SMAJ: A Pedagogical Model for Arts Entrepreneurship

A New Era, A New Pedagogical Model

It can be a challenge to determine a student’s readiness to exude autonomy, artistic, and leadership decision making with potential partnerships, clients, and employers. Many aspiring arts entrepreneurs are trained to understand and develop businesses based on pedagogical principles that are developed with the assumption that such principles are universally applicable for students’ vocational pursuit in the arts. However, when the instruction is put to the test of real-life entrepreneurial endeavors and opportunities, the outcomes often fail to produce, sustain, build, and expand aspiring arts entrepreneurs’ careers. This is because some pedagogies for cultivating business acumen are best suited for cultivating careers that operate frameworks within gradational enterprise development for commerce and e-commerce modalities. It is plausible that many entrepreneurial academic courses’ frameworks and assignments might not necessarily be tailored to students’ specific career goals (Gangi, 2019).

To strengthen student learning outcomes, tailoring class projects to be functionally multimodal is ideal considering the (a) societal shifts due to the influx of communicative technologies (e.g., social media, portable arts-related creation software), and (b) vacillating trends of arts-related products, services, and consumption due to the effects of the 2020 global pandemic (Aslam, et al., 2022). Now, more than ever, arts entrepreneurs have had to restructure their businesses via the multimodal intertwining of complimentary fields (e.g., communication arts, business, law, public relations, data analytics, and so forth) to ensure their products and services meaningfully serve respective consumers of increasingly-diverse populaces united by common company interests and globally-connected through in-person, virtual (i.e., synchronous), and/or online services (i.e., asynchronous). While arts entrepreneurship training programs and institutions are aiming to improve pedagogical effectiveness through a) assessment; b) pragmatic education, and; c) modern-day business technological innovations, there is still the glaring reality that many students frequently struggle to find both their artistic entrepreneurial identity and business niche, from which they can develop and operate a growing and sustainable enterprise (Beckman, 2007).

Consequently, with great passion, my colleague in music business and entrepreneurship (and graduate assistant from 2022-2024) at the University of Florida’s Music Business & Entrepreneurship—Derris Lee—and I (José Valentino Ruiz)—sought to develop our own gradational pedagogical model for cultivating creative business acumen among our students taking our courses co-instruct together (i.e., Strategic Arts Entrepreneurship Development and Music Production in Commercial Media). We call our pedagogical model, SMAJ, which stands for Scholarship, Mentorship, Apprenticeship, and Joint-Venture. This pedagogical framework philosophically underpins three pedagogies:

1. student-centered learning (SCL)
2. project-based learning (PBL)
3. experiential learning (EL).

Through SMAJ, we aim to teach our aspiring arts entrepreneurs’ (students) to gradationally fortify the ten arts-school and business-school principals that are found in the entrepreneurship development model,”COVID Response Model”(Ruiz, et al., 2021):

1. career security
2. sustainability
3. impact
4. scalability
5. leverage
6. impact
7. inspiration
8. translatability
9. community development skills
10. publicity of new products and services

Addressing the 10 principles from the COVID Response Model within the pedagogical stages of SMAJ has improved our student learning outcomes, projects, and portfolios, particularly the longevity and portfolio utilization beyond the classroom into the professional workspace. Hence, below are some suggestions for applying SMAJ as a framework to help teacher’s pedagogical outcomes that lead to students’ entrepreneurial success.

What is SMAJ?

As a gradational framework, consider thinking about each pedagogical expression as a level in which your students are aiming to function in within their professional development and learning experience:

• (Level 1) Scholarship
• (Level 2) Mentorship
• (Level 3) Apprenticeship
• (Level 4) Joint-venture partnership

Below are our definitions and descriptors for each level of SMAJ with included suggestions for exercising these roles within a “training-ground” learning environment. The defined descriptors for each level of SMAJ aims to:

• Distinguish and identify each role separately and elaborate on what they entail.
• Explain how and why these roles may intersect and/or how one person can transition from one role into another role.
• Demonstrate how the cultivation of all three intertwining roles leads to autonomy that manifests into joint-ventures.

