DeVos Institute Launches Online Course – The Cycle: Management of Successful Arts and Cultural Organizations

February 13, 2017

Taught by DeVos Institute Chairman Michael M. Kaiser and President Brett Egan, the six-week course introduces participants to a management philosophy called The Cycle, the Institute’s theory of organizational activity that prioritizes investment in great art. The course is designed for those who are interested in learning how to support thriving arts and cultural organizations regardless of art form, geography, or size.

Learning from their work with managers from over 80 countries around the world, the DeVos Institute developed The Cycle as a simple, but powerful tool to assist managers in their effort to respond to an increasingly complex environment and propel their institutions to excellence. The Cycle is explained further by Kaiser and Egan in their formative book The Cycle: A Practical Approach to Managing Arts Organizations.

“The Cycle reflects what I have learned in my 32-year arts management career,” said Kaiser. “Arts organizations that thrive are the ones that create exciting and surprising art, market that art well and build a family of supporters year in and year out. This MOOC is intended to help arts leaders and board members to create this cycle in their organizations."

Students of the course have responded positively to the opportunity to learn first-hand what it takes to run a successful cultural operation. “It's a great course for small and large organizations to undertake when starting out, or as a refresher,” said one participant. “All arts-related organizations probably do some version of The Cycle on a daily basis, but it's the way the course is laid out in a simple format that wills all of us to become more efficient in our time.”

The course includes lectures, case studies from managers around the United States and the world, and activities to assist participants in applying the principles of The Cycle in an organizational setting.

By taking the course, participants will learn:

• the importance of bold, exciting, and mission-driven programming in an organization;

• how long-term artistic planning can help an organization produce this work;

• how an organization can aggressively market that programming and the institution behind it to develop a family of supporters - including ticket buyers, board members, donors, trustees and volunteers;

• how an organization can cultivate and steward this family to build a healthy base of earned and contributed income; and

• how an organization can reinvest that income into increasingly ambitious programming year after year.

“As a leading public research university, the University of Maryland is thrilled to work with our DeVos Institute of Arts Management to use MOOCs as a way to increase the reach of the DeVos Institute, helping nonprofits worldwide with effective tools to strengthen their organizations,” said Ben Bederson, Associate Provost of Learning Initiatives at the University of Maryland.

“It is a unique offering aimed at overcoming the challenges these valued institutions face, providing richer support, and going beyond the book, while being so much more accessible than a trip around the world to attend a course,” added UMD’s MOOC program manager, Bill Aarhus.

The next weekly session will begin March 6. New sessions will begin each month. Participants may enroll at www.DeVosInstitute.net/TheCycleOnlineCourse. All course material is available on demand upon enrollment for self-paced learners.

The online course is made possible with the support of the University of Maryland.