Sherry Wagner Henry

As the director for the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Sherry Wagner-Henry is responsible for center strategy, which includes recruitment of students as emerging leaders, teaching through applied professional practice, job placement, and the development of enhanced educational experiences, including the rollout of the campus-wide Arts Business Initiative. ABI is program that connects artists and creative majors to business students and curriculum, fostering collaboration and creative inquiry around the processes for making a living and life with the arts at the center of exploration.

The ABI program launched the Aesthetics and Business Project—a coordinated series of activities, experiences and coursework that lead BBA students toward the development of their personal aesthetic, which hopefully lead to such outcomes as deeper empathy, better communication skills and a heightened sense of perspective—all, which in turn, develop better leaders. More recently, Sherry has been working to connect her students and the Bolz Center to regional and national Creative Placemaking initiatives, utilizing arts and artists to catalyze community development and rejuventation. Early attempts have included the launch of a Nonprofit Board Leadership program and Strategic Impact Consulting projects for graduate students at UW-Madison.

Sherry came to the Bolz Center from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where she was director of graduate programs for the College of Continuing Education and faculty director of the Master of Professional Studies in Arts and Cultural Leadership (ACL), a program that she founded. For 14 years, at the University of Minnesota, she was managing director of University Theatre and Dance, and executive director of the Minnesota Centennial Showboat, where she built and expanded the opportunities to create and manage public/private partnership development.

Sherry graduated with her MBA in Arts Administration and Marketing from Illinois State University and was a Follett Fellow in Arts, Entertainment and Media Management (AEMM) at Columbia College-Chicago. Sherry also serves as an affiliate member of the Arts Institute on campus, is a board member of the international Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE), and is a founding network partner at Sort Sol Consulting Group.

Undergraduate Courses

Arts Enterprise: Arts and Business as Art (MHR 365), Spring 2013.

Graduate Courses

APAP/Dawson Research Project (MHR 799), Spring 2013.

APAP/Dawson Research Project (MHR 799), Spring 2014.

APAP/Dawson Research Project (MHR 799), Spring 2015.

APAP/Dawson Research Project (MHR 799), Spring 2016.

Independent Study-Creating a Business Plan (MHR 799), Fall 2015.

Independent Study-Creating a Business Plan (MHR 799), Spring 2015.

APAP/Dawson Research Project (MHR 799), Spring 2016.

Bolz Center Thesis Project (MHR 790), Fall 2012.

Bolz Center Thesis Project (MHR 790), Spring 2013.

Bolz Center Thesis Project (MHR 790), Fall 2013.

Bolz Center Thesis Project (MHR 790), Spring 2014.

Arts Seminar (MHR 774), Spring 2013.

Arts Seminar (MHR 774), Spring 2014.

Arts Seminar (MHR 774), Spring 2015.

Arts Seminar (MHR 774), Spring 2016.

Arts Seminar (MHR 773), Fall 2012.

Arts Seminar (MHR 773), Fall 2013.

Arts Seminar (MHR 773), Fall 2014.

Arts Seminar (MHR 773), Fall 2015.

Nonprofit Board Leadership (MHR 765), Fall 2013.

Nonprofit Board Leadership (MHR 765), Spring 2014.

Strategic Impact Consulting and Thought Leadership (MHR 765), Fall 2014.

Strategic Impact Consulting and Thought Leadership (MHR 765), Spring 2015.

Nonprofit Board Leadership (MHR 765), Fall 2014.

Strategic Impact Consulting and Thought Leadership (MHR 765), Spring 2015.

Strategic Impact Consulting and Thought Leadership (MHR 765), Spring 2016.

Strategic Impact Consulting and Thought Leadership (MHR 765), Fall 2015.