Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2025, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

This study explores the elements of performing arts nonprofit organizations led by artist- administrators that contribute to organizational sustainability. Through a multiple-case study of two Columbus-based performing arts nonprofits, a thematic analysis was conducted using publicly available organizational data and interviews with artist-administrators. Themes were derived from the literature on nonprofit and arts nonprofit management, identifying key factors including financial structure, board composition, marketing strategies, and adaptability. Findings indicate that sustainable performing arts nonprofits tend to have a stable financial structure prioritizing artist support, a board of directors with diverse backgrounds, an innovative and brand-centric marketing approach, and a flexible organizational model that is responsive to environmental changes. Additionally, artist-administrators leverage experiences from various fields to balance artistic and administrative responsibilities effectively. These insights contribute to the broader understanding of how arts organizations can foster longevity while supporting artistic creation.

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2025, Leadership and Change

As healthcare costs are skyrocketing, of the 6,093 hospitals in America, 53% will lose money in the current year (Coleman-Lochner, 2022). Design health innovation centers (DHICs) are formed in Europe and the United States to create efficiencies in healthcare related to budget challenges. DHICs exist in unique contexts both in America and Europe that are not yet well understood. These efforts are difficult to lead due to the lack of understanding of their worth and how their process is valuable to healthcare settings (Bhattacharyya et al., 2022). The specific problem examined here is that little is known about how DHIC leaders and teams create and sustain these centers, including how design and health team leaders work together and what resources encourage the success of DHICs (Romm & Vink, 2019). The purpose of this qualitative case study is to examine how ambidextrous leadership and growth play out in team and leader behaviors and experiences at one DHIC in Europe. The goal of this work is to contribute to an improved understanding for DHIC creation in the United States health system. Of particular interest to this study are leader behaviors that seem to directly link to areas in DHICs of innovation. These behaviors may be the key to understanding how leaders are innovating and staying successful across multiple silos and communities. While traditional metrics of success often focus on implementation, research into DHICs should examine the interrelationship between the creative and the practical, including how leaders create the right environments for teams to form and operate toward successful metrics and social impact (Dyrda, 2018; Hostetter et al., 2015). This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), Bowling Green State University, 2025, Music Performance/Orchestral Conducting

Modern American orchestras must continually work to engage, serve, and build long-lasting relationships with their communities. Financial crises such as those faced by The Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Minnesota Orchestra in the fallout of the Great Recession of 2008 serve as tests for the durability and efficacy of these institutions. This paper examines the overlapping communal makeup of an American orchestra's internal organization with the supporting community around it and the challenges of valuating an orchestra's services and contributions. A compilation of historical records, news reports, interviews, and social media posts explores how each orchestra's labor dispute arose and was resolved and the resulting effects on communal relationships. In each case, the depth of the financial crisis was tied directly to the amount of debt held to cover the cost of concert hall renovations. The key to each resolution was an increase in transparency and communication between the administration and musicians, a valuable lesson for orchestras which continue to face ongoing challenges in maintaining funding and community engagement.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2025, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

“Another World is Possible:” Liberatory Unionism in the U.S. Art Museum Labor Movement examines and documents how contemporary art museum workers in the United States are advancing intersectional social justice through their labor organizing. As the first major academic study on museum unionization, this study contributes to the historicization of a social movement and analysis of a professional arena currently in flux. Since 2019, there has been an unprecedented rise in labor organizing in U.S. art museums. This organizing, furthermore, joins a revitalized and liberatory labor movement across sectors in the U.S., one that insists on the interconnections of class and workplace exploitation with racial and gender oppression. This study contributes to a gap in the literature by bringing together two areas of inquiry and theory: museum studies and labor studies. Labor studies and histories tend to focus on sectors with more longstanding unionization, while scholars of cultural labor have focused their attention to the productive work of artistic labor or labor in for-profit creative sectors like Hollywood. Most critical analyses of museums, meanwhile, examine their institutional foundations and ongoing complicities in nation-building and colonial projects and the social engineering they enact on visitors and societies. This study braids these strands together to understand the conditions, experiences, and possibilities of art museum labor. In this study, I embrace a feminist critical theory approach to attempt an ethical research praxis towards social change. To identify how museum workers position and enact their organizing within larger frameworks of social justice, I use mixed methods in an Action Research framework, analyzing data from: a quantitative demographic survey; 48 semi-structured interviews with current and former museum union members, organizers, and activists; and content analysis of 6 Instagram accounts, 16 labor contracts, and archival documents (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

