Increasingly, the availability of entrepreneurship education is becoming a factor in college choice as fine arts students demand training that helps them create an arts-based career after graduation. For too long, the arts academy has ignored the long-term career outcomes of its graduates and has only recently begun to meaningfully address how students can earn a living as working artists and arts entrepreneurs. Written to address this challenge, Disciplining the Arts explores the policy, programming, and curricular issues in the emerging field of arts entrepreneurship. By articulating the need, purpose and outcomes for arts entrepreneurship education, listening to graduates and identifying models, this essay collection begins an important conversation on preparing students for arts self-employment.

Gary D. Beckman received degrees in music at the Universities of Southern Maine and New Hampshire before earning his Ph.D. in Musicology at The University of Texas at Austin. Currently, he is a visiting professor at the University of South Carolina's School of Music where he teaches music history, world music, and music entrepreneurship.