THE GLOBAL LEADERS INSTITUTE
CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
The creative sector is at a turning point. Across industries — from fashion and film to music, literature, design, and performance — the arts are being redefined as engines of innovation, economic growth, and social transformation. Creative professionals are stepping into new roles as entrepreneurs, problem-solvers, and cultural strategists.
But the leap from artistic vision to scalable impact requires more than talent. It demands the ability to lead teams, build sustainable growth models, navigate cross-sector partnerships, and think with both creative insight and business acumen.
The Global Arts MBA prepares emerging arts leaders for this future. Designed for accomplished creatives ready to expand their influence, the program equips Fellows with the tools, networks, and leadership training to launch and scale ventures that shape the future of culture.
Paralleling the academic calendar of the Northern Hemisphere, the MBA curriculum unfolds across a full year and is comprised of three tiers:
TIER ONE: FOUNDATIONAL COURSEWORK
- a) Twelve Core Modules
- b) Two Topics in Creative Management Courses
TIER TWO: REFLECTIVE COLLABORATION LABS
- c) Case Study Assignment
- d) Capstone Challenge
- e) Team Dynamics Lab
- f) Adaptive Leadership Lab
- g) Knowledge Exchange Lab
TIER THREE: FIELD LEADERSHIP IMMERSION
- h) Innovation Summit
- i) Industry Immersive
- j) Creative Ecosystems Policy
- k) Firebird Roadmap
Below is a brief description of each component.
A. TWELVE CORE MODULES
Semester I focuses on Engaged Aesthetics, Social Enterprise, Impact Measurement, and Strategic Management. Semester II focuses on Economics, Innovative Thinking, Business Development, and Operational & Financial Management. Sequentially, the progression of these modules builds on critical tools and concepts of the previous.
Core Modules Semester I (August – December)
| Modules | Brief Overview |
|---|---|
| 1. Engaged Aesthetics & Global Development | This module connects the most important discussions on modern aesthetics since Immanuel Kant’s treatise, The Critique of Judgment, and examines the role of aesthetics as a catalyst for social engagement and art in society. |
| 2. Frameworks for Advocacy and Action | This module introduces the Logic Model as a project design framework for illustrating how and why an enterprise’s services can lead to expected outcomes, connecting strategic goals with measurable impact. |
| 3. Measuring Results, Evaluating Impact | This module applies the latest social science research to different impact measurement methods, introducing effective evaluation as a critical component of an enterprise’s long-term success. |
| 4. Introduction to Social Enterprise | This module explores the Impact Business Model Canvas to assess and improve how a social enterprise can be built sustainably by refining social enterprise strategies that balance mission, value creation, and financial sustainability. |
| 5. Business Leadership and Strategy | This module introduces practical frameworks to strengthen leadership capacity by analyzing and executing strategic choices and processes that create value in both mission-driven and market-based contexts. |
| 6. Fostering Innovation in Business | This module concludes the semester by exploring innovative thinking as a skill rather than an innate talent. Through hands-on workshops, Case Study teams develop actionable, value-driven ideas that their focal organization can realistically implement to generate new value. |
Core Modules Semester II (January – June)
| Modules | Brief Overview |
|---|---|
| 7. Systems Thinking | This module analyzes complex organizational and societal systems, to learn how to identify leverage points and design interventions that drive impact and innovation. |
| 8. Human-Centered Design | This module applies the artist’s process to business design. The hands-on workshops of this module create a template for innovation that facilitates breakthroughs in any field, from education to medicine, from culture to law, and from politics to business. |
| 9. Organizational Finance Toolkit | This module builds a practical understanding of financial management concepts and practices, focusing on new and early-stage ventures. |
| 10. User-Centered Operations | This module introduces operations management through a customer-centric methodology for evaluating and improving process efficiency and problem-solving. |
| 11. Revenue Strategies: Paths to Financing | This module zooms into an organization’s value-creation process by exploring strategies for generating revenue in various contexts. It builds an understanding of organizational resilience and adaptability through diversified value-creation activities, including communications, marketing, fundraising, and sales. |
| 12. Strategic Economics | This module focuses on applying economic principles to organizational decision-making in order to analyze markets, assess value creation, and design strategies that enhance competitiveness. |
A combination of two partners oversees the learning of each Core Module: a Curating Institution and a Lead Faculty Member. The pairing of Curating Institutions and Lead Faculty Members, carefully selected for each Core Module, ensures that leading academic experts and thinkers specific to the field in question guide the wide-ranging MBA curriculum at all times. Teaching guided by Curating Institutions and Lead Faculty is complemented by guest speakers who augment learning with real-world insights and practical considerations.
