From sporting events and music festivals to entertainment companies and nonprofit arts organizations, the Las Vegas economy relies on professionals who can combine artistic vision with organizational leadership. These professionals manage productions, market events, coordinate artists, and build businesses behind the scenes.

To prepare students for these opportunities, UNLV launched the Bachelor of Arts in creative practice. The program is the first fully online undergraduate degree within the College of Fine Arts and, most notably, one of the first of its kind nationwide to combine arts management, leadership, and entrepreneurship in one degree.

The structure of the program has students choose from an administration, leadership, or entrepreneurship core focus and an artistic concentration.

Some of the topics, like marketing and entrepreneurship, are taught through the Lee Business School while classes in the College of Fine Arts cover everything from fundraising and grant writing to human resources to the role of AI in the field. 

"We are thrilled to be offering the B.A. in creative practice in the College of Fine Arts," says Dean Nancy Uscher. “Not only will this degree enhance the lives of our students, but I believe it will bolster the creative economy of our region. We are very excited about the prospects of this new program, including the future opportunity to offer this degree internationally.”

What is Creative Practice?

For recent creative practice graduate Katerina Fradet, the flexibility of the program allowed her to tailor her degree to exactly what she needed.

Fradet initially imagined her career as an architect, but later realized she wanted to broaden her focus. She pivoted to a creative practice major and kept her concentration in interior architecture while also adding a marketing minor. The program had just launched in 2024 when she “took it and ran with it,” she says. “It's really been one of the best experiences. I wish I would have done this from the start. Truly one of my favorite things I've done.”

The creative practice degree enables students who want to work in the arts without being the performer on stage — or who want to develop their own independent arts business venture — to develop a skill set that opens them to jobs across countless industries.

Who should pursue a Creative Practice degree?

The program was originally designed to support art students who discovered new passions and wanted to change direction partway through their studies. “It’s a way for them to transition into a degree, utilize the credits they’ve already earned, and still be invested in their arts education in some way,” says Stacy Shapin, program director for the B.A. in creative practice degree.

But the program is also drawing students with less traditional academic paths. “We are attracting students who are either restarting a degree, or wanting to put some formality onto things that they've already kind of pieced together over time. We are also attracting transfer students that may come over that have a broad variety of credits that they can't really apply directly to another degree program,” says Shapin, “There are just so many different student types that this degree can appeal to.”

Creative Practice Internships

This program culminates in a capstone course and a six-credit internship. The mandatory internship serves as a bridge to the local industry, allowing students to leverage UNLV’s “only in Vegas” advantages.

“The Strip is like our living laboratory right in our backyard,” says Shapin, “and our arts community is very tight-knit — they're very supportive, they want to bring people on board, connect, and let people know how vibrant our arts community is here in Las Vegas. They’re all very eager to have people come in and do an internship with them” 

Past internships have included civic organizations like the City of Las Vegas Cultural Department and Junior Achievement; grassroots nonprofit theaters and architecture firms; and major local powerhouses like world-class Strip productions, and the Nevada Ballet Theatre. But the internships aren’t limited to Las Vegas: One student worked as a landscape architect for the Oklahoma City Comets Minor League Baseball team.

Fradet also found an internship that allowed her to put her varied interests to work. She landed a social media content creation role for a wedding company because of her major. “They asked me about this degree because they had never heard of it. I was able to tell them, it’s not just focused on the arts, it’s not just focused on business, it’s focused on a creative practice, which is exactly what they are. And because of that title, I got this internship.”

As an intern, Fradet was able to do a mixture of creative work, interior architecture, and marketing — touching on all her specialities.

Careers Without Limits

Recent graduate Jasmine Mariz's internship and degree led directly to her first role out of college as an interior designer at the Cuningham Group, an architecture firm. 

“Having a diverse network, education, and range of work experiences helped me stand out to employers, who often recognized the breadth of my background,” says Mariz. 

As a creative practice major, Mariz took advanced architecture courses where she focused on healthcare, residential, and commercial design. Now as a full-time designer, Mariz’s specialty has grown to include designing large spaces — like childcare, fitness, and meeting spaces — for hospitality projects. “It was especially rewarding to expand my experience into a different industry and develop a new appreciation for hotel and resort environments,” Mariz says. 

Mariz’s knowledge in market research and business operations opened up addtional opportunities to take on roles related to marketing and brand efforts at Cuningham.

Mariz shares that the creative practice program has helped her develop a broader perspective on careers in and adjacent to the arts industry. 

“There are so many ways to have a career,” says Shapin. ”It's varied and exciting and plentiful as you are able to be creative about it. You’re really only limited by your own creativity.”