‘Scholarship’ – The Information Level

While academic proficiency alone does not cultivate students’ entrepreneurial and artistic identities-purposes-roles, vocational readiness and satisfactory academic records do indeed add validity and credibility to students’ understanding of the subject matter. In the scholarship level, there is a professor-to-student dynamic in which arts entrepreneurship educators disseminate information to students in ways that are relevant and effective, but generally within a classroom setting. Teaching the importance of business sustainability, leverage, and scalability within the initial paradigm of scholarship—in addition to its innovations, strategies (i.e., a business plan), and tactics (i.e., logistics and personnel)—is essential. Doing so provides students, as well as teachers, limitless possibilities for how to incorporate current industry practices into rubrics of homework assignments, midterm assessments, and final exams.

In order to improve entrepreneurial acumen when cultivating aspiring arts entrepreneurs, it is imperative for educators to (1) establish student learning outcomes for assignments, and (2) foster non-threatening learning environments for students to engage in creative entrepreneurial development exercises. Should arts entrepreneurship educators administer these exercises consistently, the all-too-common misconception of doing things one way dissipates, and thus, students are encouraged to showcase their originality through their respective projects. If the students learn from an entrepreneurial professor who is remains in the field, students’ uniqueness will blossom due to the evolution of curriculum being informed by professors’ continual artistic and entrepreneurial embarkations. Hence, scholarship is the fundamental precursor towards developing continuity among aspiring arts entrepreneurs’ careers.

‘Mentorship’ – The Impartation Level

Arts entrepreneurship curricula may focus on the cultivation of wide range of skills:

• Arts Production & Service Development
• Consulting and Negotiating
• Building Distinguishable Professional Documentation
• Developing Arts Business Contracts
• Obtaining Copyright and Licenses
• Marketing and Engaging in Predictive Modeling via Data Analytics
• Managing Finances/taxes for their business model
• Etc.

At the mentorship stage of arts entrepreneurial development, students receive impartation from professors individually via office hours, one-on-one counseling on an often basis. For the mentorship level to be successfully executed, both professor and student must be willing to (a) invest additional time towards fortifying a meta-strategy, philosophical underpinnings, and moral framework of the student’s business, and (b) develop a plausible business plan for executing scalable initiatives. This will provide guidance to students as it is the nexus between who they are and who they could be within any role in arts entrepreneurship. Although the professor-to-student dynamic remains present at this level of enterprise development, mentorship deviates from the first foundational role of scholarship in that the pedagogy can be refined according to students’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; also known as the S.W.O.T. analysis. Development within the mentorship role could exhibit reciprocity, which supersedes anything on transcripts. The mutual investments thereof have the potential to pay dividends transcending temporary interactions within academic parameters. Hence, mentorship is a crucial step if aspiring entrepreneurs are to advance from the classroom to the career field.

‘Apprenticeship’ – The Implementation Level

As arts entrepreneurship educators begin accentuating students’ artistic identities through mentorship, students may continue to establish trust with their mentors, thus entering the tertiary level of enterprise development: apprenticeship. At this stage, educators can introduce students to professional environments and work opportunities outside of the classroom environment, generally in the setting of the mentor’s professional gig (e.g., a concert or an album production opportunity). Students can be an apprentice by observing:

• Negotiating meetings
• Consultation meetings
• Rehearsals
• Backstage dynamics at a mentor’s concert

Furthermore, students could be tasked with doing the following:

• Formulating proposals
• Avoiding or handling contract infringements
• Adding indemnification clauses
• Meeting project deadlines
• Negotiating deals
• Ensuring brand consistency for social media marketing of a musical album
• Producing, recording, or perform for an album
• Honoring the intellectual property of other businesses

Unlike the previous stages (i.e., scholarship and mentorship), apprenticeship consists of students investing more value into a “real-world” professional learning opportunity. Collaborations are appropriate in this stage, as brand association is a strategy students can utilize to build validity in their discipline, just as degrees and certificates can build credibility in the initial stage of scholarship.

