Waiting for the “Anointment”

Last month, I started teaching a class called “Entrepreneurship in the Arts” at the Savannah College of Art and Design (Atlanta campus). The first class was thrilling, because I witnessed the excitement of artists and art entrepreneurs just beginning to follow their bliss. It was especially enjoyable to see those who have been working in non-artistic fields for 15 to 30 years, who have decided to finally make a go of an arts career.

Interestingly, I discovered many of my students had a misleading assumption about not being a “real” artist until someone “anointed” them as a “real” artist. Although they had been painting or taking photographs of many years, they didn’t consider themselves real painters or photographers …yet. I had to stop the class and explain, in no uncertain terms, that they didn’t need to wait for anyone to legitimize their identity as an artist; they merely needed to claim it.

This is very important for emerging artists to understand: you determine who you are, don’t let others determine it for you!!! You’ll be surprised at how people respond when you claim your identity.

For example:

When moving to New York City, I had a dream of becoming a theatrical director. However, I assumed I had to have grey hair to be worthy of that role. I had this scenario in my head that after years of grunt work and apprenticeship some theatrical master would turn to me in a “rite of passage” moment (a la Mr. Miyagi and Daniel Larusso in Karate Kid) and say, “You are ready now.”

Well, in my last year of NYU, I decided to create a show for independent credit, but I didn’t consider myself the director. One evening, I was standing outside the theatre when a passerby inquired, “What do you do with the show?” I replied, “I’m the director.” (Internal freak-out moment) The words felt so insincere and foreign coming out of my mouth that I felt like a major fraud. In fact, the time between uttering this statement and the person’s response felt like an eternity, in which my head raced with thoughts like:

“How could I lie in this person’s face?”

“How could I claim to be a director? I don’t know what the hell I’m doing;”

“I don’t even know the names of the light fixtures;”

“I’m gonna look like such an idiot if they ask me some technical thing that I don’t know about.”

You can imagine my surprise when the person said, “Oh, Awesome!” with out any questions asked and with a new tone of respect. I was shocked, “They actually bought that?” It must have been a fluke, right? Well, I tried it out on a dozen other people and guess what? They all bought it with no questions asked. In fact, they all adjusted their behavior to accommodate my new identity:

“What do you do?”

“Oh, I’m a director.”

“Really? Wonderful. I am a costume designer. Do you need any costumes for any upcoming productions?”

It really hit home a few shows later, when my producer put out a casting call inBackstage and 100 accomplished dancers/actors showed up and auditioned their hearts out…for me!!!

In reality, I was legitimately a director even though I didn’t know it. I had been organizing, choreographing and managing amateur shows on a regular basis from nine years old. Yes, there was a lot I didn’t know about directing theatre, but I learned and am still learning.

Being an artist is not like getting licensed to be a doctor, you don’t have to pass a test or complete a residency. It is a life long journey of being and becoming simultaneously.

This all goes back to the idea of empowerment and self efficacy. Many of the artist consultants we spoke with talked about the importance of focusing on what you can controlas an artist, instead of the things you can not control. If you wait for others to do it for you, you could be waiting forever.

Another Example:

Charles Huntley Nelson is a well respected afro-futurism artist in Atlanta and art professor at Morehouse College. Charles moved to Atlanta in 1995 after graduation from Howard University with his MFA. He fell into the Atlanta art scene and made a lot of connections with emerging artists like himself. Initially, he started pursuing his career in the traditional career model:

The Artist submits work to (or auditions for) a middle-entity > middle-entity gives Artist “Big Break” > middle-entity invests in artist’s work > middle-entity delivers work to market for a return on their investment.

Charles was looking for a middle-entity to accept and legitimize his work. However, his breakthrough came from being rejected by this career model. He applied to the Atlanta Biennial with eight installation proposals and they rejected them all. So, he decided to try the D.I.Y. career model:

The Artist produces, markets, distributes, and earns revenue on work.

