April 10, 2023

Society for Arts Entrepreneurship Education Members and Friends:

What began in 2014 as a small group of arts entrepreneurship educators in America has grown into an international body of educators representing states nationwide and communities around the globe. I am so excited to be on the board of this dynamic organization and to be selected as the fourth president in SAEE’s history.

Collectively, our membership continues to accomplish remarkable things related to arts entrepreneurship, including scholarship, national recognitions for teaching excellence, tenure in arts entrepreneurship, and field-specific dissertations that are now published. Members have taught for businesses and nonprofits and consulted professionally. At last count, there were thirty-eight Master’s programs globally in arts, creative, or cultural entrepreneurship. There are now majors in arts entrepreneurship, minors, certificate programs, and an ever-expanding list of courses—in for-profit, nonprofit, government, community, incubator, and higher education spaces.

As a returning board member and new society president, I will collaborate with our board to accomplish long-held aspirations and goals, including identifying new ways to deliver value to our members and establishing field-wide learning outcomes that are broad enough for interpretation while specific enough for accreditation, helping develop our field into a formal academic discipline. Our team will always strive to support our members’ publishing and pedagogical efforts and influence entrepreneurship education (B-school or otherwise). I will collaborate in furthering our members’ goals concerning program development, navigating their institutional processes, and developing messaging that will assist their efforts in gaining support from their respective institutions.

I hope to see you at our annual conference (March 22-23, 2024) and that you find much value in our SAEE conference and community that you become inspired to become actively involved, to serve in some capacity--on committees, on our board, offering services, or otherwise and to help deepen the value SAEE offers and our now global reach.  

Thank you for your continued interest in and support of the Society for Arts Entrepreneurship. Education On behalf of the board, we look forward to seeing you at this year’s April conference!

Warm regards,

Jim­­ Hart

President of Society for Arts Entrepreneurship Education
Director of Social Innovation, Creative, & Arts Entrepreneurship
Southern Methodist University
Meadows School of the Arts