Abstract

With the intent of supporting student artists’ entrepreneurial development, the purpose of this study was to design, administer, and validate a new instrument called the Arts Entrepreneurship Profile (AEP). Based on Thom’s (2016) framework of crucial entrepreneurial skills for artists, the AEP was developed to assist undergraduate arts students and their instructors in assessing propensities for thinking and acting entrepreneurially within an arts context. A multiphase approach comprising item development, content validation, pretesting, and questionnaire administration culminated in an exploratory factor analysis of the final instrument. Participants (n = 310) were undergraduate students studying an array of artistic disciplines at 10 universities in the United States. Results yielded a four-factor solution with 15 items representing (a) Opportunity Recognition in the Arts, (b) Arts Leadership, (c) Comfort with Uncertainty, and (d) Networking. The factor structure explained 39% of the variance in student responses. The AEP demonstrated varying reliability levels among its constituent subscales, reflecting its nascent construction and the need for further development and refinement. This study represents an important first step in establishing an empirically-credible assessment tool for understanding arts students and improving their professional preparation.

摘要

为了支持学生艺术家的创业发展，本研究的目的是设计、管理和验证一种称为艺术创业概况(AEP)的新工具。基于 Thom (2016) 的艺术家关键创业技能框架，AEP 旨在帮助本科艺术专业学生及其导师评估在艺术背景下思考和创业的倾向。多阶段方法包括项目开发、内容验证、预测试和问卷管理，最终对最终工具进行探索性因素分析。参与者 ( n= 310) 是在美国 10 所大学学习一系列艺术学科的本科生。结果产生了一个四因素解决方案，其中 15 个项目代表 (a)艺术中的机会认可，(b)艺术领导力，(c)对不确定性的舒适度，以及 (d)网络。因子结构解释了学生反应中 39% 的差异。AEP 在其组成的子量表中表现出不同的可靠性水平，反映了其新生的结构以及进一步发展和完善的需要。这项研究代表了重要的第一步，可以建立一个经验上可信的评估工具，以了解艺术学生并提高他们的专业准备。