ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates how arts organizations are structured and organized both traditionally and in more contemporary contexts, how that relates to their leadership, and how the situation can be both dynamic and complex. It discusses the way artists work in different artforms, and details each artform in terms of their characteristics and how that influences their leadership. The governance and leadership of arts organizations differ dramatically within artforms, between artforms, and between countries and cultures. Arts organizations that receive public funds may have certain restrictions placed upon them in terms of structure and governance. The pressure of the management imperative can be seen to have had a dramatic impact on the structure of arts organizations and, by direct association, their leadership. The expectation that the positional leader of an arts organization should be an expert in the artform first, and be a trained leader or manager second, can have its problems.
