At 11:18 AM 1/7/97 -0500, you wrote:
>I agree with Eric that an M.B.A. can be a very useful graduate degree for one
>entering the "business" side of museum work.  ...As all museum struggle to
make their incomes match expense, a
>person who comes to their job with fund raising or marketing expertise is
>valuable, indeed!  I suspect that might be true even on the academic side of
>operations -- curatorial, education...
>

Again, I agree with Anne!  Although I joke that I am an executive director's
worst nightmare--a curator with a M.B.A--I am our finance director's pal
because I understand numbers, budgets, marketing, etc.  I did a straight
M.B.A. in the late-'80s when all my fellow students wanted to be investment
bankers.  However,  through coursework and projects I designed my own
concentration in not-for-profit management and did my advanced marketing
research project comparing how museums and symphony orchestras use the data
gleaned from their visitor surveys.  As a curator, I find that it makes my
mindset less polarized from the "rest of the gang" who deal more in hard
facts.  On the other hand, I want to write all my own grants which is not
always the wisest course.

Julia Moore
Indianapolis Art Center