He took one of the concepts he proposed to the Atlanta Biennial and said, “I’m just going to do it myself, if no one else is going to give me a show.”

In 1999, he did his first photo shoot for the show. He also began inviting other emerging artists to contribute work and partner on the costs of producing the exhibit. As the curator, he decided to have an urban art theme that uniquely showcased work of both black and white urban artists, which had never been done in Atlanta (as “urban” was always considered a black thing.)

In January 2000, the exhibit was up at Eye Drum. His innovative concepts and the emerging reputations of his fellow artists brought in the critics, they got great reviews, and he earned a reputation as a curator/artist.

When asked what advice he would give to emerging artists, Charles said, “Create your own opportunities. You have to bring people to your work, if you aren’t getting a response…everyone is not going to knock down your door, you have to get out.”

The first step towards being a D.I.Y. artist is empowering yourself with acceptance of who you are. Again, do not wait for others to anoint you, claim your identity, and take control of your career.

(Originally published on FracturedAtlas.org February 2, 2009)

Competition in the Arts Sucks! Or Does it?

Our research and survey responses indicate that artists and “do gooder” arts organizations struggle with the concept and reality of competition; especially because creativity is such a product of collaboration, connectedness, and reciprocal inspiration in a network of people. We need each other, yet we are in competition for the same resources, audience members, buyers, and dollars. There seems to be a constant tension between collaboration and competitiveness. How do we reconcile this? I don’t completely have the answer, but I can share the results of my investigation so far.

September 1994, I sat in the Drama Department’s freshman orientation at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. I was 17 years old, fresh off the plane from California, new to the big city, bright eyed, and ready to conquer the world. The first thing they told us was, “You are 1 of 900 freshman acting students at NYU. If you can bear doing anything else with your life, do it!”

900!!!!

My mind immediately drifted into random calculations of the total number of actors in all the NYC acting schools, then the total number of actors in Manhattan, then in NY State, then the eastern seaboard, then the country. Needless to say, I felt like a grain of sand in the Sahara.

What am I doing here?

Next, that grain of sand image (me) was transported to a giant hour glass with millions and millions of other grains of sand trying to get through the same little tiny funnel. I felt as defeated as the Greek mythological character, Sisyphus. You know, the one who was doomed to the meaningless task of pushing a boulder up a hill only to have it roll down again…for eternity. Yes, I am a little dramatic…why do you think I ended up in drama school?

Call it cognitive dissonance or self soothing, but this little mental freak-out was followed by a more comforting thought:

“Maybe there isn’t just one tiny hole that we all have to fight through. Maybe this dramatic marketplace is more like a sifter then a funnel. All the emerging actors are thrown into a giant sifter. We endure the thrill of the shaking and tossing, eventually falling through our own little hole, into our own little niche. Some of us will be stars, some producers, some writers, some production managers, etc. etc. etc. We don’t all want the same thing; we don’t all have the same talents to share. We each have our own fingerprint as unique as our individual talent. All we have to do is mine the gems latent in our own little mountain of potential, then we will each have a chance to feel fulfilled. Yeah, that’s it.”

I was comforted and motivated by this thought.

Throughout my career in NYC as an actor/dancer/writer/director/producer, I held onto this soothing thought to get through the rejection, the starvation, the cold, the loneliness, the fear, the empty seats, the bad reviews, etc. In hindsight, I’m so thankful, because it got me to those cherished moments of victory: getting hired for a gig, getting a rave review, traveling the world, feeling the “whooo” of synergy with your fellow performers, the adrenaline of a packed house, seeing yourself on TV, seeing your vision realized on stage, witnessing the amazing process of collaboration with other artists, and having a kid come up to you after a show and say, “You inspired me.” Those moments would have never happened if I was intimidated by the competition.

It wasn’t until a few years ago that I discovered a term that articulates this concept of finding your hole in the sifter — DIFFERENTIATION. This is a wonderful term. It says you have a value in the competitive landscape that is unique. It says that if you differentiate yourself, your audience will appreciate you for being you…well the best of you.

