Joint Degree in Business & Arts Management

Meadows School of the Arts and Cox School of Business (MA/MBA)

Customize Your Learning Experience

MA/MBA Credit Hour Summary
Cox Business 48 credit hours
Meadows Arts 27 credit hours
TOTAL 75 credit hours

The Cox curriculum consists of 24 credit hours of required business core courses and 24 credit hours of business electives, for a total of 48 credit hours. 

The Meadows curriculum consists of 27 hours of Arts Management seminars with a strict limitation on class size. These seminars focus on fundraising, nonprofit finance, marketing the arts, legal issues affecting the arts, philanthropy, strategic planning, and cultural policy. Students have the opportunity to spend their second fall semester taking coursework at Bocconi University in Milan, Europe's leading arts and cultural management program. In addition, you will gain real-world experience in arts management through internships with Dallas professional arts organizations as well as a full-time internship with a national or international organization of your choice. Merit scholarships are available on a competitive basis.

 Practicum & Internship Organizations

Organizations where SMU MA/MBA students have engaged in practica and internships include the following:

  • The American Association of Museums, Washington, D.C.
  • Arena Stage, Washington, D.C.
  • The Art Institute of Chicago
  • AT&T Performing Arts Center, Dallas
  • Dallas Symphony Orchestra
  • Houston Grand Opera
  • Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York
  • Lyric Opera of Chicago
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • The New York City Ballet
  • The New York State Council of the Arts
  • The Philadelphia Orchestra
  • San Francisco Opera
  • Seattle's Corporate Council for the Arts
  • Walt Disney Theatrical Productions

Advance Your Career

Following is a sample of organizations that have hired SMU MA/MBA graduates.

  • American Film Institute, Los Angeles
  • American Heart Association, Dallas
  • ARTEC Consultants, Inc., New York
  • Boston Pops
  • Capital Repertory Theatre, Albany
  • Chicago Symphony
  • City of St. Albert, Alberta, Canada
  • Court Theater, Chicago
  • Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Foundation
  • Dallas Symphony Orchestra
  • Dallas Theater Center
  • Lyric Opera of Chicago
  • Montreál Symphony Orchestra
  • Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas
  • New York City Opera
  • New York Pops
  • Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Santa Ana
  • Philadelphia Orchestra
  • San Diego Repertory Theater
  • The Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
  • UNICEF, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Walt Disney Theatrical Productions, Burbank and New York