Saturday, October 25, 2014
BFAMFAPhD
BFAMFAPhD Census Report: Of all arts graduates in the U.S., 18% work in sales and other office occupations, 17% are educators, 14% have not worked in the last five years, 11% work in various professional fields, 9% are managers, 8% make a living as artists, 8% work in service jobs, 5% work in various blue collar occupations, 4% are working in business and finance, 4% now work in science, technology or engineering, and 2% now work in medicine.
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11 comments:
That's depressing at first glance, but I think those are some pretty good statistics. Changing the filter to Drama and Theater Arts yields only 7% unemployed. The vast majority seem to find somewhere to work even if it isn't artistic and only a few of those in the service industry (insert joke about actors and waiters here). As someone who has been trying to figure out what all my career options actually are its encouraging to see that there theater majors in such a wide variety of positions. Being a TD I understand where the 3% engineers/science comes from. However I am both lost and curious as to where the 2% medicine comes from. How do you end up making that transition?
Like Isaac, I at first was pretty discouraged by this article. However, at the end of the day the statistics here are not surprising to me at all. We came into this school knowing how difficult it is to make a career in the arts, and these statistics mimic that sentiment. I also would like to point out that, even though only 8% of arts graduates are currently working in the arts in the US, this does not mean they aren't using the skills they gained in their training and applying them to other fields. I know several people who have graduated from our program and have decided that theatre, or even a career in the arts altogether, is not for them. The fantastic thing about going to school for the arts is that the skills are very transferrable to many different fields. With this said, I definitely plan on having a career in the arts. This article shows that this goal of mine may be easier to accomplish in some US cities more than others.
I disagree with Jess and Isaac - I was not discouraged by this article at first glance. I think that it is meant to be falsely discouraging to people receiving degrees in the arts. However, we must consider people receiving other degrees. How many of those people go on to work in their fields? I have met MANY who are not in the field they thought they would be in. For whatever reason. They decided they liked something else better, they wanted a change, they fell into something different and liked it, they wanted something more part time so they could focus on family, etc. etc. And I also think it's clear why many choose to leave the arts. It's not always easy, and it doesn't always make money. Many decide that it isn't actually their passion, and that's okay.
This interactive graphic is a really interesting way of communicating these statistics, but it also seems to be a somewhat limited. I find the categories of professions a little vague, although I understand that it would be an entirely useless graphic if they had too many categories. I guess overall, I find it interesting to look at, but I wouldn't attach hope or disappointment to it either way. I don't think it is telling of what our futures may be like, nor are we able to tell how many arts majors ended up in careers they are happy with. As the article is simply displaying statics about placement, there isn't really any way to interpret this as positive or negative. We don't know how many of these artists wanted to "make livings as artists" in the end, so I think this chart should be taken as it is, an interesting way to see the various paths arts majors go down.
Eh, I don't really think this is discouraging at all. If anything, it shows that majoring in theatre provides a versatile degree that is useful in a variety of fields. These statistics are also influenced by the fact that there are simply more people in certain fields than others. Furthermore, not everybody who goes to art school even intends to continue making art after they graduate. If nothing else, there are plenty of people who claim that their undergraduate degree prepared them not at all for the workforce, so ultimately if people don't end up working in the field they studied - nothing lost, nothing gained.
Are we really surprised that people end up doing different things than they thought they wanted to at 18? I agree with Isaac that the most interesting statistic for Theater Arts is the 7% unemployment rate. That's only a couple points higher than the national average, which shows that a Drama degree is at least not the worst thing you can get. Knowing that a majority of other people with similar degrees as me have a wide variety of jobs actually relieves a lot of personal pressure I tend to put on myself. Knowing that there are other options decreases my personal burnout rate because it allows me to take on challenges at school without the mind-crushing panic of "this is what I've chosen to do with my life. This degree is very specialized." To me, these statistics take a lot of pressure off to love all parts of the industry because this is the one I'm stuck with.
I think most people think of actors when they think of theatre. It is a lot harder for an actor to get a job than it is for a designer or a stage manager. People in technical theatre are taught many different skills that are very useful in many areas of theatre and life. I don't think those people are represented as much in this statistic, which is why I do not think it is totally accurate. It is still hard to get a job in technical theatre, but it is easier than auditioning for a part that hundreds of other people are as well. There are generally less people that want to work in technical theatre than people that want to be the star of a show.
I saw that at least one person wondered in the above comments about the 2% that ended up in medicine. As someone who switched from Biology to Design and Production, I can perhaps shed some light on that. With hindsight, I can now say that studying biology was actually a lot like creating a feasible, functioning project (be it shoe, or set). In my experience, biology at its most essential level is the study of how a variety of systems works together to produce an successful outcome, that is, a living organism. Biology and the creation of a successful production actually share very similar thought and analysis processes. Furthermore, the human element is a very unique thread that binds the two. Both theater and medicine create unique opportunities for human interaction, unlike many other occupations. Simultaneously personal and (hopefully) edifying, both career fields offer piercing insights into the human condition, be it physical or mental.
To put it succinctly, both medical professionals and those in theater arts are in the business of telling stories. Doctors tell the statistical, observable story of an individual, while those in the arts more often examine people in terms of each other and their emotional states.
I feel like this article really lacks the whole picture when it comes to the jobs arts graduates have out of college. At first glance, it may seem that the article is saying only 8% are doing what they went to school for but that is probably not the case. First off, many people study in arts to become educators. Secondly, the skills acquired in arts studies are transferrable across different professions. It is not surprising that many arts studies work in offices or sales. Also, who is to say that these arts graduates aren't happy working in education or offices?
One aspect of this article or report that I found interesting was Chicago's results for work in Drama and Theatre Arts.
Chicago arts graduates reported 30% work in sales, and 70% work in "miscellaneous". I find this hard to believe considering the Theatre School at DePaul University boasted about their great relationship with the theatre scene in Chicago. With all the graduates they named that worked at Steppenwolf and Looking Glass, I find it hard to believe that there is less than one percent of Chicago graduates who earned a BFA in Drama/Theatre Arts, working.
Knowing this makes me question the other statistics on the website...
This is a very intestine statistic. I knew before looking at this that not many actors acting get the opportunity to pursue this career. This actual gave me more hope. The fact that there are 4% working in finance and 4% working in blue color jobs gives me hope for other success. None this this surprised me except the medical part. I do not understand how some one could go into anything medical with a BFA or MFA. Neither of these give any training in this field. I wonder what this 2% of hopeful actors are actually doing as an occupation.
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