How do we navigate the competitive landscape?

Step 1: Define - Who is a direct competitor? Who is an indirect competitor?

This correlates to defining your professional identity (see Professional Identity: Who are you? and What do you do?). Once you are clear about who you are and what you want to offer, then you can determine your direct/indirect competitors.

Step 2: Size - How many direct competitors do you really have?

In my mind, I saw this endless sea of actors fighting for the same two line role in some infomercial. How many competitors did I really have? Let’s do research.

In the 2008 National Endowment for the Arts report, “Artists in the Workforce,” we learned there are approximately two million artists in the US workforce and only 2% consider themselves actors (39,717 to be exact). Wow! That is a very different number from the one I perceived in that freshman orientation. If there are so few actors, why does it seem like every other person I meet is an actor? Oh, because I grew up in LA (where almost half of all actors live) and went to college in NYC (where another 20% of all actors live). Research can be very revealing.

Step 3: Growth - Is this market attracting competitors or repelling them?

This is very important information. If your particular market is attracting competitors like Silicon Valley attracted venture capitalist in the late 90’s, you need to know why and strategically position yourself to be competitive. If competitors are leaving the market like venture capitalist in the early 2000s you need to know why and strategically position yourself to harvest or exit the market.

According, to the NEA report, the number of artists in the US has remained relatively constant for the last 15 years. Why? Well, the last major growth trend happened from 1970 to 1990, when the artist population doubled due to massive investments in cultural infrastructure. Some say we hit equilibrium over the last decade and a half. What does the future look like? Well, Obama’s administration says they want to make major infrastructure investments again.If they are successful, how will that affect the creative economy? Will competition increase for new resources? Will there be less competition as more opportunities open up? Are you positioned to fill an opening?

Also, look at growth in small market segments. We have not experienced dramatic growth nationally, but what about regionally? According to the NEA, the West and the South have seen dramatic growth in artist populations over the last 15 years. Georgia and Florida saw 23% growth in artists from 1990 to 2000, while places like NYC saw a dramatic exodus of artists. Why? Will this trend continue? How does that affect your business or career?

Step 4: Benchmark - Investigate your top competitors and learn from them.

This is the nitty gritty competitive intelligence that will teach you so much. Who specifically are you in competition with for grants, for audience members, for sponsorships, for press attention? Where are they located? What do they offer? What is their reputation? What are their weaknesses? Strengths? What kind of earned or contributed revenue are they generating? What is the demand for their offering? How do they deliver their offering? How do they communicate their value? What are their plans over the next year? 5 years? Pretend you are an audience member and analyze what draws you in and what could be improved. Next, look at your offering or operations and see how you measure up, what you can improve, etc.

Step 5: Competitive Advantage - How can you effectively compete?

There are two generic strategies for competing in any market place:

Differentiation - which we already talked a little about. Differentiation means that you create something that is perceived to your audience as unique, which can usually command a premium price. Many artists create uniqueness by having an innovative design; cultivating a trendy image; using cutting edge technology, using avante garde mediums, telling an interesting story, etc. However, differentiation doesn’t always have to come from the creative design of your offering; it could come from simply having better logistics. (Many talented people have failed to succeed due to poor logistics, while many not so talented people have thrived because they had a competitive advantage in logistics.)

For example, let’s say you have a theatre and your competitor is bringing in an average of $25,000 in box office receipts per 6 week run and you are bringing in an average of $15,000 per 6 week run. By benchmarking your competitor you can see there is at least a $10,000 margin for improvement. Why are they doing so much better? Is it the quality of the shows? According to audience surveys patrons enjoy your shows a little more. Is it convenience? Well, they do have a relationship with the café across from their theatre that offers their patrons free valet parking.

