undergradly.
Major · Visual & Performing Arts

The business operations behind galleries, theatres, festivals, and entertainment media

Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management, General trains you to run the organizations behind the visual arts, performing arts, and entertainment industries — galleries, theatres, festivals, labels, agencies, and media companies — covering finance, marketing, fundraising, contracts, event production, and arts law. About 610 degrees are awarded each year across 63 colleges, with five-year median earnings of $48,218 placing graduates in the modest tier of arts-business hybrid majors.

Schools offering
63
Annual completions
610
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$48k

About this major

Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management, General prepares you to run the organizations and operations that present, fund, and distribute art across industries — galleries and museums, theatres and dance companies, festivals and concert venues, talent agencies and management firms, film and entertainment media companies. The CIP definition spans business and financial management, marketing and fundraising, labor relations for the arts, event promotion and production, product and artist management, and applicable arts law. Coursework reflects that breadth: a typical semester might pair a finance class with arts contracts, a marketing seminar with a development practicum at a museum or theatre, a personnel management course with a campus festival production assignment.

The major fits students who care about the arts and entertainment world but recognize that these industries employ far more administrators, marketers, fundraisers, and operations staff than performers or curators. Comfort with spreadsheets, donor stewardship, contract reading, and the irregular hours of live events matters as much as taste. Programs reward students who run something tangible during college — a campus arts series, a small festival, a gallery internship, a theatre company office — because hiring runs on track records and references.

On scale, 610 degrees are awarded each year across 63 colleges, with notable concentration around the entertainment industries: UCF in Orlando (152 graduates) anchors a Florida theme-park and live-events ecosystem, Los Angeles Film School (116) sits in Hollywood, and Belmont (92) ties the program to Nashville's music and live-event hub. Five-year median earnings sit at $48,218 — modestly above the broader arts-major average but well below business-school benchmarks. The packet lists 'Managers, all other' at $136,550 (a BLS residual catchall, not an entry-level role), postsecondary art/drama/music teaching at $80,190 (master's required), and agents and business managers of artists at $96,310 with 8.7% projected growth — the most realistic mid-career signal in the data, though entry-level roles for this major typically pay $35,000–$45,000 in coordinator and administrator positions before advancement to those wage levels.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Managers, all other $137k +4.5% Bachelor's degree
Art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary $80k +1.7% Master's degree
Agents and business managers of artists, performers, and athletes $96k +8.7% Bachelor's degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$48k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$36k

Bachelor's

$49k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you already organize things in your arts life — booking shows for friends, running the marketing for a campus theatre season, coordinating volunteers at a community festival, managing a gallery's social presence — and want a curriculum that systematizes that work across industries rather than locking you into one. The major rewards students who can hold a contract and a creative conversation in the same week, who tolerate evenings and weekends because that is when audiences show up, who are willing to live in entertainment-dense cities like Orlando, LA, Nashville, or NYC where internship pipelines actually exist, and who treat the $48,218 five-year median as a realistic marker rather than a ceiling.

Think twice if your real interest is making the work rather than supporting it — Fine and Studio Arts, Music Performance, Drama and Theatre Arts, or Cinematography programs are closer fits for creative ambition. Reconsider if you cannot relocate, since entry-level roles concentrate in a small number of cities and most arts organizations operate on tight budgets that do not fund relocation. Be especially skeptical of the packet's headline wage figures: the $136,550 'Managers, all other' line is a residual SOC bucket reached after years of operations leadership, not a starting position; the $80,190 teaching path requires a master's; and the $96,310 agents-and-business-managers career is a book-of-business outcome that takes years of relationship building to reach. Be skeptical too of for-profit programs in this space — research net price, completion rates, and graduate outcomes carefully — and weigh whether your interests fit better in the named sibling majors (Music Management at 1,476 completions, Fine/Studio Arts Management at 473, or Theatre Management at 146) before committing to the broader General code.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management, General

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
University of Central Florida Orlando, FL 0 152 152
Los Angeles Film School Hollywood, CA 0 116 116
Belmont University Nashville, TN 0 92 92
Grand Canyon University Phoenix, AZ 0 25 25
University of North Alabama Florence, AL 0 21 21
University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 0 18 18
Pepperdine University Malibu, CA 0 16 16
Butler University Indianapolis, IN 0 15 15
Elon University Elon, NC 0 15 15
Drexel University Philadelphia, PA 0 14 14
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Music Management