Despite the recognized importance of citizen participation in creative placemaking, the participation process in arts districts has not been thoroughly scrutinized. Previous indicators heavily focus on economic contributions, failing to capture the social values inherent in creative placemaking. The lack of an effective assessment tool can exacerbate issues such as gentrification, which displaces low-income residents and erodes the unique sense of place. This study aims to address this gap by identifying barriers to citizen participation and measuring the social value of creative placemaking, contributing to the development of more equitable and inclusive arts districts. In the twenty-first century, rapid digitalization and globalization have empowered citizens to quickly access information and engage actively with government administration. This shift has also introduced the theory of New Governance, which decentralizes federal authority and promotes a horizontal network between the government and citizens. Citizen participation has become an increasingly critical component of successful governance in various sectors, including the arts. Creative placemaking is a human-centered planning approach that leverages local arts and cultural assets for regional revitalization. Arts districts, as the primary mechanism of creative placemaking, highlight the importance of cross-sector partnerships for successful implementation. For residents, producing and distributing local arts and cultural assets is essential for preserving the unique regional characteristics of an arts district. This dissertation is a comparative case study evaluating the level of citizen participation and identifying barriers to participation in the decision-making processes of the Short North Arts District and the Franklinton Arts District in Columbus, Ohio. Using the theoretical frameworks of New Governance and the Ladder of Citizen Participation, the study examines participation levels in the (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Organization Development & Change (D.O.D.C.), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Organization Development

Research has established a case for the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in arts organizations. Achievements in DEI "…will allow arts organizations to engage their entire communities on multiple levels. Arts organizations will benefit from utilizing new perspectives on chronic challenges that have plagued the arts." (Cuyler, 2013) Additionally, we know that there is a relationship between racial and ethnic diversity and better financial performance. "Companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians." (Hunt et al., 2015). While there is some research on the effectiveness of DEI initiatives, there is little research on how commitments to DEI have impacted the artistic programming choices of artistic directors in arts organizations. With over ten years of experience in artistic programming, I am invested in examining how DEI is presented in artistic programming decisions. This grounded theory study explores the artistic programming decision-making process of artistic directors at nonprofit arts organizations in New York City. Through research, I sought to understand DEI's role in the decision-making process of artistic directors and if artistic programming can be used to examine an organization's commitment to DEI. Based on the findings in this study, the Artistic Programming Decision-making Model is presented to explain the role DEI plays in the artistic programming decisions of artistic directors. The emergent model proposes that DEI influences the artistic director's values and experiences, artistic programming philosophies, and leadership role, and these factors impact the artistic programming decision-making process.

Master of City and Regional Planning, The Ohio State University, 2024, City and Regional Planning

There is a growing awareness of the value of airport arts programs, but little guidance on administrative strategies to maximize this value. This work asks: What are the best practices for airport arts programs to meaningfully and equitably represent local identity and how does it vary across different airport governance structures and scales of operations? To answer these questions, an inventory of airport art administration documents was collected and analyzed to identify persistent themes, leading to the selection of three case study airports: Portland, Houston, and Fort Lauderdale. At each case study airport, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with airport arts administrators, artists who have engaged with the airport procurement process, and other arts administrators at the local and municipal level were utilized to better understand the unique context of airport arts programs. This analysis was supported by an art planning document review and structured observation of airport arts sites. Synthesizing the findings at each case study airport, a series of recommendations for airport arts practitioners was developed. Key findings include the value of integrated leadership, partnerships with local organizations, specificity in creating and measuring program objectives, attention to administrative context, and strategies to account for the costs of program management.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2024, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

The National Endowment for the Arts' Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) is the model source of arts participation data in the United States. In 2005, a gap between SPPA's metrics and the understanding of immigrant groups was found, indicating the survey inadequately evaluates how the immigrant groups participate in the arts. In the U.S., Asian Americans are the fastest growing immigrant population and driving force in the economy. The collective and diverse customs and traditions of Asian Americans present both opportunities and challenges for scholars, leaders, and policymakers to understand them. As the importance and the need to learn this group grows across the society, the area of arts and culture is indispensable from the whole picture. This study builds on two rounds of pilot study, including personal interviews and observations where I found that the Asian American samples understand the arts in a very personal way, with significant variation. To provide fundamental insights about arts participation and perceptions among this group, this study reviews literature regarding the general public's perspectives on what “art” is, the prominence of immigrants' arts participation, and arts engagement during the COVID-19. In this research, I draw the evidence from 21 interviews in Columbus, Ohio to find out how Asian Americans understand and engage with arts. The findings show that arts are topics relate closely to people's background, experiences, and values, which encompasses a wide array of creative expressions and traditions. Asian Americans' rich culture and traditions affect immigrants' daily lives to different extents. This study suggests SPPA's survey instrument should include basic knowledge on the multiple cultural frames of reference in different groups of people, so that to understand the spectrum of ways people engage with the arts and cultural activities.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

