In this episode of Quick Study, we consider the job outcomes and experiences of arts graduates during and before the pandemic. A transcript is available on the National Endowment for the Arts website.
I suppose these studies are of some use, but it perpetuates the notion that degrees are primarily valued for the economic results they produce. This totally neglects the efficacy of the output produced by artists—which is pretty much the point of art. Art is a good and a society benefits greatly in many ways from artistic output.
There are several strikes going on—writers, actors and auto-workers—but they ALL are prompted by one thing: economic inequality. The upper management of the workers’ OUTPUT are the ones making hundreds of times what the workers are earning. The problem isn’t an art degree or reduced connections (by the way, the reason older artists feel less connected is because of TECHNOLOGY—it really isn’t a big mystery). The problem is a system that lets NON-makers reap obscene profits of laborers.
If you’re going to talk about these studies, put them in actual context—not just of the moment (pre-, mid- or post-pandemic), but of the underlying conditions that perpetuate this inequality.
Across the world, art is supported by the people because they understand the benefit of the work produced by the artists. The City of Berlin spends more in real and per capita dollars on the arts than the entire U.S.A. THAT is the problem!
To follow on Paul Kassel’s comment above: In partnership with Carnegie Hall, we (WolfBrown) recently completed a longitudinal study of the graduates of one of their youth orchestras, NYO2. Over half of the 2016 cohort (now young adults finishing or out of college/conservatory) agreed to be interviewed and tallied their different types of musical activity in the last 3 – 6 months.:
– 76% report helping others or themselves to use music to enrich their lives
– 69% report contributing to a musical organization
– 49% report mentoring another musician
– 44% report volunteering in or starting a musical non-profit
It is early to know how many of these young people will be employed as musicians or in the music industries and contribute to the economy through those channels. But if their self-reported accounts of musical activity are accurate — and if those patterns persist — their contributions exceed earnings and tax dollars. What would it look like to have measures that also captured this fuller range of what artists contribute?
I suppose these studies are of some use, but it perpetuates the notion that degrees are primarily valued for the economic results they produce. This totally neglects the efficacy of the output produced by artists—which is pretty much the point of art. Art is a good and a society benefits greatly in many ways from artistic output.
There are several strikes going on—writers, actors and auto-workers—but they ALL are prompted by one thing: economic inequality. The upper management of the workers’ OUTPUT are the ones making hundreds of times what the workers are earning. The problem isn’t an art degree or reduced connections (by the way, the reason older artists feel less connected is because of TECHNOLOGY—it really isn’t a big mystery). The problem is a system that lets NON-makers reap obscene profits of laborers.
If you’re going to talk about these studies, put them in actual context—not just of the moment (pre-, mid- or post-pandemic), but of the underlying conditions that perpetuate this inequality.
Across the world, art is supported by the people because they understand the benefit of the work produced by the artists. The City of Berlin spends more in real and per capita dollars on the arts than the entire U.S.A. THAT is the problem!
To follow on Paul Kassel’s comment above: In partnership with Carnegie Hall, we (WolfBrown) recently completed a longitudinal study of the graduates of one of their youth orchestras, NYO2. Over half of the 2016 cohort (now young adults finishing or out of college/conservatory) agreed to be interviewed and tallied their different types of musical activity in the last 3 – 6 months.:
– 76% report helping others or themselves to use music to enrich their lives
– 69% report contributing to a musical organization
– 49% report mentoring another musician
– 44% report volunteering in or starting a musical non-profit
It is early to know how many of these young people will be employed as musicians or in the music industries and contribute to the economy through those channels. But if their self-reported accounts of musical activity are accurate — and if those patterns persist — their contributions exceed earnings and tax dollars. What would it look like to have measures that also captured this fuller range of what artists contribute?