In Their Words

Last Updated on Monday, 03 May 2010 16:51 Written by Administrator Wednesday, 21 April 2010 20:43

Al Cotrone

“It’s easy to convince oneself that all challenges can be solved from a standard business perspective until you step out of the classroom and try to deploy what has been learned in a different culture with different perspectives and different motivations. Arts Enterprise provides a chance to step out in just that way to collaborate with other students who may have a separate perspective and motivation set. The fact that this is done within the relative safety of the campus setting makes Arts Enterprise a developmental experience that is duplicated nowhere else of which I am aware.”

-Al Cotrone
Director, Career Development & Student Affairs
University of Michigan Ross School of Business

Dean Christopher Kendall

"As Dean of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance with a long career in the arts field, I am an unalloyed enthusiast of Arts Enterprise and its mission of engagement and networking. With its growing number of arts entrepreneurial initiatives, Arts Enterprise connects a variety of professional programs across campus, and continues to look for creative ways to support students in all fields who care deeply about the arts. In this economy, it is especially important for students to work across disciplines to enhance their preparation for a life in the arts. 

AE’s effectiveness is especially evident here at Michigan through ventures between the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, and the Ross School of Business, including workshops to support entrepreneurial skills for 21st century musicians; a speaker series that connects students with pioneering leaders of artistic enterprise; a partnership that allows both students and faculty in business and theatre to learn from each other and improve skills each will need to pursue successful careers.

Since the beginning, the initiative has exhibited an exemplary drive to take responsibility for its own vision and to realize the essential good the arts provide in human affairs. We celebrate Arts Enterprises’ accomplishments and look forward to its further development as a national force for informed, cross-disciplinary activism in the arts."

-Christopher Kendall
Dean, School of Music, Theatre & Dance
University of Michigan

Dean Richard Kennell

"Arts Enterprise provides BGSU students from business, music, or other majors to exercise their creativity and build solid entrepreneurship strategies. These opportunities are applied to important service-learning settings and provide our students with experiences that will be very helpful to them in their future professions."

-Richard Kennell
Dean Bowling Green State University College of Musical Arts