The contemporary glass world is a place of diverse making that ranges from fine art to design to craft. Artists in the field fluctuate from formally educated with MFAs to individuals who are self-taught, trained through various apprenticeships and/or piecemeal educational experiences. How glass artists define success in their field, and how they chart a potential trajectory towards it, are questions that seem as though they should have clear answers. However, as the number of graduates from art programs increases, as well as the cost to start and sustain a career in the field, there is precariousness about how to maintain a successful practice. Additionally, the glass profession remains male dominated even though more females currently graduate from higher education programs throughout the US. This study focuses on female glass artists from emerging to established in their careers through qualitative interviews with 27 participants, and 7 participant observations, to reflect on the challenges and successes they have experienced and to provide a survey of the field at a time that women are seeking parity. Their stories and experiences are cross referenced with descriptive quantitative data gathered from the institutions they have interacted with as artists, students, educators, and/or administrators. The analysis and interpretation of the collected data summarizes emergent themes, and focuses on core challenges, and successes that participants encountered, while highlighting strategies that participants employ persist in the field. Utilizing portraiture methodology with narrative analysis and auto-ethnographic inclusions throughout, I provide a critical survey of the field, how female glass artists are currently working within its limitations, and how they define success.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Comparative Studies

This dissertation theorizes the concept of enchantment, articulating it as an orientation towards affects, embodied experiences, and material cultures. The experience of enchantment is amplified by confusing space and time, calling forth social fantasies, and attuning oneself to the natural world. Enchantment is also a potent energizing force, capable of transforming the world around it, whether by arranging subjects and relationships in ways that produce and maintain antiblackness, orientalism, and misogyny, or offering life-giving possibilities that resist the harm of hegemonic forces. Enchantment informs grotesque and fantastical representations of racialized subjects and encourages sustained investment in consumer practices that are never satisfied. Yet enchantment also resides in moments of respite, wonder, and nostalgia for subaltern people. This dissertation aligns the life-giving possibilities of enchantment with creative practice and expression, demonstrating how imagination and fantasy allow the formation of new and more expansive worlds where marginalized peoples can thrive. Yet even while engaging in liberative artistic praxis, subjects must often negotiate dominant capitalist and colonial logics that inform the materials and practices of their world-making.

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2023, Theatre Arts-Arts Administration

This paper sets out to explore how Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (‘DEI') has impacted Black arts and culture organizations to thrive as nonprofits. Through open ended interviews with six Black nonprofit arts and culture leaders that serve Cleveland, Ohio, the study will investigate how Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion impacted these organizations in the pursuit of their missions between the years 2017-2022. Through this lens, interviews also sought to uncover the operational capacity needs of these nonprofits as well as where they felt the work of DEI should focus its efforts in the future to better help Black organizations. A thematic analysis was conducted, and seven common themes arose. Findings uncovered that the nonprofits were able to access more funding, but insufficient amounts of staffing continued to prevent growth. Positive impact was also mitigated by a lack of diverse resources and inequitable partnerships with other nonprofits. The leaders expressed that future DEI efforts should work towards helping organizations achieve economic freedom, facilitate space for solidarity and common purpose, and guide the sector in continuing efforts to address the systematic barriers that Black organizations continue to face. Four recommendations are given that include a targeted approach to address capacity needs, more cross sector funding support, and initiatives that will expand the networks of Black arts and culture organizations.

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2023, Educational Administration

Considering the high cost of shipping, the extensive nature of government customs policies and procedures, and the risks associated with art fraud, copyrights, and art security, research gaps about the benefits of international art exchanges limits the opportunities for individual artists. Using Goudie and Viles' framework of inquiry, this mixed-methods action research study investigated international art exchange benefits from two groups of German and United States artists. The results of the study indicated several benefits including the ability to critique/compare art styles with their overseas peers, the stimulation of international art meetings, and the appreciation of other cultures. The action plan included the creation of a systems-level model for international art exchanges to expand worldwide exchange opportunities to more individual artists.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

