Most artists, both performing and visual, believe that if they are going to be successful and treated seriously as an artist, they must attend art school. While an art school program might be one way to teach yourself more about art and making a living as an artist, there are many skills that art school will not teach you that are fundamental to turn your art into a sustainable living.
1. How to Find Work
When I was in school for theatre, I made my own business plan. My plan was to visit New York City and couchsurf with friends for about a month or so, while auditioning for various summer stocks and traveling shows across the country that outsourced its actors from NYC. I figured it was a dirt cheap way for me to be able to find work, and then I could live in various parts of the world in spaces that were paid for by the theatre companies that hired me. I remember when I told my fellow classmates, however, they hadn’t given much consideration into how they were going to find work after school.
Most of artistic professors told me that I needed luck and talent to get a job in the arts. This wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I wanted to know the step-by-step process I needed in order to try to make a living as a creative professional.
Visual artists can work both commercially or as freelancers. They can offer commissions of their art to the public. Actors have the option of working for film or theatre, as traveling artists or stationary artists in big cities like New York or LA. Musicians can tour the country with bands or book themselves out for events and parties.
Creative professions have so many random opportunities to make money. However, art school isn’t designed to teach you how to make a living.
2. Budgeting
Artists are the first thing that get cut. Even if you have a job that gives an illusion of stability such as a graphic designer for a good corporate company, it might turn out that “My niece is in college and is willing to do this for free, so we’re going to have to let you go.” It’s upsetting, but true. The reality is that stability is rare in today’s economy in general, let alone for artists. Every gig you do could be the last gig you get for the next few months, or maybe even for the next year. That’s okay and normal, but you need to be prepared just in case.
Artists need to be able to budget for the rainy day expenses. It’s one of the reasons I am crazy frugal, but more artists need to get accustomed to this mindset and quickly. It’s better to be prepared and never need it, and art school should prepare people with this mindset.
3. Emotional Intelligence/Socializing/Networking
All industries are about networking. In a recent study by Charlotte Agenda, 21% of Charlotteans were referred to their job by friends or family. (LINK)
Networking, socialization, and emotional intelligence are especially important in the arts. You have to be able to form real connections with people because anyone could be the recommendation that gives you the next gig. Emotional intelligence is discussed if you are in theatre and get into script analysis. You will have to understand a character’s motivation and why someone is saying something, even if it is not quite what they mean. Understanding these kinds of emotions are imperative in social situations, as well as when negotiating and trying to close a sale.
4. Negotiation/Sales
Sales and negotiation is a talent: some people have it and other people don’t. But in my experience, most of sales and negotiation is just the fundamentals of psychology and communication. Sales is listening to the customers needs, translating that into wants that the customer may not have realized they wanted, and presenting these facts to the customer in a way that illustrates the benefits.
Art is much more personal than a car or a piece of software, and this is why many of us are so uncomfortable selling our work. Artists feel like they are selling a part of them, and when people support us it can sometimes feel more like someone giving us money than being paid like any other professional.
Learning the basics of sales can help you overcome these issues, and help you make more money from your art.
5. Marketing
Sales and marketing are not the same thing. Sales is about closing the deal, but marketing is about strategy, promotion, and knowing what the customer wants before they do.
Promoting your work in an interesting way is essential to making your mark on the artistic world, and even though it’s taught in business school, this isn’t touched on in art colleges. There are entire classes available about social media and analytics, and more art schools need to integrate this into their curriculum. You need to understand who your target market is, their attributes, and then how to find and communicate with your target market in a way that is meaningful to them and can later result in sales. Most of artist’s frustrations with sales stem from a lack of experience in marketing.
These five skills are essential in preparing an artist for life after school. Most of these traits are taught to some degree in business school, and they are reasons why attending business school has made me a better artist. If art school makes sense for you, you should absolutely do it. But make sure you don’t ignore these traits. Find a way to learn them whether at your local community college, a workshop from a professional, reading books or blogs about the subject or taking online classes. Then incorporate these skills into your life as an artist and make them part of your daily life.