Arts & Administration Master's Capstones, Projects, and Theses

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https://hdl.handle.net/1794/212

This collection contains a selection of some of the Master's capstones, projects, and theses completed by students in the University of Oregon Arts and Administration Graduate Program. In 2017, the Arts and Administration Program was transitioned from a degree program to the Arts and Cultural Leadership field of interest in the University of Oregon's School of Planning, Public Policy and Management. Please visit the following blog for more information on the Arts & Cultural Leadership field of interest: https: //blogs.uoregon.edu/artsandculture/

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 68

Open Access
A, Chahta sia: Reevaluating the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
(University of Oregon, 2014-12) Reynolds, Mattie
Passed in 1990, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) is a federal law that requires museum and federal agencies to comply with a complex set of regulations stipulating the return of Native American sacred objects, objects of cultural patrimony, funerary objects, and human remains. Using two different courses, Art Law and Anthropology Museum, this capstone examines the events leading up to NAGPRA’s passage, the issues that continue to persist in completing repatriations two decades after its passage, and presents possible solutions to assist future repatriations. In hopes of also shedding light on the relationships built between museums and Native American communities while completing repatriations, this capstone will briefly examine whether said relationships can contribute to future collaborations and interactions. The goal of this capstone is to offer a condensed historical examination of NAGPRA as well as its most prevalent issues in order to provide a resource for both museums and Native American communities attempting to complete repatriations with which they could prevent extensive delays or confusion.
Open Access
Activating Place Identity: Programmatic Shifts in the Outdoor, Public Spaces of Downtown Eugene
(2018-06) Schenter, Melissa
This study examines the City of Eugene’s adoption of creative placemaking practices in an effort to positively alter the identity of its Downtown- focusing on the resultant shifts in programming methods, and on the complex role of artistic producers within it’s outdoor, public spaces. Recognizing “place identity” as existing in the combination of both tangible and intangible elements, this project applies a framework of performance theory to analyse the “mechanisms of action” which work to normalize behaviors within physical spaces, thus influencing perceptions of place. Based largely on 15, semi-structured interviews with City programmers and community arts leaders, the findings of this project focus predominantly on the concept of “activations”- an emergent style of arts programming born from the creative placemaking movement, and inspired in Eugene by the 2016 Downtown Assessment conducted by the Project for Public Spaces (PPS). Interviewees differentiated activation programming from event programming, describing the former as being more ambient, ongoing, inclusive, and as creating a greater link between the arts and city infrastructure. Importantly, activations provide more varied modes of engagement, and have the potential to more subtly influence behavior patterns over time. Through these interviews, it became apparent that current city infrastructure struggles to support artistic activities. However, Eugene has adopted strategic partnership models to work towards addressing downtown’s identity crisis, which involve intentional arts programming. Following the work of PPS, the Mayor, City Council, and leaders across various City department pulled together a diverse team of city staff to form the “Downtown Operations Team.” As a result, arts programmers voices have been brought to the table in strategic, downtown revitalization efforts, allowing them to work alongside leaders in areas such as Facilities, Transportation Options, and Planning & Development. Through these collaborations, City programmers and arts leaders have adopted a necessary sensitivity in their work, in order to complement the efforts of social services and public safety providers. The conclusion of this research argues that the City of Eugene’s shift towards activation programming is a move in the right direction. Because activations are more accessible to differing populations, and more conscious to the various entities working within these public spaces, they could be especially useful for addressing the current needs of Downtown Eugene. To sustain this type of programming, however, more flexible public spaces are needed. Additionally, because activations require strong links between artists and city infrastructure, continued strategic collaborations, such as the City’s “Downtown Operations Team”, are a necessity- with City divisions such as Cultural Services and Planning & Development acting as leading intermediaries. Ultimately, these programmatic shifts will help to introduce new levels of sociability to these spaces, and increase Downtown Eugene’s ability to act as a civic heart to the community.