Arts administrators labor to bring arts, artists, and audiences together. They develop policies and implement them as practice as they navigate, follow, and disrupt professional norms. This research is grounded in concerns for arts administrator well-being, weary of paying a passion tax, committed to creative ideologies. While worker well-being has become more central to occupational discourse with COVID-19 and social justice movements, more research is needed to understand how well-being is understood and addressed in arts administration. Additionally, as a creative field we know little about how practitioners use creativity in their work, and how it is supported. I argue that attention to bodies, minds, and generally accepted, broad benefits of creativity can improve the practices, policies, pedagogies, and profession of arts administration. The two main research questions of this inquiry seek new knowledge about the embodied experiences of arts administrators and the role of creativity in their lives. It also asks what queer theory might teach us about arts administration and the political stakes of connecting corporeal and systemic bodies in nonprofit arts administration. To begin answering these questions I employ an arts-based inquiry, utilizing creative approaches to study design (arts-based, queer, emergent), data collection (walking, making art, embodied), analysis (narrative, artful, discourse), and presentation of findings (visual, auditory, literary). A queer theoretical framework performs a queer study of bodies in a heteronormative field and researcher reflexivity as well as applying queer theory to rethink power, norms, failure, and joy in the field. This inquiry involves 23 participant collaborators who identify as full-time, nonprofit arts administrators working in the United States. They responded to snowball sampling recruitment strategies for an online call for art/ifacts or iterative interviews soliciting interest in being reflexive and c (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

The problem addressed in this critical autoethnographic study concerns the lack of higher education opportunities for musicians in the state of Sonora, Mexico and the ways in which that impacts music educators from the region. In particular, I look at the different paths music teachers take to follow their vocation by critically examining my privileged music education story. I base this critical lens on a framework of capital to understand the types of resources and forms of capital that are needed to study music professionally in Sonora. This study is presented through stories and poems that reflect the realities of my music education journey as well as the stories of this study's participants. The primary research question was: What factors, including social class, impact the availability and accessibility of resources and professional development opportunities for music educators in Sonora, Mexico? To collect my data, I employed individual/personal and what I call “collective” forms of data collection through journaling/creative writing and interactive focus groups. The creative writing I engaged with included letter-writing, poems, and vignettes. I did some of my personal writing before and after conducting the interactive interviews to constantly reflect and embody the practice of meaning-making. This study included 19 participants who are active music educators in Sonora and who were assigned to three focus groups. Upon completion of the nine interview sessions (three per group), I began to engage with the collected data by relistening to interviews, reading Spanish transcriptions and thinking about the possibilities for selecting and translating such stories. After identifying important moments in participants' narratives, I reread my selections to identify different forms of capital that were represented. The four forms of capital with which I framed my analyses are economic, social, cultural, and human capital, which I based on literature by Becker (1964), (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2023, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

This research aims to connect the studies of arts engagement to civic engagement and investigate social media's role in elections. A mixed methods approach is used in this research. The quantitative portion is conducted as a survey of the Ohio State University student body, while the qualitative portion analyzes select musicians' Instagram posts to examine the relationship between musicians' postings and their effects on voting in 2022. Through these two methods, the question of musicians' social media use impacting voter turnout in the 2022 midterm elections can be answered. Also, this work explores if musicians posting on social media can be viewed as a method of voter engagement. There was a total of seventy-seven (77) survey participants and a selection of seven (7) musicians' Instagram posts. The findings suggest that musicians' postings may contribute to an increase in voter turnout, and their posts may be a viable method of voter engagement. There would need to be continued research into this intersection of artists' posting on social media and voter turnout to better determine if there is a statistically significant relationship between musicians' posting and voter turnout in an election cycle.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

The research examines a comparative case study of two historical cities, Xi'an and Santa Fe, with an emphasis on the exploitation and revitalization of cultural heritage in urban areas. An in-depth investigation of the relationship between social media city branding and the prominence of cultural heritage in the tourism planning agenda has been conducted in both Chinese and American urban contexts. Through the analysis of relatively understudied cities, the purpose of this study is to develop a deeper understanding of cultural heritage consumption, as well as the contribution of digital communication to tourism. The findings and implications of this research also intend to explore creative tourism strategies to combat homogenized tourism offerings and recent market declines as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. This research examines the incorporation of cultural heritage into the tourism agenda through the application of theoretical approaches from multiple disciplines. An analysis of city branding theory through a focus on social media application and brand co-creation, and a discussion of creative tourism through the lens of heritage-based tourism, form the basis of the study. Issue framing and stakeholder theory are used to identify the key stakeholders and their contributions to the salience of issues for agenda-setting through the lens of social media city branding. Stakeholder relationships are analyzed and grouped using Kavaratzis' city branding communication circles (2005). Lastly, Kingdon's Multiple Streams Framework is applied to compare Xi'an and Santa Fe based on the analysis of the window of opportunities and policy entrepreneurs, which contributes to a better understanding of the role social media branding plays in integrating cultural heritage into creative tourism. Through a relational comparison, this research indicates similarities and differences between the two cities at different levels. Both cities regard cultural heritage as a distincti (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2022, Educational Leadership

