When researching the professional development needs of artists, we found frustration with the lack of career preparation in BFA and MFA programs.

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.

“Institutions left me in the dark, in terms of the business side of things. I have worked with a lot of professional dance companies at this point, so I know what they didn’t teach me.” – Dancer, NYC

“Training institutions are not serving the artist at all…they come out really ignorant…this can be rectified by changing requirements. The only focus at BFA programs is arts training. Post grad gives you more, but who has time for that? In my experience, a lot of artists have to learn through trial and error, not formal education in business.” –Arts Administrator, Atlanta

“The schools think artists are set up NOT to survive and they assume that we won’t make money doing what we do…and if you do…that somehow means you sold out - KILL that CONVERSATION!!” –Anonymous Survey Respondent

The majority of the artists we surveyed/interviewed voiced similar opinions of art school programs:

* 53.5% of respondents were unsatisfied with their schools career preparation efforts,
* 33.8% were satisfied,
* and 12.7% were undecided.

Although many schools offer art administration degrees for those interested in an arts management career, they do not offer business courses to those training to have an arts career. In fact, only 50.5% of respondents said their school provided any business or industry education at all.

Based on these results, we assumed that BFA/MFA programs would be motivated to improve this perception by implementing career development services and programs, however, sources imply that universities and colleges have a long history of resistance around educating artists in “the business.” The philosophy is that art should be taught for art’s sake.

Many artist advocates take issue with this lack of pragmatic education. They say it is hypocritical and irresponsible for US universities and colleges to take large sums of tuition money (est. $3 -$10 billion in 2005, according to National Center for Education Statistics and Real Dollars for Education data) from students who are not properly prepared to make a return on their investment.

“I just wrote a whole chapter for my next book around the issue of the rising cost of arts education. I think its ridiculous the amount of money students have to spend.” – Arts Advocate, Artist Consultant & Author

Almost half of the survey respondents (49.1%) reported spending more than $50,000 for their education. Alternative research estimated that art students are spending between $40,000 and $100,000 on their education. This is a significant amount of money for students who graduate to make an average annual salary of $20,000-$40,000; especially when accounting for interest on student loans that can double the cost.

“It’s a shame that (…) doesn’t have a real business class for artists. I have always found it worrisome that students came out with $100k in debt to be actors.” – Former Theater Studies Professor

“What isn’t good, is the huge burden of debt that you come out of (…) with to be an artist…just having to make the monthly payment on those loans limits your working flexibility.” – Musician & Actor, Los Angeles

Although it was encouraging to learn that a significant portion of survey respondents support themselves solely through their art (with 58.3% reporting some revenue from artistic projects and 32% reporting significant revenue), the majority of respondents made less than 50% of their income from the arts.

How would we judge other schools of learning within the higher education system, if the majority of their graduates made less than 50% of their income in their field?

We investigated the position of educational institutions on career preparation and found the following:

• Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) encourage art schools to focus on “creating progressive, national and international conversations about art and its importance to American culture….as a necessary component of the development of complete human beings and a society that values the human spirit.”
• The national associations of art schools (NAST, NASD, NASM, and NASAD) believe employment depends almost entirely on demonstrated competence, which is achieved through an education designed to develop talent, inspiration, creativity, artistic skill, historical awareness, and technique.
• NAST states the primary purpose of theater schools is to help individual students turn talent, inspiration, creativity, and dedication into significant potential for service to the development of theatre culture in its multiple dimensions.

Of course this is all true and IMPORTANT, but we found little to no discussion about educating artists in ways to develop and manage the resources necessary for participating in the multiple dimensions of art culture (i.e. a living wage).

“My understanding is that in an effort to keep students uninfluenced by the market or industry, the school was not focused on giving us career tools. As a result, all my peers gave up on their practice, because they felt as if there was no financial, intellectual, or communal support after leaving the school system” – Anonymous Survey Respondent

“This (career education) should have been offered as part of my expensive schooling” – Anonymous Survey Respondent

To be fair, there is an increasing number of arts administrators working through the bureaucratic maze to meet these needs by improving internship programs, hosting expert panel discussions, posting more relevant job notices, and organizing events for students to introduce their work to industry insiders.

For example, The Julliard School has an Office of Career Development that provides essential services needed to assist students in developing long-term career plans such as: career guidance, self-assessment tools, résumé/curriculum vitae/press kit development, career workshops, marketing, graphic image design, web page design, project development, fundraising, internship opportunities, and performance opportunities.

Also, we found some advocates of the traditional educational structure.

