An associate professor for the OSU Theatre Department has been elected to the first Board of Directors for the Society for Arts Entrepreneurship in Education (SAEE).

Dr. Lloyd Caldwell, who has taught acting, movement and stage combat at OSU for 12 years, will serve a three-year term on the SAEE board.

“The profession of the arts, whether music, dance, theatre, film, or gallery arts, is changing at an increasingly rapid rate,” Caldwell said. “Arts entities are forming, reforming, digitalizing, re-purposing…often our traditional approaches in teaching the school-to-work transition are out of step with these changes.”

Founded in 2014, the SAEE was created to address these changes within the framework of academic training to give students a “leg up,” according to Caldwell.

In addition to an annual conference, SAEE works closely with three national arts entrepreneurship journals: “Activate,” the “Journal of Arts Entrepreneurship Education,” and the “Journal of Arts Entrepreneurship Research.”

To date, Caldwell said, the SAEE had been guided by ad hoc committees. As a member of SAEE’s first Board of Directors, Caldwell will work to secure non-profit status with the IRS, addressing the accreditation process for Arts Entrepreneurship programs, raising funds for scholarships and assistantships, and drafting guidelines for the promotion and tenure process for Arts Entrepreneurship faculty.

“This is an exciting time to be in the field of Arts Entrepreneurship,” Caldwell said. “There are more than 80 universities nationwide and an additional 40 overseas that host [programs] in Arts Entrepreneurship. The initiative at OSU is still young, but with the groundbreaking for the new Performing Arts Center, there is renewed interest…I look forward to the day when OSU can launch its own certification program in the field!”