Cost Leadership - this strategy emphasizes efficiency. Maybe you are able to produce a $50,000 show for $25,000 due to your ability to stringently control costs. This gives you a $25,000 advantage over your competitor. In the non-profit world that cost savings usually comes from the relationships we cultivate with in-kind donors and volunteers.

Additionally, you can use either strategy in a very narrow segment of your market to really narrow the competition. This is called a Focus Strategy.

The strategy you choose is highly dependent on your competitive advantage. If you are very innovative, than a differentiation strategy might be right for you. If you are well connected to people and organizations with a lot of free stuff, but not too innovative, perhaps the cost leadership strategy will work.

Exercise - Try to determine your sustainable competitive advantage by asking yourself the following questions:

• What resources do I have or can I obtain?
• What skills and capabilities do I have or can I obtain?
• What competencies do I have when combining these resources and capabilities?
• Of these competencies, which are my core competencies?
• Which of these core competencies does my audience value above my competitors? (Competitive advantage)
• Is this advantage sustainable? Meaning, can it be easily imitated?

In a nutshell, I caution you against entering the creative marketplace blind to your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses OR to your own. Finding ways to compete effectively and to create collaborative competition will ultimately help grow and improve the creative economy. Your courage to compete will broaden the diversity of the creative offerings in our cultural institutions and entertainment spaces, as well as improve the vibrancy of our communities. We encourage you not to be intimidated by competition, but to embrace it. Find a way to communicate and deliver your unique value; because if you get intimidated and take yourself out of the creative marketplace, we all lose out.

(Originally published on FracturedAtlas.org December 26, 2008)

Market Analysis: Who Cares?

Excuse me for being M.I.A. over the last month, but I was busy producing the National Black Arts Festival’s 1^st Annual Winter Ball (“The Art of Change”), featuring special guests Dr. Cornel West and Big Boi from Outkast. I won’t go into all the details of the event (although it was fabulous!!), but I do want to give you a little background about how this event relates to the importance of market analysis.

The NBAF Winter Ball was a great success in terms of attendance, donations, branding, cultivating new sponsorship relationships, and overall visibility; but more importantly it was a great success in targeting a new market for the organization. Many established arts institutions are dealing with a generational gap that threatens their future; the National Black Arts Festival is no different. Their patron-base is comprised of Baby Boomer art lovers, who have been core supporters since the organization’s inception 20 years ago. In many respects this is a huge accomplishment, as relatively few arts organizations have been able to sustain support from their target market over two decades. However, in terms of future sustainability it is problematic, because this demographic is retiring and eager to pass the baton to a new generation.

In October, I joined the newly established Collective Renaissance Guild, a group of dynamic Urban Gen X professionals, charged with cultivating arts patronage and cultural leadership among our peers. As the planners and hosts of the NBAF Winter Ball, we were very successful in:

· researching, analyzing, segmenting and targeting our market.

· creating the right programming,

· galvanizing the right opinion leaders and gatekeepers,

· formulating the right targeted message,

· and communicating our value through the right communication channels.

The results, 450 of Atlanta’s Urban Gen X elite, with the resources and ability to support National Black Arts Festival over the next 20 years, showed up and were thoroughly engaged.

Why is analyzing your market so important? First, you need to find an attractive market, meaning a group of people or organizations that have the ability and the desire to buy/fund your work. Secondly, you have to understand their needs, wants and behaviors, so you can develop messages and select strategies/tactics that will create demand for your work. Finally, regular analysis will protect you from pending threats (e.g. investment in an internet platform on the verge of mass exodus) and open your eyes to new opportunities (e.g. being a first adopter of a new marketing and distribution channel).

For example:

In 2006 EMI, the world’s fourth-biggest recorded-music company, invited some teenagers into its headquarters in London to talk to its top managers about their listening habits. At the end of the session the EMI bosses thanked them for their comments and told them to help themselves to a big pile of CDs sitting on a table. But none of the teens took any of the CDs, even though they were free. “That was the moment we realised the game was completely up,” says a person who was there. (The Economist, January 2008 issue)

Many music industry firms missed this critical shift in the needs/behavior of their customers and are still scrambling to adjust their business models so they are less reliant on physical media sales (e.g. CDs). Good market analysis might have warned of this dramatic disruption.

