QUANTIFIABLE DIVERSITY IN THE ARTS: HOW HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (HBCU) CAN INCREASE DIVERSITY IN ARTS ADMINISTRATION

Abstract

To elevate the diversity dialogue among students, the arts community, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), with the intent purpose to combat rhetoric that prolongs, or even proliferates the diversity gap, this paper explores what preemptive role HBCUs might play in proactively addressing the need to create a diverse pipeline to the field of arts administration. Through academic preparation, HBCUs can ensure African-American candidates acquire proficiencies to enter and make measurable gains in arts administration. The first argument asserts that arts organizations continue to postulate that the lack of African-American candidates in professional and leadership roles is inextricably related to the insufficient number of qualified and capable African-American candidates from which to recruit. The second argument asserts that arts organizations that have adopted satisfactory recruitment efforts, practices, and policies that value diversity yet remains homogenous reinforce assumptions that emerging African-American arts administrators are in short supply, lack interest in the field, or have inadequate formal arts education or experience. The third argument asserts that HBCUs, while limited in financial and physical resources, graduate an equal or greater amount of African-American students than predominantly white institutions (PWI). This implies that accompanying factors unique to the HBCU, such as early development of faculty and student relationships, alumni networks, extended family environment, and relevance to the African-American experience, are key to academic, social, and professional development. These findings suggest that unless reversed, the education gap will directly attribute to a greater underrepresentation of African-Americans in arts administration.