Open Access
Articulating the Contemporary Circus Sector in the United States
(University of Oregon, 2016-06-07) Francis, Joshua
The contemporary circus arts are in an era of increasing prominence in the United States dues to increased exposure in a wide range of media and throughout a variety of different performing arts forms. However, in spite of this, the art form still maintains a degree of separation from public understanding. Furthermore, those who are participating in the circus arts either as an artist, administrator, teacher, or any number of other categories are not as aware as they could be of the services and products present throughout the country for and by other circus organizations. This project endeavors to explore the activities present in the circus field by approaching it as a microcosm of the "creative sector," as articulated by Cherbo et al. (2008). Understanding the resultant circus sector in this way involves analyzing the people that work at the core of the sector, the circus activities in which this core engages, the downstream distribution infrastructure that connects the sector with its markets, the upstream production infrastructure that supports and develops the sector itself and its workers, and the general public infrastructure that externally influences the sector. From there, conclusions are drawn about what the state of these various sections say about the state of the circus sector as a whole.
Open Access
Audience Development Strategies: Cultivating a Future for Dance Audience Patronage
(University of Oregon, 2014-06) Rogers, Amy
This research project explores and identifies the evolution of audience development strategies for dance audiences. Through a review of literature this project will include an overview and description of best practices used by performing arts organizations, both past and present, for developing audiences. By conducting an in-depth case study this research project will analyze current audience behavior at a multitude of contemporary dance performances in a variety of venues presented by White Bird, a non-profit dance presenting organization in the city of Portland, Oregon. The case study will provide a demographic sampling by examining the results of three audience surveys conducted at White Bird performances. Conducting interviews with key informants at White Bird will assist in analyzing audience behavior. The culmination of results will strive to ultimately represent strategies for development of future dance audience patrons.
Open Access
Authors Guild v Google Inc: The 2015 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Decision and its Effects on Mass Digitization Initiatives at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
(University of Oregon, 2016-06-07) Zysett, Erin
There is a growing trend among larger museums and heritage organizations to digitize their collections, both their artifact collections, and their collections of research publications and books. Some of these printed works are still under copyright, and some are in the public domain. Of those copyrighted works, some are owned by the organization, and some are not. This creates some significant legal hurdles for organizations wanting to digitize large collections on a massive scale. By looking at the recent legal case Google v. Authors’ Guild and the mass digitization projects at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this Master’s degree capstone study examines the emerging issues of mass digitization projects, and the marketing potential of making collections available online.
Open Access
Biculturalism at Otago Museum: A Case Study
(2018-06-06) Underwood, Avery, Wailes Povelite
Otago Museum in Dunedin, New Zealand, is an institution in the beginning stages of a museum-wide shift towards biculturalism. Presently, the Museum largely operates under a western museology, and the shift to biculturalism means not only are objects and content interpreted in the traditional western style, but also with respect to the worldview and with the authority of the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand. A bicultural museum model decolonizes the museum institution by giving authority and agency back to indigenous peoples, creating a more comprehensive and inclusive museum. Approaching this research project with a framework of biculturalism and bicultural practices as detailed by Conal McCarthy in his 2011 Museums and Māori , this research intends to detail and better understand the current and future bicultural practices of Otago Museum through interviews with key staff members, observations of Otago Museum spaces, and analysis of the Museum’s documents. This research aims to provide a better understanding of the Museum’s bicultural practices and shift with the hope that the findings provide useful lessons for museums in the rest of New Zealand and the world.
Open Access
Catching up with the Social Media Trends at Film Festivals
(University of Oregon, 2015-06-15) Hsu, Yi Hsuan
The purpose of the research is to explore the social media trends and patterns within film festivals and to provide recommendations for future film festival organizers to cultivate a more sophisticated social media engagement. This project discovered the benefits and challenges film festivals faced with social media, as well as the factors that affect film festival organizers' decision making on social media strategies. Information was obtained through an inventory research across 125 film festivals in North America, and a survey with some of the largest film festivals in the United States. E.g., Seattle international film festival, New Oreleans Film Festival, and Napa Valley Film Festival. Additionally, by analyzing the statistical information that was collected from this inventory research along with survey responds, this project identifies five major social media trends within film festivals and three recommendations for future film festival organizers.
