WSJ.com: "Artists can have good careers, earning a middle-class income," says Anthony Carnevale, director of Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce. "And, just as important and maybe more, artists tend to be happy with their choices and lives."
16 comments:
I am not surprised at all to learn that people who have graduated with a degree in fine arts are happier than people who did not. We all know that you don't go into the arts for the money. You go into the arts because you love it or you have a passion for it. Because of that, artists are more likely to be happy with their lives as long as they are doing work that they enjoy. If you don't expect to make a lot of money in life, or be able to afford the million dollar house, then you're not disappointed when you can't afford it, and you're much more likely to be happy with what you are able to have. It's a shame that people gaining other degrees don't always have this outlook on life and their jobs. Besides, have you ever worked with an angry or upset artist? It's not a good experience for anyone. Much better to just be happy with your position in life.
The argument of which degree is right for you or which degree is a waste of time has grown tiresome. Due to such monotony I am surprised that I caught myself reading such an article. I am indifferent though after reading it as to whether or not it was worth reading because it is yet another article of bland nameless statistics about how much a certain demographic makes in yearly incomes after graduating. What struck me the most predominantly was the last statement in the article ""artists generally are happier than the rest of the population."..."Actors and musicians, on the other hand, are less happy, because they are disciplined by various rules and have less autonomy."
I paraphrase but they also mention how the happiest group is composers and writers.
This comparison states that actors are less happy because of the rules they are bound by. I disagree, I feel that skilled actors are not constantly bound by rules and forced out of autonomy. While a director yes may give the direction and conceptualize what a show/performance may mean or entail. A director with out a skilled director has nowhere to go. A skilled actor will know how to embody a character and bring new life. To say they are less happy because they are bound by rules I feel is quite a stretch of a statement.
There is an element of truth in here somewhere. People who get to express their feelings and emotions tend to be happier, and art is all about what is inside the artist. People that create things of course have "happier" lives because they get to pour everything out into the piece that they are working on. People who copy or act are just filtering in only the emotion that the part calls for. They don't get to feel angry if they had a bad day while they are acting a happy scene. That would be very unusual. I think other professions can be happy too though. If they like what they do, even if it isn't so artistically expressive, then they are having a happy life.
I think the point that the article is trying to make about actors (which Sean touched on in an earlier comment) has more to do with the limitations of their career choice as far as employee status. The three examples of particularly happy groups of artists (fine artists, writers, and composers) typically are going to be working in a more project-based way; as we have discussed in Professional Practice class they would likely be working as independent contractors completing a design, or an assignment, or a book. Actors, on the other hand, if they are making a living acting professionally, are probably going to be employees. They will work a certain number of hours, rehearse and do the show every night, and do the same thing for x number of weeks. While there is certainly some security and comfort in a weekly paycheck, it's not the same as the type of artist who sits in a studio and chooses when to work. Neither one is better than the other, one just affords more independence right off the bat.
While it is a very reassuring sign that BFA student's employment rate is on the rise, I do still hope that most of the people pursuing a passion in the arts are not doing it solely for the employment opportunities, that people pursuing a creative degree are motivated by their creative interests.
My first reaction to this article was, well that is good arts people are happy but I still do not want to work 12 hour days. Art and Artist is such a broad term that I do wonder who this exactly applies to. I wonder if PTM type people where even polled in the surveys. Because I think many people would not consider us to be artist. We are most definitely involved in the process of creating art and are in the process of artist ourselves is a different argument. I feel like the reason "art" people are happier is because they followed there heart and many of the business people followed there wallet or parents or scholarship or ...... So find something you love and figure out how to make money at it. That is a large challenge of life.
I'm glad people are realizing we don't graduate from college with fine-art degrees to go live in a box and wallow in our sadness. We are the ones who are fearless and say we must study this profession because we love and we won't settle for anything less. We don't leave high school wishing we studied some form of art instead of studying business or law or what have you. We are happy with what we do because want to do it and will make the most of it.
I think one of the reasons why artists are happier than other professionals is that artists are trained to interact with people and the life around us. We study these things and then try to understand what they mean on a larger scale as well as what they mean to us personally. Artists are able to ask questions about the world and answer them, while other professionals might not focus on these simple, but life-changing questions. Artists are able to ask, "What am I doing with my life?" and "What do I want to do with my life?" I think the difference between the artist and other professionals is that artists are not afraid to take the risk of doing what we want to do. I still don't really understand what risk is, but I do know that it is definitely in the job description for the artist. Risks are what make life fun. We never know what is going to happen, so we might as well embrace uncertainty and enjoy the roller coaster.