In the non-profit arts arena market analysis will not only get more “butts in seats,” it will help secure grant money. According to the NEA, arts policymakers in the US are becoming increasingly concerned with measuring an artist’s ability to directly serve their community. Translation: Artists need to be able to prove to granting organizations that they effectively meet the needs of their community. How will you prove this without first researching the needs of your community and measuring your impact?

Alright, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. How do you do a market analysis?

Step 1 – Define your market.

Determine your market based on qualitative/quantitative responses to your work. Test your market. Try your stuff out in different demographics and see how they respond. When people do respond, learn as much as you can about their needs, wants, desires, hopes, behaviors, and frustrations.

Step 2 - Determine your market size.

Once you have a pretty good idea of who is responding to your work, it is important to understand how many of those people exist in given geographic area. For example, Fractured Atlas serves emerging artists. It is nearly impossible to measure the size of the emerging artist market, because the dividing line between emerging and emerged is very subjective. However, we were able to prove a sizable US market by looking at the number of visual and performing arts degrees awarded each year, along with supportive research on the number of people with arts degrees that pursue arts related careers.

Step 3 – Determine you market growth rate.

You need to know if your market is going to grow or decline in the future, so you can create the right marketing plan. For example, Hip Hop music is experiencing 4% growth in the Gen X demographic, but is seeing a 6% decline in the Gen Y demographic. An artist working in this genre has to decide whether to milk sales from Gen X or to adopt the new musical genres emerging within the Gen Y demographic.

Step 4 – Determine market profitability.

Its not just about size and growth, it is about buying power within a market segment. Gen Y wields significantly less buying power then the Boomers, who have the lion’s share of economic power in this country and the most spending discretion. However, an artist could create a fan base among the Gen Y demographic that will grow for 20+ years. Additionally, artists or arts organizations have to look at the costs in targeting a particular market. Maybe Gen Y will bring 2 times the gross revenue over the life of the creative offering, but it might take 3 times the expense to capture their interests over the Boomers. Which demographic yields a better net profit margin? In what time frame?

Step 5 – Discover or create distribution channels.

Find out how your market is gaining access to similar creative offerings. Do you have access to those channels? Can you create new channels for delivery of your creative offering? Can you make existing channels more efficient and gain an advantage in the market?

Step 6 – Determine the key success factors in your market.

What works? You can look at your own experience or that of other artists and arts organizations to determine what creates demand in your market. For example, theCollective Renaissance Guild targets Hip Hop elite. A key success factor in marketing to this demographic is having a powerful opinion leader vouch for your legitimacy. Therefore, we solicited sponsorship from Uptown magazine, who gave us a full page ad in their December issue.

Other success factors to be aware of include: access to essential unique resources (e.g. theatre in the East Village of NYC); access to distribution channels (e.g. search engine optimized website for ticket sales); and technological progress (e.g. cutting edge software for filmmaking).

There are many other research/analysis points to consider, but much of it relates to your particular set of needs and your unique creative offering. However, I hope this blog at least communicates the importance of knowing your target market.

For more information, please contact me at kamal.sinclair@fracturedatlas.org.

(Originally published on FracturedAtlas.org December 15, 2008)

Find Your Blue Ocean

There are three basic phases to the strategic planning process.

• First, you have to determine your identity and clarify your creative offering, as discussed in a previous post, “Professional Identity: Who Are You? And What Do You Do?”
• Next, it’s wise to assess your environment: What is the state of your industry? What are the characteristics of your market? What are your peers doing? What opportunities and challenges exist? What are complementing factors (e.g. restaurants and performance venues)? Where do you exist in all of this?
• Finally, you make a plan.

