Wednesday, Mar 23, 2016
by Anne Sears
A compelling play, an inspiring performance, a provocative exhibit – these memorable arts experiences don’t just happen.
Yes, at the center of it all is the artist or performer. But another key player in most successful arts-related ventures is an arts administrator or a team of administrators committed to bringing joy, insight and inspiration to people’s lives through the arts.
For the past five years, the Arts Administration program at Rider’s Westminster College of the Arts has prepared budding arts administration professionals for rewarding careers in this growing field.
A key component of the program’s curriculum is the New York Networking class developed by Assistant Professor Todd Dellinger. Taking advantage of Rider’s close proximity to New York City, considered by many to be the world’s cultural capital, and his own professional network, Dellinger offers students the opportunity to interact with important arts executives and leaders.
Students in the class research a variety of institutions and institutional leaders before weekly meetings at different institutions in New York. After each meeting, which lasts about 90 minutes, they apply what they’ve learned in earlier classes to evaluate and report on how those institutions are managed and the level to which they’re contributing to the broader arts world.
Dellinger drew on his extensive experience as an arts administrator to develop the class. Before joining Rider’s faculty, he was producing executive director of the nonprofit TexARTS Association in Austin, Texas, producing a Broadway series of performances in Austin's historic Paramount Theater and Off-Broadway performances in the theater that he designed and built. He also led a vibrant visual and performing arts academy serving ages 2 through college. Previously, Mr. Dellinger served as executive director of the acclaimed A Noise Within classical repertory theater in Los Angeles and of Elisa Monte Dance in Manhattan. Most notably, in the late 1990's he managed the revitalization of the world-renowned Martha Graham Dance Company and School in Manhattan, returning that venerable institution to health, bringing it back to the New York stage after a five-year hiatus, building American touring and enrollment in its school, bolstering overseas touring, overseeing the transfer of Ms. Graham's archives to the Library of Congress and devising the Martha Graham Trust and Foundation to manage the Graham estate.
“New York Networking is one of several experiential learning courses offered within, and that makes the Arts Administration program at Rider unique in the nation,” he says. “When I devised the curriculum in 2010-11, I worked to create a balance of practical, experiential and theoretical learning for our students in order to make Rider's program among the strongest, most dynamic in the country. This particular course is really a perfect example of that balance and I'm always so happy to watch the interactions between students and these top arts professionals unfold!”
2016 New York Networking Class Schedule
March 25
New York Theater Workshop
American Ballet Theater
Actors Equity Association
Jujamcyn Theaters
April 1
Guggenheim Museum
Symphony Space
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
Actors Connection
April 8
Imagem Records
Boosey & Hawkes
Rodgers & Hammerstein Foundation
Public Theater
Playwrights Horizons
April 15
Baryshnikov Center
Joyce Theater
NYC Depatment of Cultural Affairs
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
April 29
Carnegie Hall
Lincoln Center
Disney Theatricals
NBC Universal
