What does an arts manager do?
An arts manager is someone who helps the artist in their daily activities. It is often associated with an artist manager, but in most cases, this position works primarily in taking care of the created artwork on behalf of the artist. The art manager also checks and inspects all skills and determines their value, where they are most useful, and quality assurance. In many cases, the arts managers are seen in animation studios, where the need for quality art designs is paramount.
Arts manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real arts manager resumes:
- Manage and create art for the purpose of embroidery and printing.
- Manage all aspects of the operation of an in-house print shop including purchase of all print supplies and maintenance of printers
- Manage all aspects of day-to-day operation of a desktop publishing and service bureau, including design, page-layout and typesetting.
- Lead corporate rebranding efforts to reflect proprietary technology and high-end international market.
- Shape entire program, run RFP process, contract vendors.
- Help equip those with clear callings and talent in music and the arts in ministry.
- Complete understanding of screen printing, embroidery and knit applications from the production set up of art perspective.
- Estimate cost for printing and duplicating jobs; evaluate in-house or print vendor production, generate estimates from outside vendors.
- Conceptualize and implement professional photography programs across the country including aerial and finish photography to support marketing and construction documentation needs.
- Organize and develop writing classes (poetry, fiction, hybrid, collaboration, etc . )
- Enable a responsive design with the use of CSS media queries.
- Maintain corporate website and implement new features utilizing SEO techniques.
Arts manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 89% of Arts Managers are proficient in Customer Service, Art Direction, and Animation. They’re also known for soft skills such as Organizational skills, Creativity, and Analytical skills.
We break down the percentage of Arts Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 89%
Focused on daily customer service procedures policies.
- Art Direction, 2%
Contributed art direction to ensure cohesiveness between artists.
- Animation, 1%
Received an Emmy nomination for Graphic Animation in 2004.
- Art Assets, 1%
Managed the outsourcing of art assets with external vendors and partners overseas.
- Unity, 1%
Collaborated with UI/UX to implement 2D and 3D core feature flows in Unity.
- Graphic Design, 1%
Managed in-house and off-site Flash developers, 3D animators, graphic designers and copywriter/editors.
"customer service," "art direction," and "animation" are among the most common skills that arts managers use at work. You can find even more arts manager responsibilities below, including:
Organizational skills. One of the key soft skills for an arts manager to have is organizational skills. You can see how this relates to what arts managers do because "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must manage their time and budget efficiently while directing and motivating staff members." Additionally, an arts manager resume shows how arts managers use organizational skills: "created internal project management tracking procedures, creative routing process and production organizational workflow. "
Creativity. Another essential skill to perform arts manager duties is creativity. Arts managers responsibilities require that "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to generate new and imaginative ideas." Arts managers also use creativity in their role according to a real resume snippet: "provide creative and administrative insight associated with public art projects while maintaining high caliber outcomes. "
Analytical skills. arts managers are also known for analytical skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to arts manager responsibilities, because "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to analyze industry trends to determine the most promising strategies for their organization." An arts manager resume example shows how analytical skills is used in the workplace: "designed and managed crm, email marketing and database systems for b2b and b2c environment. "
Communication skills. For certain arts manager responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "communication skills." The day-to-day duties of an arts manager rely on this skill, as "managers must be able to communicate effectively with a broad-based team made up of other managers or staff members during the advertising, promotions, and marketing process." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what arts managers do: "designed and implemented a computer graphics prepress department to service advertising firms, corporate communication departments, printers and graphic designers. "
The three companies that hire the most arts managers are:
- KPMG LLP20 arts managers jobs
- Amazon2 arts managers jobs
- Microsoft2 arts managers jobs
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Compare different arts managers
Arts manager vs. Retail advertising executive
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, arts manager responsibilities require skills like "customer service," "art direction," "animation," and "art assets." Meanwhile a typical retail advertising executive has skills in areas such as "product knowledge," "customer satisfaction," "customer relationships," and "federal laws." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
The education levels that retail advertising executives earn slightly differ from arts managers. In particular, retail advertising executives are 6.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than an arts manager. Additionally, they're 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Arts manager vs. Classified advertising supervisor
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, arts manager responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "animation," "art assets," "unity," and "graphic design." Meanwhile, a classified advertising supervisor has duties that require skills in areas such as "kpis," "roi," "elite customer service," and "coordinators." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Classified advertising supervisors earn similar levels of education than arts managers in general. They're 0.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Arts manager vs. Advertising and promotions coordinator
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from arts manager resumes include skills like "customer service," "art direction," "animation," and "art assets," whereas an advertising and promotions coordinator is more likely to list skills in "print advertisements," "ace," "promotional events," and "market research. "
Advertising and promotions coordinators typically earn similar educational levels compared to arts managers. Specifically, they're 1.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Arts manager vs. Creator and founder
Types of arts manager
Updated January 8, 2025
