Arts Leadership & Institutional Innovation - Inside the Yale Schwarzman Center with Rachel Fine

In this episode, I sat down with Rachel Fine, Executive Director of the Yale Schwarzman Center in the United States of America.

Rachel is someone who came to arts leadership without a roadmap, as I think most of us do. She trained as a pianist and found her way into arts admin almost by accident, through gaining experience in different areas.

So, in this episode, we talk about what the Yale Schwarzman Center actually is and does, both on a local and international scale, because I do think it allows us in the industry to think more widely about community and culture - especially as I was coming to this interview from a more fine art angle, and she was coming at it from a musical angle.

I ask her about what her role as executive director entails, and she goes into depth on what it means to run an institution of this size. We spend a good deal of time talking about career paths and how Rachel fell into arts administration, why fundraising is more central to arts leadership than people like to admit, what the financial reality of this field actually looks like and if you can have a stable career in it, and where someone who wants to work in the cultural industries should start.

Thank you Rachel for coming on the podcast!

You can follow the Yale Schwarzman Center on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/yale_schwarzman/ and find out more at https://schwarzman.yale.edu/

- - - - -

If you love what we do, support ALL ABOUT ART on PATREON! ⁠https://www.patreon.com/allaboutart⁠

Keep up to date on Instagram @allaboutartpodcast ⁠https://www.instagram.com/allaboutartpodcast/⁠

ABOUT THE HOST:

I am an Austrian-American art historian, curator, and writer. I obtained my BA in History of Art at University College London and my MA in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy at Goldsmiths, University of London. My specializations are in contemporary art and the contemporary art market along with accessibility, engagement, and the demystification of the professional art sector.

SOCIALS:

• Instagram⁠ @alexandrasteinacker https://www.instagram.com/alexandrasteinacker
• and LinkedIn at ⁠Alexandra Steinacker-Clark⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-steinacker/

This episode is produced at Synergy https://synergy.tech/the-clubhouse/the-podcast-studio/

COVER ART: Lisa Schrofner a.k.a Liser⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.liser-art.com/ and Luca Laurence https://www.graffitikunst.at/

Research and Creative Assistant: Iris Epstein

In this episode, I explore the concepts of ‘entrepreneurship’ and ‘intrapreneurship’ in the arts. The two are often framed as opposites, but actually I find they they sit on a spectrum, so I also draw on my recent conversation with Ben Luke (the previous episode to this one) as a jumping-off point while bringing in some other non-art examples.

Using my own experience producing All About Art independently, I weigh the pros and cons of intrapreneurship versus going it alone. This covers the financial support and institutional credibility you gain on one side, and the editorial constraints and metric pressures you take on on the other.

The question I leave you with in this episode is: where do you currently have the most room to create something meaningful?

- - - - -

If you love what we do, support ALL ABOUT ART on PATREON! ⁠https://www.patreon.com/allaboutart⁠

Keep up to date on Instagram @allaboutartpodcast ⁠https://www.instagram.com/allaboutartpodcast/⁠

ABOUT THE HOST:

I am an Austrian-American art historian, curator, and writer. I obtained my BA in History of Art at University College London and my MA in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy at Goldsmiths, University of London. My specializations are in contemporary art and the contemporary art market along with accessibility, engagement, and the demystification of the professional art sector.

SOCIALS:

Instagram⁠ @alexandrasteinacker https://www.instagram.com/alexandrasteinacker

and LinkedIn at ⁠Alexandra Steinacker-Clark⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-steinacker/

This episode is produced at Synergy https://synergy.tech/the-clubhouse/the-podcast-studio/

COVER ART: Lisa Schrofner a.k.a Liser⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.liser-art.com/ and Luca Laurence https://www.graffitikunst.at/

Research and Creative Assistant: Iris Epstein

In this episode, I sat down one of my dream guests… fellow podcaster Ben Luke, contributing editor of The Art Newspaper and presenter of its podcasts ‘A brush with...’ and ‘The Week in Art’.

I speak to Ben about his background and the path that brought him to one of the art world’s most prominent publications. We talk about the podcasts he hosts at TAN (The Art Newspaper), how they came about, and what it actually looks like to build something from within an existing institution rather than going independent.

I ask him about any potential trade-offs of an intrapreneurial approach: the perks, the constraints, and what anyone thinking of pitching a project to their employer might want to consider. We also speak in depth about his book, What is Art For?. I ask him how it came together, why he chose to weave contemporary artist interviews with historical reflections, and how he approaches the art of the interviewing as a method in itself.

Thank you Ben for coming on the podcast!

- - - - -

If you love what we do, support ALL ABOUT ART on PATREON! ⁠https://www.patreon.com/allaboutart⁠

Keep up to date on Instagram @allaboutartpodcast ⁠https://www.instagram.com/allaboutartpodcast/⁠

ABOUT THE HOST:

I am an Austrian-American art historian, curator, and writer. I obtained my BA in History of Art at University College London and my MA in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy at Goldsmiths, University of London. My specializations are in contemporary art and the contemporary art market along with accessibility, engagement, and the demystification of the professional art sector.

SOCIALS:

Instagram⁠ @alexandrasteinacker https://www.instagram.com/alexandrasteinacker

and LinkedIn at ⁠Alexandra Steinacker-Clark⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-steinacker/

This episode is produced at Synergy https://synergy.tech/the-clubhouse/the-podcast-studio/

COVER ART: Lisa Schrofner a.k.a Liser⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.liser-art.com/ and Luca Laurence https://www.graffitikunst.at/

Research and Creative Assistant: Iris Epstein