Curating Institutions are respected institutional partners with expertise in specific areas that help design and deliver each Core Module’s curriculum. Curating Institutions certify Core Module completion letters that each Cohort Member receives after successfully fulfilling the module’s requirements. All module completion letters are issued upon successful completion of degree requirements at the end of the year.
The Curating Institutions of Semester I are Harvard University (Cultural Agents Initiative), McGill University (Schulich School of Music), EY Business Academy, Georgetown University (Business for Impact), and Duke University (Social Science Research Institute). The Curating Institutions of Semester II are Stanford University (Center for Social Innovation), The Foundation Center, New York University (Entrepreneurial Institute), London School of Economics (Growth Lab), Oxford University (Skoll Centre), and Georgetown University (Business for Impact).
Lead Faculty Members are leading researchers, influential advocates, and academic experts in their respective fields who steward the academic journey of each Cohort. Lead Faculty oversees the day-to-day instruction of Core Modules, including leading the opening and closing webinar of each module, selecting module readings, evaluating module assignments, providing support to Cohort Members through email availability, and selecting guest speakers in consultation with the module’s Curating Institution and the GLI Administration. Our Lead Faculty Members teach at various top institutions, including Harvard University, Stanford University, Oxford University, Duke University, The London School of Economics, New York University, McGill University, and Boston University, among others.
Guest Speakers are practitioners, leading theorists, and cutting-edge researchers who share tailored insights and practical guidance. An international network of 50+ guest speakers works with our lead faculty to tailor and augment the learning experience of the Core Modules. Guest Speakers work in diverse settings, from top academic institutions to NGOs or research centers to universities and think tanks.
PREPARATORY ACTIVITIES
Lead Faculty and Curating Institutions carefully select preparatory readings and videos for each synchronous session of Core Modules. These academic journals, book chapters, or videos complement live instruction through individual study and journaling. Cohort Members must read the material posted and complete the preparatory activity associated with the readings or videos in preparation for each live seminar. Cohort Members do not submit their answers to these activities in written form. Instead, they share reflections and ideas fostered by these activities during synchronous sessions.
METHODOLOGY
All Core Modules consist of four to six two-hour live classes, scheduled twice weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:00 – 5:00 PM New York Time, in addition to readings, viewings, group exercises, individual activities, and a graded assignment. The structure of these live sessions follows the same format: 90 minutes of interactive presentations combined with 30 minutes of peer-group discussion.
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
During peer-group discussion time, Cohort Members work in small teams to submit a brief written response to a prompt designed by the faculty member leading the session. Formative Assessment responses provide faculty members with entry points for deeper discussion during synchronous classes.
GRADED ASSIGNMENTS
To finalize a Core Module, Cohort Members work on a team assignment that helps them apply important class concepts to real-life contexts. Module assignments range from essays to group presentations and field interviews, and they are an opportunity to apply learning to personal/professional areas of interest. Module assignments of Semester I facilitate learning through the deep study of an assigned case study organization from the Leaders-In-Residence network. In Semester II, module assignments support the development of team Capstone Challenge Projects.
B. TWO TOPICS IN CREATIVE MANAGEMENT COURSES
In addition to the twelve Core Modules listed above, Cohort Members must complete one Topics in Creative Management course per semester. Each Topics in the Creative Management course is built by three substreams. Completing all substreams in each semester is mandatory.
