The Arts Management Master’s Degree Program at the University of Oregon met my interests because it provided many resources to improve knowledge in the Cultural Development field, offered conditions to understand political and educational issues, to analyze cultural policies as a whole and to understand the ways to intervene on them.

The program variety and range of courses and its staff make possible for cultural workers to become critical and dynamic people, able to make a difference and implement changes. The internship opportunity allowed me to work on a new setting and to develop broad perspective in the arts field. Studying at the University of Oregon I had an opportunity to learn about different cultural experiences; to be flexibility; to adapt and to deal with different challenging situations.

I have been investigating, organizing, and creating events that promote value to the community, to empower, as an effort to sustain art education and guarantee individuals’ voices and rights in a continuous interaction between different cultural activities.

I acquired the repertoire that is required to advance educational, cultural and research sectors in Brazil, as well as to contribute with my experience, in the United States. Upon my return from the Master Degree, I will continue my research in the field of community cultural development, art education and encourage the education of new professionals and researchers, on the development of this background with different groups, and on the mobilization for better professional conditions.

Due to personal beliefs my priority is to work for organizations that generate wealth for the  society through cultural democracy and where the profit is developed to maintain the social mission of the organization.

From a Community Arts Manager Perspective

As an art educator and researcher, I work to improve art education in cultural organizations, to increase individuals’ interests using their own opinions and expectations about art and their artworks. I find answers for questions such as: How can we cultivate art criticism as a stimulating tool? How can we manage art programs improving art creation? How do art managers influence and create relationships between sectors to bring benefits for community even in a bureaucratic system?

With a degree in Art Education and experience as an art teacher and museum educator both in Brazil and in the US, I developed skills to encourage children to discover their own abilities and express their feelings through art works with autonomy. With sensitivity to observe their development, desires, frustrations, moods, and affections, I led dynamic art classes and met the children’s interests, perceiving when things needed to change in a way to ensure a successful class.

Work experience and teaching ability have prepared me to engage in the Arts and Administration field. Where I can keep both my research and praxis in constant dialogue. Teaching allows us to improve our perceptions of others’ moods, provide a learning- teaching experience of long life duration, and facilitate a continuous self-evaluation. Work with community groups helps us to perceive actions in the learning process, and to learn with other people’s experiences. Education is also a political action. It is a way to encourage planned interventions and to find strategies to change a determined context. It is a possibility to have a sense of the impacts of these concentrated actions in a larger scale