“Business is something to be learned apart from studies and studio arts education. Its best learned through internships, assisting positions and other jobs.” – Anonymous Survey Respondent

“(….) helped to instill a confidence in my ability to create and perform quality art, because in the real world you don’t get the opportunity to test yourself that often…the opportunities are few and far between to do “good” art or challenging art. They also prepared me by giving me a place to be around other students and people trying to make it and alumni that have made it…so the networking was a huge asset.” – Musician & Actor, Los Angeles

“On the other hand, if you come out with good artistic skills and the (….) reputation, it could get you in the audition room…the artist needs to take it from there. More and more (….) folks (alumni) are appearing in the industry….I see former students on commercials all the time. I enjoy watching them make it, plus going to (…) does give you a sturdy liberal arts background to fall back on. They do provide internships, which is a good way to get practical knowledge. You are getting a college education that will be competitive in other areas of the work place.” – Former Theater Studies Professor

However, the overall sentiment is that arts programs have fallen short in career preparation for students.

So, how can they improve?

Survey respondents gave us a few suggestions:

* Provide industry information/resources
* Teach small business and entrepreneurship concepts
* Adjust the elitist attitude
* Encourage participation in “real world” industry activities.
* Teach the vocabulary of the industry
* Explain how the industry works
* Provide some real statistics on working artists and the competitive environment.
* Identify broader career options
* Provide panel discussions with professional artists
* Provide networking opportunities
* Assist with job placement
* Eliminate the myth of “getting discovered”
* Provide classes on “coping” skills
* Offer one-on-one customized counseling
* Inform students of industry news and trends
* Offer continuing education

Fractured Atlas is participating in a growing effort among arts organizations to fill the gap. We are designing our professional development program to be a resource for artists and arts managers who need information about how to effectively function in art industries. We hope to provide answers to your questions through Fractured U.’s online courses and guidance through our developing network of consultants. We are committed to helping you navigate the business requirements of working in the arts.

For more information about the emerging professional development program at Fractured Atlas, please contact kamal.sinclair@fracturedatlas.org.

A one-day workshop for non-conformist performers determined to take their vision from the page to the stage. The workshop will feature a panel discussion with notable actors and writers who have seen their work produced On or Off-Broadway, and break-out groups that will provide instrumental tools to seeing one´s work produced: development, budgeting, fundraising, marketing, and more.

Presented by TeatroStageFest, HOLA, and CUNY Grad Center in association with CUNY and Instituto Cervantes.  An official event of the 2008 NYC Latin American Cultural Week.

When:  Saturday, November 8, 2008; 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Where:  Martin E. Segal Theatre Center; CUNY Graduate Center; 365 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street

Free admission

Prior reservation required.  Reservation and Information: info@teatrostagefest.org or 212.695.4010

Schedule:

10:00 am -12:00 noon: Produce-Yourself, Introduction to Artist Driven Projects

12:00 noon - 1:30 pm: Networking Lunch.

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm:  Group discussions led by industry professionals focusing on development, identifying producers and partners, budgeting and fundraising, and public relations and marketing.

“…the process itself is more important than the plan.”

- Jeffery Timmons, New Venture Creation

One of the key objectives for our professional development program is to help artists achieve success through manageable, persistent, strategic and consistent action; without sacrificing their spirit. Basically, we want to help you learn how to design a strategic plan for your career or organization and encourage you to implement it effectively.

WHY?

Without directions the journey seems overwhelmingly long and impossibly difficult, but with directions the journey seems realistic and achievable. Research shows, the very process of designing a strategic plan for your business is highly motivating. It puts you in charge of shaping your future, evaluating your choices, and initiating fruitful actions. The plan gives you a clear path to your long-term goals that is paved with actionable short-term goals.

Additionally, a strategic plan helps you manage risks and uncertainty, work smarter not harder, test your thinking, achieve results, manage stress, and understand the costs and benefits (both monetary and non-monetary). Also, you can temper impulsive hunches with a thoroughly researched understanding of consequences, make educated decisions, and limit trial by error. It helps you say “no” to distracting opportunities that often slow or halt progress. And if you decide to say “yes” to non-strategic expenses of your time, energy, and resources; you can do so with a clear understanding of the opportunity cost…of what you are sacrificing.

“Medèn ágan”

- Ancient Greek maxim (written in Latin)

This ancient Greek saying, carved on the pediment of the temple of Apollo at Delphi in Greece, literally translates into “Nothing in excess.” I caution any artist or arts manager to take heed when engaged in the strategic planning process. A plan is NOT A RIGID DOCUMENT; it is only a point of departure that MUST ADJUST as you attend to the unknown obstacles and opportunities that will inevitably emerge on your journey.