Topics in Creative Management Modules Semester I
| Substream 1. Storytelling for Impact | The art of Storytelling and the world of Social Impact are deeply tied. Without Social Impact, stories fail to inspire. And without stories, social impact fails to enroll and engage. Our goal for this substream is, in the context of a world defined by ever-increasing noise, to help Cohort Members harness storytelling intelligently to bring social impact to life in the eyes of crucial stakeholders. |
| Substream 2. NeuroArts | This substream considers the latest scientific research to create a working understanding of the cognitive, developmental, health-based, and socio-emotional benefits of participation in the arts. |
| Substream 3. Business Models in the Arts | This module examines three real-world case studies to analyze their business models and innovative strategies for creating and capturing value. Through these examples, Fellows explore how organizations balance the financial and social dimensions of their businesses to strive for sustainability. |
Topics in Creative Management Modules Semester II
| Substream 1. Systems Thinking | Designing sustainable solutions involves a nuanced understanding of how entities influence one another within a given system. This substream introduces Systems Thinking as a vital tool in solution design. |
| Substream 2. Venture Strategies | This substream delves into the fundamentals of venture capital, exploring key aspects such as: defining ‘venture-backable’ companies, distinguishing impact investing from venture philanthropy, and understanding the role of startup accelerators. Through expert insights and key concepts, participants gain a practical understanding of navigating the VC and accelerator landscape for creative businesses. |
| Substream 3. Emerging Technologies for Innovation | From classrooms to Zoom rooms, phonographs to smartphones, harpsichords to synthesizers, commercial studios to home studios, new technologies have transformed the human experience in entertainment, education, public communication, and private life. With a focus on AI, this substream develops a range of conceptual tools designed to help arts entrepreneurs navigate and harness the power of ever-growing technological opportunities. |
METHODOLOGY
Both Topics in Creative Management courses consist of three live seminars, scheduled once a week on selected Thursdays from 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM New York Time. For specific scheduling information, Cohort Members see the Academic Calendar. In most cases, these sessions do not involve preparatory readings or viewings.
Cohort Members attend live (highly encouraged) or watch the session recording and make a post on Canvas to prevent their participation grade from being affected.
GRADED ASSIGNMENTS
Cohort Members submit one assignment per semester. Through this deliverable, Cohort Members connect key learnings of one of the semester’s substreams with their home working environment.
C. CASE STUDY ASSIGNMENT
As a fundamental learning component of Semester I, Cohort Members work in teams to write a case study that examines a strategic opportunity faced by an assigned organization from the Leaders-In-Residence network.
LEADERS-IN-RESIDENCE PARTNERS
Leaders-in-Residence Partners create dedicated channels of real-world learning for Cohort Members through study partnerships that offer windows into an organization’s decision-making process throughout Semester I. These partnerships form a cornerstone of the learning experience as Cohort Members situate and internalize tools from the curriculum through dynamic observation and reflection.
GROUP SUBMISSION PROCESS
The Case Study Assignment is a creative and useful tool that allows Cohort Members to give closure to the learning process of Semester I. Throughout Semester I, Cohort Members work in teams to analyze the local context of an organization from the Leaders-In-Residence network. At the end of the semester, teams submit a Case Study that chronicles the events that led their assigned organization to a specific opportunity and examine a variety of considerations that decision-makers must deal with in reacting to this opportunity. After considering the respective merit, value, and cost of several potential paths for addressing the identified opportunity, Cohort Members prioritize one to propose a series of prospective next steps for the organization.
D. CAPSTONE CHALLENGE
In self-selected teams, the goal of the Capstone Challenge is to build and pitch a venture…
that solves a problem using a marketplace approach.
that incorporates the arts.
that repurposes some existing resource(s) to generate new value.
that is funded over time by at least 30% of earned income.
that leads to at least one new full-time job creation by its third year.
The Capstone Challenge pushes Cohort members to research, design, and articulate a brand-new social enterprise concept involving the arts. While written and evaluated in an academic context, Capstone Challenges must stand up to real-world scrutiny as market-oriented proposals that pool together all tools and knowledge gathered through Semester II.
E. TEAM DYNAMICS LAB
The GLI curriculum embraces small-team collaboration as a fundamental growth mechanism for cohort members. Consequently, most assignments in the curriculum are team-based. These small-team, remote, and cross-cultural collaborations create a unique working context in which Cohort Members have the opportunity to learn about their collaboration style and, through carefully curated activities based on a conative assessment called KOLBE®, gain self-awareness that helps them become more effective collaborators and leaders.