Open Access
Community Engaged Arts + Thirdspace: Finding Authentic Engagement in Contemporary Art
(University of Oregon, 2015-06-15) Thornton, Chelsey
There is an ongoing challenge in arts organizations who integrate community engaged arts into their mission, focus and programming. This challenge is to identify tools and practices that help foster valuable and authentic community engaged art programming within a contemporary society. The purpose of this research is to understand how community engaged arts organizations who focus on the presenting of contemporary arts, can be placed within Thirdspace. Through this identification this research will explore how Thirdspace can be utilized as a tool to create authentic engagement for audiences. This research will also explore three arts organizations that focus on the presenting of contemporary arts. Examination was conducted through literature review and an exploration of an organization that has been established through literature as utilizing Thirdspace, Chapter in Wales, which will serve as an organizing principle, and a collective case study of two arts organization’s programs who do not explicitly identify with Thirdspace, PICA’s Field Guide in Portland, Oregon and WPA’s Lobby Project in Washington, DC. Themes that will emerge from this study are: Thirdspace as a tool of engagement, participatory practices of engagement, organizational structures, and contemporary art as medium. The themes of this study will be useful to the community engaged arts field at large to help further an understanding of how contemporary art can be used in collaboration with Thirdspace to create authentic engagement within audiences.
Open Access
A Comparative Study of Artron and ChinaVine : How do These Websites Use Digital Tools to Build Participatory Art Education Around Chinese Traditional Art
(University of Oregon, 2014-06) Liang, Yi
Emerging digital tools are changing the traditional means of education. Traditional Chinese art education is undergoing shift brought by emerging digital tools. This capstone considers the history of digital tools utilization in the scope of traditional Chinese art field and examine the design, best practices and deficiencies through the comparison study of Artron and Chinavine. The goal is to address the possibilities and potential value brought by digital tools to traditional Chinese art education.
Open Access
Complexity of Celtic Culture and Museum Practices
(University of Oregon, 2016-06-07) Barry, Shannon
Presenting cultural communities in museums is challenging. Each of these groups has nuances that make them difficult to accurately display in an exhibit. I chose to look at this particular issue through the lens of Celtic culture. To be able to display Celtic culture in museums, those creating an exhibit need to have certain knowledge. Most people assume that the Celts only inhabited the British Isles, as they are most associated with that region today. In fact, the Celts emerged in what is now central Austria. Their history was one of expansion and movement. At its farthest, there were Celtic settlements from Turkey to Spain, yet the Celts were never a single, unified kingdom. This complicated history leads to a debate among scholars about how to define the term ‘Celt.’ Popular opinions include arguments that the Celts are a genetic group, a linguistic group, an artistic style, or a cultural group with shared beliefs and practices. Another important discussion that surfaces while researching these varied definitions is the ‘Anti-Celt’ idea, which argues that the term is not broad enough to describe the numerous Celtic groups spread across Europe. After gaining an understanding of Celtic culture by exploring its history and definitions, this knowledge can be incorporated into the phases of creating an exhibit – planning, display, text (writing and interpretation), and evaluation. All of this information comes together to create a strategic process for museums to implement a comprehensive exhibition on Celtic culture. This research capstone includes a brief explanation of Celtic history, a literature review covering the various scholarly definitions of the term ‘Celt,’ and a step-by-step analysis of the phases involved in building an exhibit. The final product is a framework that can be utilized to present the complexity of Celtic culture in an appropriate and knowledgeable way.
Open Access
The Context and Development of a Music Education Start-up with an Integrated Digital Presence
(2017-06-06) Waters, Pat
Starting a music lessons business in an increasingly digitized society provides unique challenges that merit detailed investigation. This project aims to understand these challenges and use the knowledge gained to develop a guitar-lessons business with an integrated digital presence. The processes for this project are organized into two distinct sections. The context section presents the research conducted on the topic through a literature review on the topical areas of music education, digital learning environments, emerging technologies, digital communities, and gamification. A comparative case study of two online music lessons services, Drumeo and Guitartricks, looks at the similarities and differences of each organization’s content, production and marketing strategies. Findings from the context section emphasize the importance of community, especially in the digital context, and explore how research collected from the comparative case study and literature review can be used to inform a music lessons start-up. The development section includes a business plan, marketing plan and website (www.guitarclimb.com) for a start-up guitar lessons business called Guitarclimb. Supplemental marketing materials are also included for consideration. The business plan was developed as a result of the research conducted in the context section and forecasts a three-year trajectory for the business with an anticipated launch date of summer 2017. The business plan details how Guitarclimb will connect “physical” and digital audiences to develop a community of guitar-learners across the globe.
