

MALS 4285 Basics of Arts and Culture Marketing (4 Credits)

This course provides a strategic approach to audiences and markets through an arts and cultural lens. Students will study basic principles of marketing, audience characteristics, and theories of creating commitment to the arts.

MALS 4286 Social Media and Digital Marketing for Arts and Culture (4 Credits)

Marketing arts and culture in the digital age is an art unto itself. Today's arts marketers are expected to produce visual, audio, and written content that matches the quality of the art, on stage or in the gallery, or the cultural programming presented to the public. This course provides students with a framework for planning, producing, executing, and measuring the impact of digital campaigns that build communities around art and culture.

MALS 4287 Managing Demand and Pricing for Arts and Culture (4 Credits)

Tomorrow's arts leaders need to be prepared to face the emotional subject of pricing in a way that is responsive to the community yet supports a sustainable business model. This class takes an evidence-based approach to determining the demand for arts and culture programming and setting prices for programs and events offered by arts and culture organizations. Students will explore dynamic pricing strategies, approaches to communicating the relationship between price and value, and how artistic and cultural programming enriches the broader community.

MALS 4470 Arts and Culture: History, Context, and Trends (4 Credits)

This course examines the significant and growing economic, social, and educational impact of the arts and culture sector on our increasingly diverse communities. Focusing on historical and current trends in the visual, performing, literary, and media arts, students will develop a stronger grasp of the role arts and culture organizations play in enriching our understanding of the world around us.

MALS 4475 Organizational Vibrancy and Measurement (4 Credits)

As database and analytics systems for arts organizations grow ever more sophisticated, arts leaders must be literate in basics concepts of statistics, finance, and data analysis. This course will prepare students to examine data critically, explore the stories that data can tell, and determine how to measure success and vibrancy.

MALS 4480 Arts and Culture: Best Practices and Practical Skills (4 Credits)

This course introduces students to the management and operations of arts and cultural nonprofits, emphasizing key terms, techniques, and applications. Topics include analyzing mission and vision, planning, staffing, volunteerism, board governance, fiduciary responsibilities, fundraising and development, marketing and promotion, assessment, and strategies for fostering inclusive engagement with diverse communities. The course prepares students for diverse opportunities in arts management, whether through leadership roles, employment in the field, or a deeper commitment to volunteerism.

MALS 4485 Legal Landscape of Arts and Culture (4 Credits)

Professionals in arts and culture, whether they are artists, managers, directors, or others working in the private, government, or nonprofit sector, will encounter a variety of legal issues during their careers. Through readings, case studies, assignments, and research, students will be introduced to a complex interdisciplinary system of relevant laws that impact and, in some cases, govern arts and culture organizational activities.

MALS 4490 Arts and Culture Programs for Social Impact (4 Credits)

In this course, students explore changing attitudes toward arts participation and cultural philanthropy, focusing especially on the need for new approaches to engaging and working with culturally diverse populations. Students explore the cultivation of effective cross-disciplinary partnerships to create impactful programs that can transform communities. Programs at diverse arts organizations serve as case studies for practical applications. Students use theory-of-change models to develop programs that connect arts and cultural work with social-impact activities beyond the arts and culture sector.

MALS 4701 Topics in Arts and Culture (4 Credits)

The content of this course varies each term. The topics may include time-sensitive issues in the area of literature, elective courses that are not scheduled regularly during the course of the year, or advanced inquiry into core-course subjects. Each time the course is offered, the specific content is announced in the quarterly course schedule. Depending on the subject matter, students may be required to have completed prerequisite courses.

MALS 4901 Capstone Project (4 Credits)

The Capstone Project provides students the opportunity to research a topic, problem, or issue within their field of study, and work individually with a Capstone advisor. Similar in weight to a thesis, but more flexible, this final project will synthesize and apply core concepts acquired from the program. The student will select an appropriate Capstone advisor who is knowledgeable in the field of study to work closely with and whom can guide the research project. Evaluation will be focused on the quality and professionalism of applied research and writing; critical and creative thinking; problem-solving skills; knowledge of research design, method, and implementation; and contribution to the field and topic of study. Please see the Capstone Guidelines for additional details. Prerequisites: A Capstone Proposal that has been approved by both the Capstone Advisor and the Academic Director, acceptance as a degree candidate, completion of at least 40 quarter-hours (including all core courses) with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better.

MALS 4902 Capstone Seminar (4 Credits)

The Capstone Seminar is a graduate seminar in which students utilize the knowledge and skills gained through the degree program to create a culminating work that critically addresses a problem in their degree field of study. The students produce a Capstone of 7000-8000 words that presents a position on a relevant problem, supports the position with professional and academic literature, analyzes and tests the proposed solution, and discusses the findings as related to the field of study. The seminar is dependent upon quality, collegial discussion, and feedback of students’ research and work products, under the facilitation of a faculty member. The course structure guides the students through the process of independent, secondary research and writing of a Capstone. No primary research is allowed. Students generate the course content through ongoing discussion and peer feedback on the Capstone process and individual topic areas under investigation. Students professionally and academically communicate through written work and oral presentation. Students must have: Acceptance as a degree candidate, completion of at least 40 quarter-hours (including all core courses) with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better. Students must complete the Capstone Seminar in one quarter; no incomplete grades are assigned.

MALS 4980 Internship (0-4 Credits)

The internship is designed to offer students a purposeful experience in a practical, industry-related setting. The internship is an individualized learning experience and a training plain is created for each student in conjunction with the internship site to provide experiences related to the skills and knowledge covered in the certificate and master's programs.

MALS 4991 Independent Study (1-8 Credits)

This is an advanced course for students wishing to pursue an independent course of study. The student must be accepted in a degree program, have earned a grade point average of 3.0 or better, obtained the approval of the department director, and have completed the Independent Study form and filed the form with all appropriate offices before registering for the independent study. Independent Study is offered only on a credit basis and only for degree candidates.