It's nice to see that the stereotype of the starving artist isn't really very accurate anymore but I do think that this can come down to the industry that people try to work in. There are probably a lot more job opportunities in the technical theater and entertainment technology field than there are for actors. But it doesn't surprise me that artists tend to be happier since they usually value doing what they love over the money they make doing it. One thing I found interesting is that between a BFA and an MFA the mean income didn't really go up all that much. I would have thought it would go up a lot more like in other job fields.
Being happy and doing what one you love does not equate to being poor. Thats a good thing to know going into the art.
I'm going to be an artist whether society likes it or not and I'm a little tired of half my relations saying oh your majoring in "would you like fries with that" or bringing up the starving artist joke. It's nice to finally have a little data to back up my career choice. That said, whether there is data on my side or not, I'm not going to do what theater because it make money or garners me prestige. I'm going to do it because it makes me happy. It is for that fact and that fact alone that I am begging to write of articles that talk about how much money you make in a specific major of what school to go to if you want to earn the most right out of college. People should worry less about making money and a name for themselves and graduating with the perfect degree for the work force. People need to do what they love because then society as a whole will be less stressed and bitter all the time. And there will always be people out there who want to do that jobs that you might think are boing. One of my good friends growing up loved accounting. I did think it was possible for some one to be so happy about numbers and taxes (or whatever is it that accountants actually do). There will always be someone who want to to a job. People should spend there time figuring out what job they want to do, not how much money they want to make.
I agree with Sean. I generally find that people who are unhappy with the career they have chosen chose that career because someone else pressured them to, not because it was what they were truly passionate about. I think this is a more prevalent issue in careers such as business or law simply because those are the industries that many view as fostering success, and thus the industries that we push youth toward. However, somebody who does not enjoy the process of creating art would be just as unhappy in a fine arts career as someone who does not enjoy sales would be in a sales job. We just don't push people to go into the arts, so this situation is far less prevalent. Essentially, this argument is tired. It is high time that we stop choosing for others and start choosing for ourselves.
I think just because a person is happy, it does not mean that he or she makes more money than others. The person can get a low wage and still be happy to work where he or she is currently working. Few months ago, I heard my friend who is in mathematics major saying how she was jealous of people in fine art because they are in that major because they are eager to do that. Most of time, I found that a lot of people chose to do their majors because their parents want them to do. However, for Fine art people, I think it is their own will, which generates higher satisfaction and happiness. I think that the article is doing a good job in breaking the stereotypes that have settled for many people because it will help people who want to major in arts, but worry about getting low wages to go for what they really want to do because it will bring them happiness.
It's definitely nice to see an article that isn't telling us that a fine arts education is a waste. This isn't for my own personal reassurance, its just that the mentality that people have who aren't in fine arts can sometimes be annoying. We've heard the "artists are happier" thing before, I can remember reading articles about that here, but its good to see one that points out that liberal arts degrees that people often consider more practical than fine arts degrees really aren't. I think that when choosing what you are going to study, you do of course have to take into consideration what you are going to do after college. But with most degrees, there are not guarantees, so choosing something that you will be fulfilled by should be a top concern.
If you go to a job that you like, you do your job better. This is a fact. People who care about their work and enjoy put more time, effort, and attention into it. And you know what? It doesn't feel like work anymore! Passion really and truly contributes to making a job a more fulfilling and rewarding experience. So if you have someone who likes their job, their happiness makes their product so much stronger and better quality.
Well this article is at least a little reassuring. Good to know that I'm not totally doomed to a life of misery and poverty after my time here. That being said, I think that a BFA, at least from here, gives you a versatile degree that can be applied in many ways. It is comforting to know that people come out of our program doing many different things besides theater. Although I'd like to work as an artist professionally, it is good to know that there are a lot of options for me out there.
I found it really interesting (and relieving) that we as arts students are more likely to be happy in our careers. It makes sense to me because we are all here following our passion because we love what we do, but it’s really cool to see that as a genuine statistic. However, I do wonder what the study specifically considers to be success, as simply being employed is not, to me, always necessarily indicative that their career is smooth-sailing or filled with money. Also, I think that I’d like to know more about some of these numbers, and if they take into account the people who are working more than one job. I think I would like to know more about how they defined happiness in the study, as feelings are something that are very hard to quantify in a study. I remember in my psychology class, we had to find specific indications and definitions of emotions rather than a blanket emotion like “happy”, as this may mean something very different to each individual person.
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