1,476 completions/yr

Fine and Studio Arts Management

473 completions/yr

Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management, Other

214 completions/yr

Theatre/Theatre Arts Management

146 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management majors actually study?
Coursework pairs business fundamentals — finance, marketing, personnel and labor relations, fundraising — with industry-specific topics like arts law, contracts, event promotion and production, artist and product management, and grant writing. Programs typically span the visual arts (galleries, museums), performing arts (theatres, dance companies, concert halls), and entertainment media (film, festivals, agencies), so the curriculum stays broader than a music-only or theatre-only management track. Expect budget spreadsheets, donor proposals, contract review, and event logistics rather than studio art or performance. Most programs require a practicum at a real arts organization because hiring runs on track records.
How is this different from Music Management or Theatre Management?
Scope. The 'General' code (50.1001) is the broad catchall covering visual arts, performing arts, and entertainment media in one curriculum, with about 610 completions a year across 63 colleges. The named siblings are narrower: Music Management (50.1003) leads at 1,476 completions and concentrates on labels, agencies, and live music; Fine and Studio Arts Management (50.1002, 473) focuses on galleries and museums; Theatre Arts Management (50.1004, 146) trains for stage production and venue operations. Pick General if you want flexibility across industries; pick a named sibling if you already know whether you want to work in music, visual arts, or theatre specifically.
What kinds of jobs do graduates actually land in entry-level?
Honest entry reality: most graduates start at $35,000–$45,000 in coordinator and administrator roles — gallery assistants, theatre company general management associates, festival production coordinators, museum development associates, agency assistants, box office and patron services managers, and marketing coordinators at performing arts organizations. The packet's higher-wage occupations are not entry points: 'Managers, all other' at $136,550 is a BLS residual catchall reached after five to ten years of operations experience, postsecondary art/drama/music teaching at $80,190 requires a master's, and agents and business managers at $96,310 with 8.7% growth represent mid-career book-of-business outcomes. Treat the $48,218 five-year median earnings figure as the realistic mid-twenties marker.
Do I need a bachelor's, or is an associate's enough?
Bachelor's holds a clear edge in the data. Associate's completers report median five-year earnings of $35,960; bachelor's completers report $49,073 — a gap of about $13,100. The structural reason matters more than the dollar gap: most full-time roles at established arts organizations, foundations, agencies, and major festivals screen for four-year credentials and require a portfolio of internships and practicum work that bachelor's programs build into the schedule. An associate's can route into front-of-house, ticketing, or local venue operations work, but advancement typically means completing the bachelor's later or shifting into a different field.
How does AI exposure affect this major?
Several core functions face automation pressure. Marketing copy, social media scheduling, and patron email campaigns are increasingly produced or assisted by generative tools. Box office, ticketing, and CRM workflows continue to consolidate into automated platforms. PR media list building and press release drafting have already shifted toward AI-assisted production. The functions that hold up better are donor-facing fundraising and major-gift work, contract negotiation and compliance, live event production logistics, and artist or talent representation — work that depends on relationships, judgment, and physical execution rather than text production. Students aiming at this major should weight their internships and electives toward those relationship-driven functions and avoid building a career on tasks that are now copilot-assisted.
Which programs are strongest, and where are they located?
The packet shows real geographic concentration. University of Central Florida in Orlando produces the largest cohort at 152 graduates a year, leveraging proximity to Disney, Universal, and Florida's broader entertainment economy. Los Angeles Film School in Hollywood follows at 116 — note that this is a for-profit institution, so research net price, debt loads, and outcomes carefully before enrolling. Belmont University in Nashville (92) ties this program to the city's music and live-events industry, and Grand Canyon University in Phoenix (25) rounds out the larger producers. Smaller cohorts at University of North Alabama (21), University of Kentucky (18), Pepperdine (16), Butler (15), Elon (15), and Drexel (14) suggest most programs are modest in scale. Internship access in entertainment-dense cities — Orlando, LA, Nashville, NYC — usually matters more than program prestige.
Is this a realistic fit if I want to be a creative rather than a manager?
Probably not. This major trains you to organize, fund, and operate the institutions that present and pay creative work — not to make it. If your real interest is performing, designing, or directing, the related-major data points elsewhere: Music Performance, Fine and Studio Arts, Drama and Theatre Arts, or Cinematography programs all keep you in production. Some students do use this degree as a 'business minor with arts context' before pivoting to creative work, but if you already know the studio is where you want to spend your hours, an arts-management degree spent reviewing budgets is a costly detour. The programs that work best for management-track students are the ones who already enjoy the spreadsheet, the contract, and the email.