Common pitfalls in strategic planning involve letting the plan become:

• a source of tension
• an unhealthy list of “shoulds”
• an unrealistic thing that heightens your fear of failure
• a barrier to integrating unexpected opportunities
• fuel for your competitive nature
• an excuse for quitting when things take longer than projected.

The journey from idea to high potential opportunity requires navigating an undulating, constantly changing, three-dimensional relief map while inventing the vehicle and road map along the way.

-Jeffery Timmons, New Venture Creation

Again, you must accept that the plan (as written) will likely fail, because these fast paced times make it obsolete as soon as it comes off the printer. However, you can succeed if you take the time to go through the planning process:

• understand your goals
• clarify your creative offering
• understand your industry infrastructure
• understand your audience
• assess your resources and capabilities
• use the research and analysis to thoughtfully design your path. (What is your marketing strategy, operations strategy, financial strategy, entrance/exit strategy, development plan, etc.?)

A strategic plan will get you started, be a tool to measure progress/opportunities, and act as a battle plan for mitigating risk and overcoming obstacles. Just be sure to adjust the plan as needed.

Finally, taking the time to do a strategic plan is an investment in sustaining a lifelong passion, rather than a short-term fling, with the arts.

Fractured U. will be offering online courses in strategic planning and many related subjects. However, if you need any assistance prior to the Fractured U. launch, please feel free to contact me at kamal.sinclair@fracturedatlas.org.

As mentioned, we conducted a national survey and a series of phone interviews to better understand the professional development needs of artists. In the last post, I outlined the most common needs expressed by your peers. In this post, I thought you might be interested in understanding how your needs varied by career phase.

Emerging Artists feel like they know how to make art, but are ignorant about the operations and infrastructure of their own industry. They don’t know what it really takes to be a working artist. Most reported being told by a teacher or mentor to “just persevere at all costs” in order to achieve their creative dreams, but were not given more practical insight into the day-to-day reality of their career.

They feel the lack of information is very disempowering and causes a perceived loss of control. Therefore, emerging artists especially want an education in industry structure, functions, vocabulary, and norms; which can be a source of empowerment and create a sense of career control.

“What is the vocabulary? What is the process? Who has the power? Where do I get started? Where should I live? (NYC or Los Angeles?) How do I get an agent, or join the union? How can I avoid being scammed? How do I get an exhibit?” – collage of emerging artist comments

“I would love some sort of a boot camp in business concepts for artists. Also, we need a way to mediate the connection to capital. Artists are uncomfortable asking people for money, they need an advocate. A workshop on pitching and presenting materials would be great. We have to learn about fundraising or getting investors for our vision. I wish I had templates or someone to spoon feed me the steps on how to save money. Individual sessions would be great! It’s hard to accept that you have to be involved in the selling process, but it would help to have a partner. It would be great to have general business knowledge tailored for filmmakers…that would be great!” - Filmmaker, Los Angeles

“I have questions about how to sell music and make money, because CDs aren’t selling, technology is changing, new ways are emerging to support yourself….I hate having to push my CD…it is such an artist conflict, you want to sell your stuff, but you want to remain humble.” –Musician, Florida

Established Artists need help getting “unstuck”, overcoming worries about peaking, taking control of their careers, taking actions toward getting the next gig, managing their “brand”, getting emotional support when their social network changes, and overcoming the negative aspects of the industry.

“My career is being pulled by the market in one direction, but I have to push it in the direction of my creative (non-monetary) goals. If I was smart, I would just do what the market demands and make even more money, but I just don’t want to make stuff for money’s sake. If I did, I could be making a whole lot more money right now.” – Photographer, San Francisco

Again, we are working to expand the Fractured Atlas Development Program to better meet your needs by developing our online training center (Fractured U.) and developing a network of highly qualified consultant and coaches who can provide customized assistance to artists trying to plan, launch and manage their careers and companies. For more information contact me (kamal.sinclair@fracturedatlas.org) or Adam Natale (adam.natale@fracturedatlas.org)

In March 2008, we conducted a national survey and a series of phone interviews to better understand the professional development needs of artists. I thought you might be interested in what your peers described as their needs, wants, and desires. Sometimes it makes us feel better to know that we are not alone; that others are looking for the same things. Maybe, it can help you gain clarity about what you want and what actions you can take to fulfill your needs. As you might expect, we found that artists’ needs varied based on age, career stage, region and discipline. However, some needs remained consistent across all categories, such as creative autonomy, meaningful results, and love. The following is a list of the most universal needs expressed by your peers:

1) Need for success – Respondents’ definition of success ranged dramatically; from generating large sums of money, to simply having a moment of creative expression. Some artists saw positive critical reviews and prestigious grants/awards as markers for success; whereas others cited the euphoria of the creative process as their standard. Some defined success as having made a meaningful social impact and others simply measured it by the number of laughs or tears in their audience. No matter what the definition, success is one of the strongest needs expressed in this study.