F. ADAPTIVE LEADERSHIP LAB
Leading change in social and organizational contexts is inherently risky. Transforming institutions, mobilizing stakeholders, and addressing hidden conflicts requires challenging established norms. These complex challenges, along with the resistance they often provoke, demand creativity and resilience. The Adaptive Leadership lab focuses on a Harvard-born framework that equips participants with the analytical and practical skills needed to lead change from any position (whether with or without formal authority) across diverse stakeholder groups.
G. KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE LAB
Part of the unique value of the MBA journey is created by harnessing the real-world experiences and cultural viewpoints participants bring. The Knowledge Exchange Lab is a peer-to-peer forum through which participants make visible the connection between their Industry Immersive Topic and their home professional context or aspirations.
Virtual Classrooms often struggle to create environments within which all participants feel compelled to contribute to the learning of others. From worrying about being socially accepted to relying on the same voices to be the ones interacting with faculty members and guest speakers, multiple factors prevent participants from offering their unique perspectives to the rest of the Cohort.
The Knowledge Exchange Lab is a designated space where participants get to share their unique interests, motivations, work experiences, or professional challenges with others – thus increasing the visibility of each participant as an active contributor to the learning.
Cohort Members either attend live (highly encouraged) or watch the session recording and make a post on Canvas to prevent their participation grade from being affected.
H. INNOVATION SUMMITS
By cultivating a unique learning environment dependent on group collaboration and Cohort interaction, the Innovation Summit is designed to complement the personalized experience of the Industry Immersive and the online Core Modules. The Summit is a culturally immersive learning experience where academic learning and social engagement activities are integrally connected. Led in partnership with EY Business Academy and Harvard’s David Rockefeller Center, and hosted by several local organizations, the Summit unfolds with additional operational support from GLI Faculty and Administration.
Participation in the in-person options of the Summit is highly encouraged but not required, as a remote option is also available. If participating in one of the in-person options, Cohort Members are responsible for arranging international travel. With support from local partners, the GLI provides ground transportation, shared accommodation by gender, three meals per day, and emergency health insurance to all participants. In addition, a wide range of local activities, including field trips, academic exercises, and planned cultural excursions, are organized and sponsored by the GLI.
I. INDUSTRY IMMERSIVE
The Industry Immersive is a year-long, practice-based MBA course that challenges Cohort Members to conduct a hands-on inquiry into how organizations they admire operate — and what lessons can be drawn to inform their own leadership, ventures, and professional environments.
At its core, the Industry Immersive is anchored by a personally meaningful business or leadership subject that highlights an opportunity area relevant to the Fellow’s professional life. Using this subject as a strategic lens, Fellows engage directly with three or more organizations operating at the leading edge of their field to explore best practices, strategic models, and operational insights.
This is not a theoretical or abstract research project.
It is a structured opportunity to examine how organizations operate strategically, financially, and culturally — and to extract concrete lessons that can be adapted and applied within the Fellow’s own organizational context.
Through a combination of structured advising, independent inquiry, and organizational engagement, Fellows learn by doing, expanding their perspective and surfacing new possibilities for innovation and growth.
J. CREATIVE ECOSYSTEMS POLICY
The creative economy is increasingly shaping how cities plan, govern, and invest. From funding venues and festivals to shaping cultural districts and equity policies, the arts influence city planning, economic development, tourism, education, climate action, and more. However, integrating the arts into urban policy remains a new approach. With no standardized creative policy, policymakers often default to broad cultural strategies that overlook sector-specific needs.
This Tier 3 component aims to establish a framework by examining how cities invest in and engage with the arts as part of governance. As creative ecosystem policy emerges as a specialized field, this module equips Cohort Members with insights into the creative industry, sustainable development, and the cultural ecosystems in which they operate.
K. FIREBIRD ROADMAP
After completing all key elements of the MBA curriculum, Cohort Members apply the sum of the theoretical and skills-based knowledge gathered through the program to write and present individual projects they can feasibly implement in their professional contexts. This individual assignment can take many different shapes, depending on the curiosities, creativity, and backgrounds of each Cohort Member.