This paper began with the assumption that higher education is a social contract, a quid pro quo between students, government and the academy. It explored the stability and nuances of this exchange within an historical perspective, beginning with Plato and continuing through the current era. This supported the assertion that higher education is facing unprecedented challenges and that the social contract is threatened on multiple fronts.
The research focus narrowed to the relationship between artistic study, specifically music, and the expectation that higher education equates to employability and financial returns that exceed the non-college track. It explored the relevancy of the music conservatory curriculum to 19th century European culture, and the potential irrelevancy of that same curriculum to the 21st century cultural economy. In addition, it examined arts entrepreneurship, an innovative modification to the traditional curriculum designed to equip music students with non-musical, career building skills.
A survey was administered to music faculties in Georgia and its five contiguous states. Perceptions about career opportunities; the impact of musical and non-musical skills on those opportunities; the provision of these skills at the institutional level; and the sufficiency of arts entrepreneurship to deliver these skills were analyzed. When quantitative analysis was juxtaposed with qualitative narratives and perspectives, it was determined that the respondents were pessimistic about the career opportunities of their students; that non-musical skills were equally important to musical skills when realizing those opportunities; that few institutions were delivering these skills; that most respondents advocated for a new curriculum in light of the modern cultural economy; but that few were willing or able to conceptualize a modern iteration of that curriculum. Analysis also revealed that arts entrepreneurship, a field of study in its infancy, received inconsistent support as a remedy for curricular deficiencies, and that it lacks the maturity to be designated as an emergent discipline.
Summative analysis revealed that the respondents are deeply frustrated by the rift between society and the classical music product. The cumulative recommendation is a national conversation among higher education’s music faculties that redresses the traditional curriculum to equip students with career skills; and to create a modified curriculum that facilitates revenue-producing, artistic communication with 21st century, globally-minded cultural consumers.Shrader, James A.Fowler, Nicholas LukeBabidoux, Greg R.D.P.A.Public Administratio
