Gary Beckman

Dr. Gary D. Beckman is Director of Entrepreneurial Studies in the Arts where he developed and administers the nation’s first and largest campus-wide Arts Entrepreneurship Minor.

Before arriving at NC State, he developed the nation’s first Music Entrepreneurship Minor at the University of South Carolina’s School of Music. In addition to being honored with the naming of the Society for Arts Entrepreneurship Education’s research impact award, he also co-founded and co-edited the world’s first academic journal on arts entrepreneurship education, edited the field’s first essay collection, “Disciplining the Arts: Teaching Entrepreneurship in Context” and co-founded the Society for Arts Entrepreneurship Education (societyaae.org).

Beckman earned a Ph.D. in Musicology from The University of Texas at Austin, a M.A. in Musicology from the University of New Hampshire and a B.A. in Music from the University of Southern Maine. At UT Austin, he was principle investigator of the first nation-wide study of arts entrepreneurship efforts in higher education, funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. In addition to his service with the Society for Arts Entrepreneurship Education, he is a frequent collaborator on educational projects with other arts entrepreneurship programs across the country and consults with local arts entrepreneurs and arts organizations.

His articles on the topic of arts entrepreneurship, arts leadership education and Intellectual Entrepreneurship have appeared in Planning for Higher Education, Symposium, Metropolitan Universities Journal, Arts Education Policy Review, The Journal of Arts Management, Law and Society and various essay collections. Beckman authored The New Arts Entrepreneur, the first uniquely designed pedagogy for arts entrepreneurship educators and students. He recently co-authored the field’s first discussion of decision-making strategies for emerging arts entrepreneurs: Strategic Decision Making in the Arts: Case Studies in Arts and Cultural Entrepreneurship.