Open Access
Creative Placemaking: Towards and Evaluative Framework
(University of Oregon, 2016-06-07) Freeman, Lena
Creative placemaking has an important role in cultural community development. Collaborations and partnerships are intrinsic to the development of these initiatives that seek to engage their communities through the use of the arts. However, as creative placemaking gathers credence in their efforts in shaping community development, placemaking initiatives are burdened with the difficult task of evaluating their impact on their communities. The National Endowment for the Arts has expressed that creative placemaking projects should increase residents’ attachment to community, increase the quality of life, stimulate arts and culture activity, and stimulate economic development. While these indicators are important in understanding the stability and vibrancy of a community, they are subject to other influences that are outside of the control of a creative placemaking project. Therefore, creative placemaking initiatives have often found difficulties in demonstrating their direct impact on their communities based on these indicators alone. I argue that creative placemaking should not be evaluated solely on these indicators to determine success, but rather, to also incorporate the evaluation of the partnerships and collaboratives that are used within a creative placemaking’s process. By doing so, this will allow policy makers, funders, and evaluators the opportunity to recognize that the impact that collaboratives have within creative placemaking, as well as present a more holistic approach to the overall evaluation of creative placemaking outcomes.
Open Access
Cultural Heritage and Diplomatic Partnerships Between the United States and Peru
(University of Oregon, 2014-06) Bell, Tracey J.
The United States and Peru have worked collaboratively and independently to create bilateral programs, which include museum studies internships, anti-trafficking initiatives, exhibit exchanges, and professional exchanges, aimed at returning the research, stewardship, and interpretation of Peruvian cultural heritage property back to Peru. Cultural heritage property includes movable objects of importance to cultural identity, such as archaeological artifacts. This capstone explores how diplomatic relationships influence cultural heritage policies, and shows how these policies have facilitated the shift of study and inquiry of Peruvian archaeological artifacts back to Peruvian institutions. Much literature is devoted to the development of cultural heritage law and antitrafficking initiatives in the international arena, Latin America, and Peru, but there is a lack of literature exploring the programs that the United States has created in cooperation with Peru (Guerrero, 2009; Hoffman, 2006; Luke, 2012). This document looks specifically at how two countries that did not have a direct colonial relationship have worked together to create programing for the interpretation, repatriation, and exhibition of Peruvian cultural heritage property. Exploring the influences of cultural diplomacy and soft power that impact the decisions made in the protection, funding, and management of cultural heritage property, we see that programming between these two countries is evolving in a way that aligns with U.S. foreign policy agendas. Through a critical analysis of the foundations of the policy, laws and programs, this research seeks to identify trends in cultural heritage property programming that have developed as a result of the Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. and Peru.
Open Access
Curatorial Activism: Turning Activism into Practices
(2018) deMontigny, Breanna
Museums are not perfect institutions-- they have a long history of marginalization of ethnicity, gender, and sexuality through “western” museological practices. With recent political upheaval, more people have been fighting for rights and recognition, and museums are put in the position of having to evaluate how they react to the changes around them. This research project is pursuing the concept of curatorial activism, as defined by Dr. Maura Reilly, in an attempt to find exhibits or displays that demonstrate museums’ increasing political activism in various sized institutions across the United States through detailed document analysis. Interviews with current museum professionals who have a history of working with marginalized groups will help to better understand institutional barriers, as well as how the role of the curator should be redefined. This research intends to provide a realistic overview of institutional change and provide a better idea of how any museum can incorporate these practices.
Open Access
Deep Media to Mass Media: Transitioning from Vaudeville to Film
(University of Oregon, 2015-06-15) Garner, Laurette
This research capstone will explore the ways in which vaudeville and early film serve as an example of a preexisting form of media transitioning into a new form of media and how audience plays a role in this transition. Today, administration systems are currently transitioning from analog to digital systems. These platforms change the way people engage with entertainment and the arts. In order to better understand audiences, art administrators must be able to understand the context that surrounds current audiences in the arts management field. This study of the transition from vaudeville to early film is an example of this context and is an important study into what happens to older media with the introduction of new media. These transitions can be seen over and over throughout the last century and give art administrators a look into how to keep arts experiences relevant and audiences engaged in the future.
