Leadership: Perspectives from Arts Managers

Arts organizations face many challenges to survive. In order to ensure the future of our cultural capital, the next generation of arts leaders must be prepared to face these challenges and lead their organizations appropriately. While young arts professionals can read a wealth of information about leaders in other disciplines, their leadership experiences, and the leadership qualities that they value, little arts management specific information is available to them. To increase the resources available to leaders, this study asked which qualities current arts leaders themselves consider to be the most useful in their own leadership experiences. Second, what leadership means to them in the context of their own jobs as well as if this view of leadership has changed for them during the course of their careers. In conclusion, arts leaders value many of the same qualities as noted in other sources, with notable preferences toward passionate, visionary, collaborative leaders.