PITTSBURGH.- Carnegie Mellon University's Institute for the Management of Creative Enterprises (IMCE) announced today that its collaboration with the University of Bologna, Italy has expanded to include a double-degree masters program in international arts and cultural management. This partnership is the only
initiative of its kind focusing on global cultural management, honing the skills of future leaders of arts institutions worldwide.

Over 28 to 30 months, equaling six academic terms, students will earn both a masters in arts management from IMCE and a masters in innovation and organization of culture and the arts from the University of Bologna's School of Economics.

Luca Zan, president of University of Bologna's Graduate Degree of Innovation and Organization of Culture and the Arts (GIOCA) said, "We have been exchanging students and faculty between our two programs for several years now with much success and positive feedback. This inspired us to consider a more expansive collaborative educational framework that seems to be vital now in this global marketplace."

"The program combines the strengths of Carnegie Mellon's rigorous approach, focused on applied management theory and skills, with the University of Bologna's interdisciplinary approach that allows students to understand global operational issues as they relate to the artistic dimensions of cultural institutions. These two highly credible academic programs combined into one educational experience cannot be found anywhere else," replied Jerry Coltin, director of Carnegie Mellon's Master of Arts Management (MAM) Program.

This highly innovative, internationally-focused double-degree program speaks volumes about where cultural management has migrated. For centuries, the arts and culture industry has served as an economic driver in cities across the globe, and only in the last half-century has management of these institutions emerged as a respected professional management career track. The globalization of the cultural industries has exacerbated the challenges.

"Students in this program will be exposed to a more diverse set of management practices and, most certainly, a larger context for the work," added Dan Martin, IMCE Director and Associate Professor. "Today's managers must be able to function globally, understanding the processes and practices across different societies."

Since 1987, the MAM Program has sent more than 300 skilled graduates into the arts management workforce with a majority staying in the US. GIOCA, created in 2002, has provided advanced degrees to 100 with a majority continuing their work in Italy and throughout Europe.