Throughout his career, Dr. Antonio C. Cuyler has amassed a portfolio of diverse teaching experiences in arts administration education. He is one of few faculty who has taught arts administration and arts management degree seeking students at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels. He has also taught online, face-to-face, in private and public arts schools, as well as at a private and a public university. Although he is “the first Black man to earn a Ph.D. in Arts Administration,” and “the first Black man to earn promotion and tenure in his discipline,” he is less concerned about achieving these kinds of superlatives. He cares more about enhancing and increasing the educational attainment of arts managers, especially of those who identify as people of the global majority, i. e. of African, Asian, Indigenous, LatinX, and Middle Eastern descent. In doing so, he developed a service learning program to support his courses in providing his students transformative educational experiences in socially responsible arts administration. His former students currently hold positions at the Atlanta Music Project, Arizona Opera, British Council, Gadsden Arts Center, Joffrey Ballet, National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, North Carolina School of the Arts, Quad City Symphony Orchestra, and St. Louis Classical Guitar, among other cultural organizations around the globe.

In his research, he explores the central question, in what ways can the cultural sector ensure and protect the creative justice of the historically marginalized, oppressed, and subjugated? He is internationally recognized for his expertise and scholarship on internships in Arts Management, as well as his work on access, diversity, equity, inclusion (ADEI), and creative justice in the cultural sector which appears in the American Journal of Arts Management, Cultural Management: Science and Education, ENCACT Journal of Cultural Management and Policy, Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA Reader), Grant Professionals Association Journal, Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society, International Journal of Arts Management, International Journal of Social, Political and Community Agendas in the Arts, and Music Entertainment and Industry Educators Association Journal. As a globally engaged scholar, he has presented research in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, South Korea, Switzerland, and across the U. S. Because of his interest in assisting the development of arts management in emerging economies, he has also given presentations to the China Ministry of Cultural Affairs, and to delegates from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Most recently he established, Cuyler Consulting, a Black-owned arts consultancy that helps cultural organizations to maximize their performance and community relevance through access, diversity, equity, and inclusion (ADEI).

He is a member of the Arts Administrators in Higher Education, Black Opera Alliance, Black Opera Research Network (BORN), Brokering Intercultural Exchange Network, Diversity Scholars Network, National Council of Arts Administrators, and OPERA America. He serves of the boards of the Arts Administrators of Color Network and the Florida Cultural Alliance. He is a 2017 recipient of the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs Diversity & Inclusion Award, the College of Fine Arts’ inaugural Teaching Award, and the inaugural winner of the Tallahassee Young Professionals Network’s President’s Choice Award. Before returning to his alma mater, Dr. Cuyler held faculty positions at SUNY Purchase College, American University, and the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). To access his scholarly publications, click here.