Careers for Visual and Performing Arts Students
Your degree in visual and / or performing arts is the starting point for many opportunities. As well as providing a foundation for entry into careers related to your subject it also gives access to occupations open to graduates of any discipline (about 50% of ‘graduate vacancies’ - see Any Degree – Any Career?)
Skills and knowledge
Undergraduates from visual and/or performing arts courses learn and develop many skills during their course. The ability to articulate these skills to employers or colleagues is in itself hugely important in securing future opportunities. Some examples of skills are listed below. Your personal skill set may include some or all of these as well as others. Tools and tips for personal reflection are available from the PDP pages and the Decision Making page.
Subjects specific skills may include:
- Performance/presentation skills – awareness of audiences’ characteristics and responses; technical mastery of the subject; interpretation; concentration and focus; visual, aural and spatial awareness.
- Creativity – both in terms of the expressive nature of the subject and openness to innovative approaches more generally. Can be highly valued in the workplace.
- Technical skills relevant to the subject – ability to use the relevant materials, instruments, IT packages, sound/lighting equipment etc that are central to the discipline.
- Awareness of professional protocols and the cultural context of the discipline.
General skills may include:
- Personal management – self motivation, time management, problem solving skills, ability to study independently, set goals, manage workload and deadlines, and respond positively to criticism while remaining focused.
- Communication – to an audience and to colleagues both in performance and in more general contexts.
- Team working, interpersonal and social skills – ability to negotiate and pursue goals in a team, respond to leadership and take the lead where appropriate
- Financial, business awareness and entrepreneurship – relevant to the commercial aspects of the discipline.
- Confidence – in performance as well as in expressing ideas and engaging with others.
- Information – research, analysis, reasoning, logic, critical thinking. Ability to use and assess a variety of sources.
Don’t know what you want to do?
It’s common! We’ve put together some suggestions addressing exactly this on Don’t Know What You Want to Do? A key aspect is looking at decision making. Other useful pages are PDP for self reflection and Work Experience for actually getting out and finding out about a job or sector. The Which Career? page also has linked resources.
The important thing is that deciding what to do needs working on – inspiration is unlikely just to hit. If it feels overwhelming try the approach that deciding what to do is often about matching your qualities, skills, experience, likes and ambitions with a realistic view of the opportunities that are out there and deciding on the practical steps to get started in that area.
Work experience
Whether your ambitions involve working in a role directly related to your subject or in a more general ‘graduate job’, or even if you haven’t decided yet, work experience is of key importance. It can
- Provide evidence to future employers of your motivation and commitment to a career (giving you credibility when targeting an area)
- Confirm your interest in a sector or job
- Lead you to reassess your career ideas – finding out a job or sector is not what you thought it would be or not something you enjoy is easier when you’ve committed for a few days or week rather than when you’ve signed a longer term contract.
For more information about finding and making the most of work experience see the Work Experience and Creative Job Hunting (for finding contacts) pages. The subject specific information below may also be useful for finding contacts.
Music, art, dance and performing arts careers
Listed below are professions and useful links that are directly related to a degree in fine art, dance, music or performing arts. Remember that these are one type of opportunity open to graduates from these subjects. The information on this page about general roles that have specialisations in the subject areas, or on the Any Degree, Any Career? page may be useful.
It is also worth remembering that for the creative industries a resourceful and innovative approach can be key to finding opportunities. More information is available on the Creative Job Hunting page; and the CVs, Applications and Covering Letters and Interviews pages are useful across all sectors and vacancies.
Artyfacts magazine is a great source of vacancies, news, competitions, exhibitions and funding specifically for arts students/graduates produced by the University of Brighton, please email careers@chi.ac.uk from your University email account to be forwarded a PDF copy.
This section is organised by subject:
Fine Art
Some of the professions that may interest fine art graduates are listed below. Click on the job title for a profile via Prospects.ac.uk. Look carefully at the ‘entry requirements’ section of the profile – some may require further study or substantial experience:
- Arts Administration
- Art Therapist
- Community Arts Worker
- Exhibition / Display Designer
- Fine Art Photographer
- Graphic Designer
- Illustrator
- Teacher – schools (also see the Applying for Teacher Training page)
- Museum/Gallery: Exhibition Officer; Curator; Conservator.
- Print Maker
- A number of professions related to two dimensional design and three dimensional design
Working as an Artist
Working as an artist after graduating can be a challenging but possible option. Have a look at the Fine Art department's page about former students for inspiration: www.chiuni.ac.uk/fineart/Exstudentsbriefbiogs.cfm.
The links below should help to provide some ideas and the section on self employment and portfolio careers may also be useful.
