Friday, October 24, 2008
Filling the Gap: Picking Up Where Art School Left Off
Fractured Atlas Blog: "Many of us graduated from arts programs without any real knowledge of our industry, such as: insider vocabulary, infrastructure, operations, power structure, salary norms, contract norms, historical/current trends, non-craft skill sets, etc."
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3 comments:
I think a lot of what this article discusses is true of certain colleges, but luckily CMU seems pretty good at covering the essential needs of artists in the "real world." One of the main reasons I wanted to come to Carnegie Mellon is because I didn't want to leave feeling unprepared for what I was expected to do in the career ahead of me, and CMU seems to cover most of the things the article was describing in order to help you succeed.
Where the art school left off is where the student is supposed to begin. If you're grossly unprepared for life after school, then 90% of the time (at CMU), it's your own fault. There are plenty of opportunities to take classes which are helpful to one's post academic life, and make one a more well rounded individual. However, if you would prefer to take Phys Ed classes and Hot Glass Workshops 1 through 59, then you've just wasted that opportunity.
School is an aid, but not a crutch. Insider vocab should come through internships, as should "real world" application.. So as long as you're taking a job that isn't life guarding over the summer, you should have some idea of what's expected in the industry..
You really cannot be completely prepared for the real world by a college program, no matter how good it is. When you go out into the professional world, there will always be adjustments and learning curves you will have to undergo. You can't learn everything you need to know unless you actually experience it, so don't expect to know it all when you leave here, just know that you are adequately prepared to make those adjustments and learn what you need to to take the next step.
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