Showbiz

Students who dream of working on the business side of the arts have a new study option. The Arts and Entertainment Marketing track, offered through the marketing department of Hankamer School of Business and the theater department, welcomed its first class last fall.
Students in this five-semester, cohort-style track enter after their sophomore year and take classes in theater management and organization, advertising and sales. Hands-on experiences in theater production and audience development are a staple of the program, and completion of a paid internship in the field is required for graduation.
"We don't know of any other undergraduate programs across the country that are doing this kind of thing," said Stan Denman, chair of the theater department. "There's obviously a lot of potential with guaranteed internships when they leave here. ... We think that this is going to give theater majors and business majors a niche in a market where you've got lots of people coming out of school with marketing degrees."
Denman said that he and the program's co-director, Kirk Wakefield, chair of the marketing department, have been in talks with Disney Theatrical and the Nederlander Producing Company of America Inc., theater production companies; Serino Coyne, a Broadway ad agency; and Walden Media, a film production company, to develop internship opportunities for each student. While on campus, students will work at Baylor Theatre and the Waco Hippodrome.
"The end goal is to get them a job in the entertainment business, in particular, in theater and film," Wakefield said.
Michael Summers, a theater performance major from Round Rock, is part of the first A&E class, which will graduate in summer 2008. He hopes to do his internship with Walden Media. "I decided to do the program because I wanted to have a foot in the door," he said. "My main ambition is ... to act, but I want to use marketing to make connections in the industry ... and be meeting people every day."
The first A&E class consists of seven theater majors and nine marketing majors. Wakefield sees benefits in putting business and theater majors together. "Clearly the people from theater tend to be more on the creative side of things," he said. "The business school is a very structured approach to learning. ... Sometimes the business school students need to ... look outside the box, and the theater students can benefit from having more structure."
"I really like that we have the same professors for the next two years and so you really get to know everyone," said Courtney Spott, an A&E track marketing major from Wichita, Kan. "I like [having] the two majors [together] -- it's a nice mix of people." Spott hopes to move to Los Angeles or Chicago after graduating and work in marketing or advertising. "I like that [the program] has an artsy, more exciting side to it. ... It spices up the business major."
Wakefield said students can apply the semester before their junior year and must have at least a 3.0 grade point average. The program is capped at 20 students, but may expand depending on the availability of internships.