Open Access
Designing Spaces that Support Health for the Whole Person: A Sensory Processing Perspective of Healthcare Design in Community-Based Settings
(2019-06) Pierce, Molly; lastname, firstname
There are many barriers to built environments that affect health, well-being, and accessibility. Interdisciplinary models are informing healthcare design that addresses many of these barriers to support health. This research expands on the best practices using sensory processing model to understand how the key principles of design fit into a sensory assessment to gain greater awareness for the effects on health and well-being from the built environment. There is potential to go beyond just meeting the best practices for building and ADA requirements in order to create beautiful aesthetically designed spaces that are universal, engaging and calming, and support all abilities. Understanding how a space can affect the sensory nervous system by causing anxiety, stress, or being overstimulating can inform design and is the focus of this research. The Sensory Design Assessment Tool was developed to understand how best practices of design and human context fit into a sensory processing model for vision, auditory, tactile/touch, movement/space, and oral/olfactory. By using a sensory processing theory for design, along with the concept of creative placemaking and engaging in arts and health, design for community based settings can be universal, beautiful, and supportive for all users within the community.
Open Access
Digital Media Management for Cultural Research Initiatives
(University of Oregon, 2014) Lederman, Jonathan E.
Key concepts covered in this research project include an understanding of digital media management, defining and building a representation of cultural research initiatives, and determining best practices for applying the two aforementioned terms together respectively. Information obtained through literature review, document analysis, and peer review, and smallbatch testing for digital media management strategies and organization structures will be applied to the ChinaVine archive. ChinaVine's archive is a practical environment for applying learned digital media management methods. The outcome of this research will be an organized archival environment for ChinaVine's digital media. The digital media in questioned is managed on the a Drobo external storage device at the University of Oregon and the University of Central Florida.
Open Access
Digital Storytelling: A Safe Space for Creative Expression
(University of Oregon, 2014-06) Thorne, Evelyn
This research project examines how digital storytelling provides safe space for creative expression. The foundation for this argument is established through a literature review that describes how the process, facilitation, and ethics of digital storytelling affect safe space for creative expression. This rationale is examined through interviews with expert digital storytelling facilitators and experienced digital storytelling participants to construct a conceptual framework for this argument based on perspectives in the field. The goal of this research project is to evince how digital storytelling methods are a model for adult arts education programs that engage adults who have little creative confidence in creative expression.
Open Access
Engaging Art through Internet: A Study of Marketing Strategy for Chinese Arts E-Commerce
(University of Oregon, 2016-06-07) Li, Shawn
The Chinese government is currently pursuing an "Internet Plus" action plan that seeks to drive economic growth through the integration of internet technology into manufacturing and business. With the rise of the internet and e-commerce, there has been a rapid increase in online sales of Chinese art. Despite the importance and influence of the internet in the art market, China is still inexperienced in arts e-commerce, and the country’s e-commerce is too “new” to have much success in targeting buyers. Although China is still in the initial stages of art e-commerce development, many art trading websites are springing up, which further fuels the development of the art market. In this thesis, the author analyzes the current marketing strategies used by art trading websites and proposes development strategies and suggestions in order to further develop art e-commerce in China.
Open Access
Engaging Under-Represented Communities: A Comparative Analysis of Professional Symphony Orchestras
(2018-06) Wagner-Watt, Lauren
This Master’s Research Project looked into the various ways that professional symphony orchestras are engaging with their community, specifically with under-represented populations. The paper begins with an overview of the American symphony orchestra, and clarifying why it is now needing to engage more with its community rather than only performing concerts. The research also presents various literature reviews and comparative analyses that shed light on what is currently being offered by symphony orchestras around the country, including an indepth exploration of community engagement and education programming around the country. The study then focuses on comparative case studies highlighting the programs and populations being served by the Seattle Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Eugene Symphony and the Boise Philharmonic. This project found that there is a wide variety of programming for underrepresented populations and is usually specific to the community that the symphony represents. A major focus among professional symphony orchestras is centered around diversity, equity and inclusion, with many looking to develop initiatives within the entire organization.