Leading innovation in the arts and cultural sector is the topic of a Vanderbilt University massive open online course, or MOOC, launching Feb. 22. David Owens, professor of the practice of management and innovation at the Owen Graduate School of Management and professor of the practice of engineering management, will teach the eight-week course, which is designed to help arts and culture leaders create an environment where new ideas are constantly created, shared and evaluated, and the best ones are successfully put to work.
This will mark the second time Owens has taught a MOOC on leading strategic innovation in organizations. For this iteration, Owens partnered with National Arts Strategies to customize the course content for arts and cultural leaders. National Arts Strategies partners with funders, agencies, membership organizations and cultural institutions to create custom educational experiences that support and strengthen leaders.
“In my work with NAS over the past decade, I have found that arts and culture organizations have the same problems as other kinds of businesses, especially in the areas of strategy and innovation,” Owens said. “Unfortunately, they have far fewer resources to spend on the business education that might address those issues.
“Compounding this, conventional business education pushes a focus on the ‘bottom line’ at the expense of mission, which makes it easy for mission-driven organizations to dismiss the needed education as inappropriate or worse,” he said. “This course offers an alternative to both problems. The course is based in sound business thinking, it recognizes and celebrates the special context within which administrators of arts and culture organizations work, and it is free.”
The course, Leading Innovation in Arts and Culture, will teach the learner how to make an “innovation strategy” a fundamental component of their organization’s overall strategy and will engage students in a series of class discussions and exercises. It is free and available to the public.
Vanderbilt’s participation in Coursera is supported by the Vanderbilt Institute for Digital Learning.