Whether students contribute to their mentor’s projects, or even start original projects as professors provide services pro bono, the suggested list above provides ways for arts entrepreneurship educators to facilitate within the apprenticeship mode. Hence, students’ self-efficacy for being an arts entrepreneur may strengthen, and thus, strengthen their discernment for what projects might reinforce the learning stages of a) scholarship, b) mentorship, and c) apprenticeship, thereby providing the foundation from which, as arts entrepreneurs, will craft their enterprise’s mission and vision statements, create price ranges/tiers, and most importantly, institute ethics and values for their businesses. Ultimately, apprenticeship is the precipice, or threshold, upon which students (a) understand how to take textbook knowledge and mentors’ counsel and (b) navigate professional scenarios and implement the apprentice’s skills at the appropriate times in order to become reliable fiduciaries for prospective clients. 

‘Joint-Venture’ – The Immersion Level

It is imperative for students to develop a sense of security in their entrepreneurial identities, purposes, and roles within the apprenticeship stage as aspiring entrepreneurs, as it determines both ‘what is’ or ‘what is not’ beneficial for building their respective enterprises. If students cannot identify “who they are” and “why they do” what they do, it is nearly impossible to engage in joint-venture partnerships, the final level of cultivating enterprise readiness. The ability to ask, “What’s in it for me?”, is crucial to joint-ventures, collectively and respectively. According to Abraham Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of Needs,’ level 5 is Self-Actualization, which is the epoch of a student’s development where ‘purpose’ is realized. With this frame of mind, those who partake in joint ventures are often wary of collaborations as they consider their personal status in regard to their a) respective careers, b) livelihood, c) value, and d) other priorities surrounding their enterprise. As a result, they are more selective with whom they joint-venture. If this pedagogical level of arts entrepreneurial development is to be effective, students should be immersed in their mission of using their crafts to solve business-related problems, such as a) identifying the demand of a pre-existing product or service or b) influencing economics to the extent of creating demand for a new product or service. Students and professors can enter joint-ventures as co-contributors or colleagues, signifying that those aspiring entrepreneurs are reaching pinnacles of innovation that may eventually exceed those of their predecessors. Therefore, with joint-ventures being the final pedagogical level, arts entrepreneurship educators have the potential to be effective at any phase of a student’s development, catalyzing this cumulative process of entrepreneurial metamorphosis from student to joint-venture partner.  

SMAJ Rubric

Below are parameters that are distinctive to each SMAJ level. These parameters should be considered and applied pragmatically, philosophically, and pedagogically.

Scholarship Level

• Cultivate academic proficiency within arts entrepreneurial practice.
• Implement four stages of EIDD (exploration, improvisation, documentation, and delivery) as inspired by John Kratus’ and José Valentino’s scholarship and pragmatism within the courses’ assignments to train students’ entrepreneurial prowess and critical thinking skills.
• Incorporate Ruiz’s five dimensions of enterprise development with courses’ assignments to train students’ thinking of entrepreneurial practice that aims to cultivate business acumen: ideation, organization, creation, ownership, and informed testing

Mentorship Level

• Implement a student SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats).
• Engage in regular meetings with mentor-mentee beyond the established office hours for all student meetings.
• Strengthen skills deemed as the mentee’s weaknesses and build entrepreneurial artistic identity.
• Begin applying scholarship + mentor’s council through pilot-tests of various arts entrepreneurial activities.

Apprenticeship Level

• Become acclimated to professional environment of the apprentice’s respective vocations.
• Learn the jargon and protocols of mentor’s business.
• Receive pro bono goods/services from mentor for apprentice’ own work or collaborative efforts with mentor.
• Build apprentice’s credibility by collaborating with reputable brands/arts entrepreneurs.
• Develop apprentice’s niche.
• Establish apprentice’s brand in professional environment.

