Rate My Professor michael seman

Dr. Michael Seman serves as an associate professor of arts management and Director of the Arts Management program at Colorado State University within the College of Liberal Arts' Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance. He holds a Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Public Policy from the University of Texas at Arlington, obtained in 2014. Seman's research specializes in the creative economy, with particular emphasis on the economic, cultural, and social impacts of music venues, music cities, arts management, arts policy, and arts venues. He created the Music Venue Economic Impact Calculator for the National Independent Venue Association and co-authored music and film strategies as well as creative economy reports for the City of Denver and the State of Colorado.

Prior to his appointment at Colorado State University, Seman was Director of Creative Industries Research and Policy at the University of Colorado Denver College of Arts and Media. He previously spent several years as an executive at Creative Artists Agency in Beverly Hills, California, focusing on internal marketing and project development, and managed daytime programming for the “35 Denton” and “Oaktopia” music festivals in Denton, Texas, while completing his doctorate. Key publications include his co-edited volume The Production and Consumption of Music in the Digital Age, published by Routledge in 2016, and co-authored report Lost Art: Measuring COVID-19’s Devastating Impact on America’s Creative Economy with Richard Florida for the Brookings Institution in 2020. Other notable works are “The Cultural Economy in Recession: Examining the US Experience” in Cities (2013, with C. Grodach), “How a Music Scene Functioned as a Tool for Urban Redevelopment: A Case Study of Omaha’s Slowdown Project” in City, Culture and Society (2010), and articles in Regional Science Policy and Practice, Growth and Change, Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts, and Industrial Geographer. Seman serves as assistant editor for the journal City, Culture and Society. His insights on the creative economy are featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, CNN, and regional media, and he speaks frequently at professional and civic events across the country, represented by the Creative Class Group.