The enclosed study examines the systemic equity of classical dance training by questioning the existence of implicit bias, its impact on teacher identity, and its role in building pedagogical practices that reflect experiences with implicit bias in ballet training. Motivated by the ongoing conversation about the lack of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), it departs from conventional student deficit-centered reasons. Instead, in it you will find a qualitative, self-reflective, actionable study that focuses on the teacher roles in equity-facing change determined through Critical Action Research methods. The study uses focus groups comprised of ballet practitioners who have experience studying, teaching, observing, and accompanying ballet classes that serve inclusive student bodies. Because of the affective construction of implicit bias; furthermore, the study employs a proprietary conceptual framework, Contemporary Intentional Change (CIC) shaped by pre-data collection, self-reflective examinations of identity undertaken by participants. Focus group participants provided description-rich data that is organized in a resulting Taxonomy of Implicit Bias in Classical Dance Training. As an insightful schema into what comprises implicit bias in ballet training, it will be foundational to further, post-study inquiry to determine long and short-term, equity-facing interventions that foster inclusion, increased student engagement, and organizational change.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

From 2010 to 2019, China's film industry experienced the fastest growth in history. Along with its rapid growth, numerous opportunities and problems emerged in the industry, which are addressed by a series of film policies issued by China's government. This dissertation aims to study the dynamic relationship between the development of China's film industry and the evolution of China's film policy. By bridging the theory of Punctuated Equilibrium Theory and the concepts of competitiveness and cultural entrepreneurship, this dissertation focuses on exploring the policy process and policy system of the film in China, which are demonstrated by evidence of policy changes and industry changes. Supported by secondary data collected from multiple sources and first-hand data collected through semi-structured interviews with twenty film professionals, this case study enables an in-depth analysis of China's film policy process at the national level, the competition and mutual interests between large film enterprises and small and medium-sized film enterprises at the industry level, and the firm strategy and feedback at the organizational level. The findings from the multi-level analysis indicate a dynamic relationship between the policy change and industry change of film in China, where the subsystem plays an intermediate role bridging the government and the film industry. Large film enterprises and small and medium-sized film enterprises share mutual interests, while they participate in the film policy process to different degrees. China's film policy enables film enterprises to perform entrepreneurial practices for innovation and financial sustainability, and its focus shifts in different conditions. Policy implications for film professionals and film policymakers are discussed, and recommendations are proposed for the sustainable growth of China's film industry.

Master of Fine Arts, Miami University, 2022, Art

This research project outlines the mental health benefits of art-making and establishes exposure to artistic domains as essential to the art-making process. Understanding the role of intent in behavioral change established the need for external motivators, such as gamification, in the adoption of new habits. Pokemon Go players in Cincinnati, Ohio were studied to understand the relationship between virtual gameplay and physical spaces. Feminist geography and the principles of meaningful gamification informed the design solution, a location-based augmented reality game (LARG) that utilizes artwork by women as elements of gameplay to mitigate patterns of underrepresentation in the arts. The research showed that a LARG would not only increase engagement for those new to the arts but also for those already engaged by providing a new perspective on familiar experiences; travel between locations of gameplay also offers an additional landscape for cultivating meaningful engagement.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2022, Arts Policy and Administration

This research aims to elevate dancers' perspectives of the operational dynamics within a major U.S. ballet company to better understand their working relationship to the Dual Executive Leadership (DEL) team and their role as critical contributors to the development of an arts organization and broader arts policy. Examining the case of Miami City Ballet, this study gathers feedback from dancers on how they interact with the company's DEL team, comprised of the Artistic and Executive Directors, and how these interactions impact their work. The central questions ask how ballet dancers perceive dynamics of communication, trust, value, and respect in their working relationship with company leadership. Using narrative inquiry as methodology, dancers were asked to share their stories of interactions with the DEL team through a survey and interviews. Twelve (12) dancers completed the survey, and of those, five (5) agreed to participate in a follow-up semi-structured interview. Findings suggest opportunities for improving communication practices to foster more connection between dancers and leadership, for developing a work culture that invites feedback and is based on mutual trust, and for reconsidering how dancers are valued as key contributors to decision-making spaces. These findings add an important new perspective to research on leadership and organizational studies in ballet and the arts more broadly.