In general, people tend to skip the middle step, especially when pressed for time and resources. However, doing an environmental analysis will give you the big picture map of your “world.” You can see where you are on the map and make informed decisions about where you want to go. The “big picture” can show you profitable under-served or un-served niche areas in your industry. If you aren’t afraid of direct competition, you can learn how to attractively differentiate your offering from those already occupying that space. Hopefully, you can even discover the coveted “Blue Ocean.”

What is a blue ocean?

In any industry you have competition, even in non-profit arts. We compete for “butts in seats,” for grant money, for corporate sponsorships, for ad space, for the critics’ attention, for performance/gallery space, for views on the Internet, etc. Mature industries (e.g. theatre) are called “Red Oceans,” meaning the marketplace is so saturated with competition that it gets a little bloody.

As you have probably experienced, trying to grow an arts organization or develop an arts career in a red ocean is tough. There is a fair amount of audience demand for arts and entertainment, but a surplus of artists and arts organizations ready to fill that demand. In Harvard Business Review’s October 2004 issue, Prof. W. Chan Kim and Prof. Renée Mauborgne proposed using a blue ocean strategy: “developing uncontested market space that makes the competition irrelevant.” In a blue ocean you create new demand, rather than fight over it, which allows you to rapidly and profitably grow.

How do you create a blue ocean? Kim and Mauborgne outline two ways you can create a blue ocean:

• launch a new industry (e.g. eBay’s online auctions)
• or expand the boundaries of your current industry (e.g. Cirque du Soleil in the circus industry).

Having an innovative idea strong enough to launch a new industry is rare, but expanding industry boundaries is more common.

Kim and Mauborgne write about Guy Liliberte, a onetime accordion-player/stilt-walker/fire-eater who started a circus when the industry was in major decline. Not only were children’s interests redirected to the rapidly increasing availability of hi-tech gadgets (e.g. Playstation), but animal rights groups where discouraging circus attendance. Despite this unattractive environment, Laliberte grew Cirque Du Soleil into the most successful circus in history with 40+ million audience members, multiple productions, over 90 global cities on its tour schedule, and unmatched revenue.

How did he do it?

“The only way to beat the competition is to stop trying to beat the competition.”

Traditional firms were fighting to capture the attention of children. Cirque created demand in a demographic never targeted by circus organization in the past: “adults and corporate clients prepared to pay a price that is several times as expensive as traditional circuses.” Additionally, traditional firms exclusively focused on entertaining elements such as pageantry, showmanship, tricks, slapstick, and wow factors. Although Cirque embraced all these elements, they added an overall high art aesthetics that engaged their target market.

Also, Cirque eliminated costs as Gabor George Burt discusses on his blog:

• Traditional firms paid premium compensation to “stars” that did not really have the star power to draw audiences. Cirque had no stars and saved on salary costs.
• Traditional firms had animal shows. Not only was this very costly, but it was increasingly politically incorrect. Cirque created an all human show.
• Traditional firms had aisle concession sales, which were costly and didn’t add much value to the audience’s experience. Cirque eliminated this practice.
• Traditional firms had multiple show arenas, which were costly and somewhat distracting for audience members. Cirque cut this as well.

Hopefully, this example has illustrated the importance of understanding your industry dynamics, finding creative ways to navigate around threats, and taking advantage of opportunities.

Of course, we are all aware of the threats surfacing from the current economic crisis. However, I encourage you to continue to find/create opportunity, because not everyone is experiencing bad times. In fact, Rachel Abramowitz recently reported in the LA Times that bad economic times are good times for the entertainment industry.

So find your blue ocean or niche or differentiation strategy and fulfill your goals!!!!!

For more detailed information on how to do an environmental analysis, feel free to contact meor stay tuned for the launch of our new strategic planning courses at Fractured U.

(Originally published on FracturedAtlas.org October 30, 2008)

Filling the Gap: Picking Up Where Art School Left Off

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.

(Originally published on FracturedAtlas.org October 13, 2008)