Sonia Montoya joined the College of Fine Arts in January as the new director of the Center for Creative Economies. The center, previously known as the Center for Creative Entrepreneurship, will expand its portfolio and broaden its focus to include more substantial curricular and co-curricular initiatives to ensure Fine Arts students have a better awareness of the economies that shape their lives as art makers, scholars, art educators and advocates.
Montoya came to the college from the philanthropic sector, where she partnered with foundation executives and nonprofit leaders to advance mission-focused work for more than a decade. Most recently, she led relationships with foundation executives at the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), where she conducted quantitative and qualitative analysis to surface insights to improve their effectiveness. Prior to CEP, she partnered with nonprofit leaders in creating sustainable financial management strategies at Nonprofit Finance Fund and served as a project administrator for the International Center for the Arts of the Americas at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Before transitioning to the nonprofit sector, Montoya worked as an actor in film, TV and theatre. She holds a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, where she was named a Public Service fellow.
The term creative economies may be new to some of our readers. Can you explain how you understand it?
Creative economies is a term that encompasses the evolving relationship between creativity and the ecosystem in which that creativity exists. That ecosystem includes the economic, legal, regulatory and technological forces that shape humanity’s creative endeavors. Our students’ work represents the broad spectrum of creative action, including animation, art, composition, curation, dance, design, gaming, immersive experiences, marketing, music, research and theater. These pursuits are the lifeblood of the creative economy. In pursuing their creative endeavors, our students will be both shaping the cultural dialogue and driving the economy in ways that benefit us all.
Your background has an interesting mix of public policy work and nonprofit work. Can you talk about how your career pathway led you to this role leading the Center for Creative Economies?
Public policy and nonprofit work are inextricably linked. The public policies that govern the ecosystems surrounding companies, nonprofits and educational institutions directly affect their ability to achieve their goals. For instance, when I was working as a management consultant for arts organizations, a good understanding of the ecosystem underlying their operations was crucial to being a good thought partner. That need to take a more expansive view of operating environments is part of what attracted me to the Center for Creative Economies. It’s not enough to prepare students for the career that interests them; we need to understand the interplay between creative endeavors and the economic, legal and technological forces that underlie them. Just 10 years ago, there was no such thing as a YouTuber or influencer, and now those are prominent ways of building your presence as an artist and/or scholar. Today, artificial intelligence represents both opportunities and challenges, as we see with the Writers Guild of America strike. We’re watching the outcome of that closely to glean insights for our students. In short, it’s the center’s mission to offer the best services and thought partnership to our students, and an understanding of all these ecosystem forces is essential to that.
The Center for Creative Economies was previously known as the Center for Creative Entrepreneurship. Can you talk about this name change and how you’re reshaping the program’s portfolio?
Without a doubt, the Center for Creative Entrepreneurship did an outstanding job of offering instruction and mentorship to students interested in starting their own companies. The Center for Creative Economies builds on that foundation by expanding curricular and co-curricular offerings that encompass the many components of an artist’s and/or scholar’s career, including the economic, financial, legal, political and technological facets that create and shape opportunities for our students. Our students will continue to benefit from our outstanding entrepreneurship faculty and support, but they’ll also be able to explore what it takes to lead a nonprofit, become a policymaker or work in philanthropy. For instance, I’m currently developing the curriculum for a nonprofit leadership course that will contain modules on business models, revenue sources, strategic financial management and trends in philanthropy. Additionally, we’ll also offer programming that speaks to practical career skills such as best practices for taxes and common legal issues that creatives confront. Of course, we’re also staying abreast of trends in the job market, including recruiting and hiring practices, so that we can prepare our students to be competitive when pursuing their careers.
What are your biggest priorities in your first year in this role?
My biggest priorities are rooted in building community. One of the good things that came out of the pandemic, I think, is a renewed focus on community and networks of support. With that in mind, I’ve made it a priority to build community by establishing partnerships with community-based institutions, such as the City of Austin, Austin Public Libraries and many wonderful nonprofits that work in the arts and culture sector. Those relationships will help our students nurture their artistic or scholarly practice in a way that’s rooted in community and that builds their local networks. This fall, for instance, we’ll hold an Austin music scene seminar in partnership with Spaceflight Records, Austin’s only nonprofit record label. They’re a wonderful organization that’s disrupting the music business by focusing on creating opportunities for Austin’s musicians, rather than turning a profit. Students will learn about the business and culture of Austin’s music scene, get advice on how to start a career in music and build their network. I can’t wait!
What are the biggest benefits of an arts education? What are some advantages that fine arts students bring to the table as they build their professional trajectory?
There are so many! Our students are creative, entrepreneurial, collaborative and analytical. These are essential skills for all sectors. Creativity is required for problem-solving and outside-the-box thinking. Our students also hustle to create their own opportunities; what better way is there to show that you have an entrepreneurial mindset? In their training, whether it’s theater, music, design, curation or dance, you’re working in partnership with others, which is perfect training to participate in and lead teams in their future careers. Lastly, our students have the analytical skills to break down problems in ways that facilitate understanding and communication. For example, the skills our students learn in storyboarding an animation sequence, breaking down a script or interrogating a work of art help them perfect their analytic process. Oh, and I should also pay homage to the technological savvy of our students. They’re writing code, mastering software — and their command of social media? Forget about it!
You’ve worked as a professional actor in film, TV and theatre. How did your theatrical training help shape your professional life?
My theater training has been central to my professional career. I never knew who I would be cast with, so I had to learn how to work well with people of all backgrounds and perspectives. That taught me the importance of humility and inclusiveness. Additionally, moment to moment work taught me to listen and stay in the present, which is essential to building positive relationships. And when I did scene work, I was taught to focus on my objective. So, whatever I was getting from my scene partner, I was trained to take that in and refocus their energy into pursuing my objective. That came in handy years later when I was consulting with nonprofits and the occasional board member would yell at me. I would think to myself, OK, I need to change up my approach because the “tools” I’m using aren’t building trust. Let’s try a different tool. Every single time, it helped me diffuse tension and create an environment in which people could listen to each other.