Careers in Art

WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH AN ART MAJOR?

I can’t tell you how often I get this question. It is passion that draws us to the arts, and those who know that passion can’t imagine a world without it. However, the desire to pursue an education in the arts is often tempered by practical considerations. Images of the artist as isolated and destitute permeate our culture, and so it is hard to overcome the anxiety that this is what awaits us upon graduation.

However, there is good news! Despite what the cliches suggest, the data shows that those who pursue a major in the arts fare quite well. Their unemployment rate is almost the same as the average for those with a college education (about 4% — much lower than those without a college degree), and, what’s more interesting, their satisfaction with the careers they’ve chosen tends to be higher than those those from other majors.

Graduates from the School of Art here have gone onto a range of prominent careers. Below are a few examples.

However, it is worth keeping in mind that art majors acquire a set of highly desirable skills even if they move into a career outside the arts. For example, a prowess with visual communication (we live in a world where image is everything), creative problem solving, critical thinking, dealing effectively with ambiguity, problem solving through experimentation, inventing new ways to work within existing systems. In short, art majors possess the ability to take any given situation and look at it not for what it is, but what it could be. Any employer would put these qualities high on a list of things they look for in an employee, and these are all things that come second-nature to a student in the arts. In fact, in a recent survey of 1500 CEOs that was conducted by IBM, creativity was ranked as the #1 quality needed for successful leadership. Who better understands creativity than art majors?

Thus, it is no surprise to learn that our graduates have seen great success in careers outside the arts as well as inside.

So when asked what you can do with an art major, the true answer is simple: anything you want.

– Colin Blakely, Director, School of Art