“Success is embodying my own work, having my work produced and performed where it can make a statement for the artist world and the activist world…and serve as a catalyst for people to think critically.” – Dancer, New York

“Big bucks don’t define artistry….success is fulfilling dreams in terms of non-monetary results. Although money is nice and necessary…being true to yourself, realizing your potential to the fullest and connecting to your roots is my definition of success.” – Playwright, Georgia

“The greatest use of art is as a medium for creating greater understanding of the human experience.” – Photographer, San Francisco

2) Need for clarity/focus – Many artists expressed a need for clarity, for control over their careers, and for a vision to push them past periods of stagnation. Some say clarity would help them to let go of long-term projects that may never work, to break free of tunnel vision, and to avoid the paralyzation (scattered energy) of pursuing too many possibilities. Some “successful” artists said the turning point in their career happened the day they “got honest” with themselves. Once they clearly defined their core desire, they were able to stop spending energy on everything and anything that came their way. This elimination of non-productive activity allowed them to focus all of their energy on things that effectively brought them closer to their goal.

3) Need for emotional support - Artists endure long periods of unemployment, intense competition, and frequent rejections. This can have a serious effect on self-confidence. The artists in our survey expressed a need to be validated, encouraged, challenged, and motivated by their peers and artistic community. They need peer support in overcome fear of success and failure.

4) Need for work/life balance – It seems that everyone in the current fast paced environment wants balance in their lives, but artists’ lack of job security and financial resources make balance particularly challenging. Many artists are frustrated by having to spend 40 hours per week on a day job that takes them from their artistic pursuits. Whereas, “working” artists are challenged by the speed and quantity of work they have to produce; they want to learn how to better pace their creative output.

5) Need for advocacy - Artists want better advocacy. They want to capture some of the value they generated for society. They are frustrated by the cycle of moving to a “unpopular” urban neighborhood, improving its attractiveness by creating a “trendy” scene, getting priced out, and losing their creative space.

6) Need for partnership/services - In many ways, artists want the ability to “just do art”, but they understand that survival requires money, which requires some involvement in business. Many of the respondents expressed a desire to have someone else take care of their administrative and business needs, so they can just create.

7) Need for business and managerial skills – Many artists feel disempowered when dealing with the business aspects of their career, because they have not been given a cursory education in this field of knowledge. They want to better understand the “fog of business,” in order to confidently chart their path and navigate their journey.

“Business know-how is my primary deficiency… because of it… I missed a lot of opportunities. I need to know how to market, negotiate, and strategize for the long term….NEGOTIATION!!! I have struggles with setting a fair price for my work. How do I sell myself? I don’t know what to ask for.…what to sell myself for. I don’t know how to read a contract. Sometimes I feel like I am signing my life away. In dance a lot of work is created collectively, but the director gets all the branding…I don’t know what to ask for because there is no distribution of information on what is industry standard for this type of thing. I don’t know how to set boundaries. Artist need benchmarks to determine value….principals to navigate these issues. It’s hard to be a dissenter in a community of “yes men.” I feel the eagerness of the “yes men” brings down the value for everyone.” – Dancer, New York

Additionally, the unprecedented virtual noise and rapid changes in the Web 2.0 (3.0) environment requires that artists know more about accessing a virtual audience, but most of the time they feel “beat up” by this saturated eSpace. They want new strategies for building a loyal audience, gaining recognition, finding creative employment, and generating financial returns.

8) Need for resources - the funding from public and private organizations is not expected to keep pace with rising production costs, so only large and mid-size companies are able to operate under the traditional business model. Smaller companies are having fewer performances/exhibits/events and offer limited employment opportunities. Artists want to find new business models or new funding sources. Also, many artists express a need for physical space to create and present their work.

Currently, we are working to expand the Fractured Atlas Professional Development Program to better meet your needs. Initiatives include an online training center (Fractured U.) and a network of highly qualified consultant/coaches who can provide customized assistance to artists trying to plan, launch and manage their careers and companies. For more information contact me (kamal.sinclair@fracturedatlas.org) or Adam Natale (adam.natale@fracturedatlas.org)