Joint-Venture Level

• Strengthen the partner’ security for engaging in informed testing and delivery of a product or service.
• Transition the student to become a partner (or a colleague) in professional business practice as the final stage of cultivating their scalable potential as entrepreneurs.
• Facilitate the partner’s brand autonomy from the teacher’s brand.
• Clearly indicate livelihood, location, career stage, terms of agreement, learning outcomes, professional outcomes, and other priorities as factors before engaging in a joint venture.
• Build credential and reputation building.
• Train the partner how to improve their indispensability during a professional joint-ventures.

To conclude, Derris Lee and I have implemented this model for years within our own collaborative research projects and creative activities within the context of an academic setting and in the professional workforce. We have also implemented SMAJ pedagogical model with other students, collectively and respectively, and have found the student learning outcomes to be meaningful in regard to building arts entrepreneurial prowess and self-efficacy. Here are three links that discuss the specific outcomes that arose from the SMAJ pedagogical model, specifically within the context of teaching students how to utilize their skills for creating music productions and music videos that served as tools for promoting ecological activism and social impact:

• “Getting to the Grammys and Beyond”
• “Gators Who Go Beyond Grammy Wins”
• “Creating Success in the COVID Era”

References:

Aslam, R., Iqbal, S., & Ahmed, N. (2022). Impact of Entrepreneurial Education on Students’ entrepreneurial inclination: A Case of Public Sector Universities. Pakistan Journal of Educational Research, 5(1).

Beckman, G. D. (2007). ” Adventuring” arts entrepreneurship curricula in higher education: An examination of present efforts, obstacles, and best practices. The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society, 37(2), 87-112.

Gangi, J. (2021). Effectual Entrepreneurship in the Arts: The Story of Austin Classical Guitar. Artivate, 10(2).

Ruiz-Resto, J. V., Lee, D., & Shelton, C. (2021). Entrepreneurial Responses to the COVID Era: A Qualitative Study of Five Professional Music Entrepreneurs. Journal of Arts Entrepreneurship Education, 3(2), 4.

José Valentino Ruiz is the Founder and Creative Director at JV Music Enterprises; Resident Media Composer/Music Producer at Hayden 5; and Inaugural Program Director of Music Business & Entrepreneurship at the University of Florida. A published scholar in numerous journals including the Journal of Popular Music Education, Ruiz is passionate about uncovering, testing, and sharing pedagogical and pragmatic frameworks for improving aspiring musicians’ and entrepreneurs’ missiological aspirations, strategies, impact value, and business acumen. As an entrepreneur, music producer, composer, and performing artist, Ruiz has earned multiple GRAMMY® Awards, an Emmy® Award, and Inc. Magazine’s 2022 Best in Business® Award, among other awards. Ruiz has produced 130+ album, performed 1400+ concerts, and led numerous mission trips in 5 continents to develop popular music education programs as interventions for providing access and opportunities to at-risk students. His Ph.D. in Music Education is from the University of South Florida.

Derris Lee is an arts entrepreneur practitioner and educator as well as a commercial music producer who is the Instructor of Record for the courses, Music Production in Commercial Media and Strategic Music Entrepreneurship Development at the University of Florida. A 2022 Downbeat® Music Award Outstanding Performances as Jazz Soloist Award Winner and published scholar in the Journal of Arts Entrepreneurship Education, Lee was also the keyboardist and percussionist for the 2022 Latin GRAMMY® Award Winning album, “A La Fiesta De La Música Vamos Todos” by Sophia, which won Best Latin Children’s Music Album. As a music entrepreneur, Lee won the 2023 International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences’ Anthem® Award for Education, Art, and Culture (category: Strategy) for the documentary, “Getting to the GRAMMYs and Beyond: An Insight to Student-Professor Collaborative Albums/Music Videos for Promoting Ecological Activism and Social Impact.”