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Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts  Volume 5, Issue 2 
http://artivate.org  pp. 43-44 
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Copyright © 2016, the author      
 
 

BOOK REVIEW 
Arts Management:  An Entrepreneurial Approach 
By Carla Walter  
Reviewed by Patrick A. Kelsey, Savannah College of Art and Design 
 

Russell Belks, of York University in Toronto states in his forward to Carla Walter’s Arts 
Management: An Entrepreneurial Approach, this is a “text for just how to accomplish such a 
reconciliation of art and business” (Walter, 2015, p. xiii). This textbook delivers just that 
reconciliation and a lot more. Arts Management positions the arts or, more accurately, the 
cultural and creative industries, in such a way as to close the gap between art and commerce.  In 
addition, Arts Management presents the production of art as a viable business model that indeed 
has the right to sit at the bargaining table next to other industries. Early in the text, Walter posits 
the “culturepreneur” as our focus of attention, using Andrea Hausmann’s definition of “artists 
undertaking business activities within one of the four traditional sectors of the arts who discover 
and evaluate opportunities in the arts and leisure markets and create a business to pursue them” 
(p. 10).  

Arts Management: An Entrepreneurial Approach is a compendium of all aspects of 
commerce, ranging from finance, production, and marketing to legal, talent management, and 
technology, “to provide a university upper-division undergraduate and graduate-level text that 
covers the principles of arts management and entrepreneurship” (Walter, 2015, p. xvii). Walter 
goes on to state, “its audiences are students who are not business majors,” and the textbook is 
designed “for fulfilling the prerequisite survey course in graduate arts management and 
entrepreneurship or the capstone undergraduate course” (p. xvii). As this reviewer is fluent in 
non-business majors studying for a career in arts management, Arts Management does fill the 
fissure of a comprehensive text connecting theory with practice. 

Walter opens by differentiating the industry between cultural versus creative, with Arts 
Management siding with the cultural and leaving the text to provide special emphasis on fine, 
contemporary, and classical performing arts. Provided the coverage of disciplines and regardless 
of profit motive, there is something for everyone. It is a versatile text to consider adopting in the 
classroom. 

Walter goes on to describe Arts Management’s positioning as at the “intersection of a 
theoretical framework, with practical application and experiential exercises” (p. xvii). Each of 
the fourteen chapters, grouped into five overarching topics totaling over 400 pages of extensive 
research and content, begins with a chapter outline and well-defined learning objectives. Each 
chapter concludes with a brief summary, a spectrum of thought-provoking discussion questions 
designed for either an extensive in-class dialogue, or essays that exercise both the student’s 
knowledge of the reading as well as the synthesis of such. In addition, chapters finish with some 
very well thought out experiential exercises allowing the student to apply the content of the 
textbook in a pragmatic manner, which should only further the student’s understanding of the 
material. The writing, however, could be construed as a little dense, rendering its use primarily to 
the realm of academia and not necessarily a primer for a non-student or practitioner looking to 
better understand the industry. Sprinkled throughout Arts Management are a fair balance of 
visual aids presenting the content for better understanding. Though not a requirement, and a 
rarity among arts management texts, Arts Management does not itself provide the benefit of 
instructor resources, but it does provide the needed readings for the student to understand 



Kelsey            Book Review: Arts Management, an Entrepreneurial Approach 
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Artivate 5 (2)   

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thoroughly the industry and enough content for the instructor to keep the conversation lively, 
active, and engaging. 

Walters organizes Arts Management through four distinct sections with a fifth dedicated 
to two separate and in-depth case studies primed for a healthy classroom discussion. First is 
“Understanding the Cultural Fine Arts,” which provides the pre-requisite survey of the cultural 
or creative industries and brings students quickly up to speed with the positioning of the arts in 
our larger economy; a rundown of select cultural disciplines and their inner workings; a firm 
understanding of the positioning of the arts as a consumable good; and concludes with a simple 
overview of industry economics. “Entrepreneurial Development” is the second major section. It 
opens with an overview of the entrepreneurial process, covering financing to market opportunity. 
Following are more in-depth and detailed chapters discussing consumer behavior and conducting 
market research. The third section is “Management and Processes,” which positions the arts as a 
service industry and how that impacts its perception within the marketplace; an overview of 
management and leadership within arts organizations in both for-profit and not-for-profit 
enterprises; a brief discussion about intellectual property and cultural policy; and, concludes with 
a perspective on technology and how it can help to leverage the enterprises operations. Finally, 
“Growth and Succession” covers fundraising and development; financial management and 
investing; and the often-ignored and underappreciated topic of succession planning. 

Supplementing these first four sections are resources for additional reading, research 
tools, and appendices to expand upon the subject material more. Many chapters also provide a 
bonus “Spotlight” that brings into perspective how the “real world” connects with chapter 
content.  Walter also goes beyond the confines of the printed text and supplements the readings 
with “What’s On?” which is a series of publicly available online video case studies lending 
themselves to additional in-depth classroom discussions. 

Two in-depth and well-researched case studies by Ruth Rentschler of Deakin University 
constitute the fifth and final section. The first case’s subject material focuses on museum 
governance while the second provides a detailed story or perspective of a board chair serving a 
major performing arts company. The latter dives into the discussion about the role of chair and 
the board as seen through the lens of women in leadership positions. Pulled from the real world 
and primed for some debate and reflection, both case studies add additional depth to the content. 

In conclusion, Walter has provided to higher education arts management programs Arts 
Management: An Entrepreneurial Approach at a time when students studying to take on 
leadership roles in the cultural industries absolutely need to think more creatively, more 
strategically, and more entrepreneurially.  Maintaining the status quo is no longer an option in 
this hyper-competitive, overly connected, global market and Walter has provided a tool in this 
text to bring into focus what today’s students need for tomorrow. 

 