| Artist groups and studios | Phoenix Arts Association in Brighton: www.phoenixarts.org Art Space in Portsmouth: www.artspace.co.uk Unity Arts Trust – aims to support up-and-coming professional artists in Chichester at the outset of their careers through the opportunity to rent affordable studio space in UNITY STUDIOS and receive career mentoring. www.unityartstrust.org.uk The National Federation of Artists’ Studio Providers (NFASP) supports organisations who provide studios for artists: www.nfasp.org.uk |
| Initiatives, projects and exhibitions | Artel - exhibition opportunities for professional visual artists based in and around West Sussex: www.artel.org.uk Aspex Artists’ Resource Centre - information, guidance and support for creative practitioners in the South East. Aims to develop a strong network of artists and encourage the sharing of information and ideas. Also have exhibitions: www.aspex.org.uk/arc.htm Artists’ Resource from Fabrica in Brighton: www.fabrica.org.uk/artistresource.htm, also have exhibitions: www.fabrica.org.uk The Art House, committed to inclusion: www.the-arthouse.org.uk Exhibitions at Oxmarket in Chichester: www.oxmarket.com/page2.html |
| Competitions | Chichester Open Art Exhibition: www.chichesteropenart.co.uk John Moores Exhibition: www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/johnmoores/ |
| Commercial galleries | Examples are: HQ Gallery in Lewes: www.hqgallery.co.uk |
| Fairs | Examples are: Affordable Art Fair: www.affordableartfair.co.uk |
|
Internet display |
Artnet has links to international galleries: www.artnet.com Axis (funded by the Arts Council): www.axisweb.org The Saatchi Gallery: www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk |
Working as an artist in other sectors |
Education: www.creative-partnerships.com |
The Arts Council Is the key funding body / supporter of art:
Nationally: www.artscouncil.org.uk
South East region : http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/regions/south-east/
The Artists Information Company - information for artists by artists. Includes a professional practice section. The Knowledge Bank section has information about working as an artist and self employment. The work opportunities section is subscriber only: www.a-n.co.uk
The Artists’ Yearbook – available in BOC library - information and contact details for visual arts businesses and organisations. ISBN: 0500286132.
The Crafts Council - national agency for crafts: www.craftscouncil.org.uk
Creative Choices - A free career resource for the creative and cultural industries. It outlines all types of jobs in the creative industries, and the skills and experience needed to attain them www.creative-choices.co.uk.
Music
Some of the professions that may interest music graduates are listed below. Click on the job title for a profile via Prospects.ac.uk. Look carefully at the ‘entry requirements’ section of the profile – some may require further study or substantial experience:
- Musician
- Composer
- Conductor
- DJ
- Teacher – schools (also see the Applying for Teacher Training page)
- Teacher – private
- Music Therapist
- Sound Technician
- Arts Administrator
- Community Arts Worker
Some related links and resources that may also be useful are:
Association of British Orchestras – information about careers in orchestral management: www.abo.org.uk/Careers
Musicians’ Union – represents musicians and provides professional advice: www.musiciansunion.org.uk
Nordoff-Robbins – independent provider of music therapy: www.nordoff-robbins.org.uk
The Professional Recording Association and The Music Producers Guild have provided some notes about pursuing a sound recording career: www.jamesonline.org.uk/careers.html
Dance
Some of the professions that may interest dance graduates are listed below. Click on the job title for a profile via Prospects.ac.uk. Look carefully at the ‘entry requirements’ section of the profile – some may require further study or substantial experience:
- Dancer
- Community Arts Worker
- Arts Administrator
- Dance Movement Therapist
- Choreographer
- Teacher – schools (also see the Applying for Teacher Training page)
- Teacher – private
- Professions related to the theatre
Some related links and resources that may also be useful are:
Association for Dance Movement Therapy UK: www.admt.org.uk
Dance UK – is the ‘national voice' for dance in the UK: www.danceuk.org. Includes a faqs section for working in dance: www.danceuk.org
National Dance Teachers Association careers page: www.ndta.org.uk/careers-info
The Place – a centre for contemporary dance, lists opportunities and dance resources: www.theplace.org.uk
South East Dance – screen dance and community programmes: www.southeastdance.org.uk
Performing Arts
Some of the professions that may interest performing arts graduates are listed below. Click on the job title for a profile via Prospects.ac.uk. Look carefully at the ‘entry requirements’ section of the profile – some may require further study or substantial experience:
- Actor
- Community Arts Worker
- Arts Administrator
- Professions related to the theatre
- Drama Therapist
- Teacher – schools (also see the Applying for Teacher Training page)
- Teacher – private
Some related links and resources that may also be useful are:
Big Foot Theatre Company – promotes theatre arts as a tool to educate children: www.bigfoot-theatre.co.uk
British Association of Drama Therapists: www.badth.org.uk/home
The Conference of Drama Schools: www.drama.ac.uk. Aimed at those considering drama school but has a download about Careers Backstage: http://sites.stocksphere.com/cds/articles.asp?articleid=20
Extra Ordinary Casting is a casting website for performers who define themselves as having a disability.
Independent Theatre Council – management association for performing arts. Information and support for those running a venue or company: www.itc-arts.org
The Stage – the How to Guides cover many aspects of working in performance: www.thestage.co.uk/connect/howto/
UK Performing Arts – publish the Guide to Performing Arts which can be purchased from their site, partly this is aimed at those entering training but may be useful: www.ukperformingarts.co.uk
Specialist sites (advertised vacancies)
These sites have vacancy listings or information that is applicable to the creative occupations:
Equity – the trade union for professional entertainment: www.equity.org.uk.
Arts Jobs and News from artsHub UK - www.artshub.co.uk
Arts Professional – arts management magazine. Mostly a subscription service but can search the jobs vacancies from the site: www.artsprofessional.co.uk
The Stage – auditions and opportunities: www.thestage.co.uk/recruitment/
Fame4anyone - auditions and opportunities: www.fame4anyone.com/
Arts Web – advertising arts jobs www.artshub.co.uk/uk/ linked to UK Theatre Web: www.uktw.co.uk/dl/theatre/page:uktw/pg:jobs/theatre_jobs
Related sectors/professions
Some professions that exist more generally in business can also be specialised in and related directly to fine art, dance, music or performing arts. For these positions it may be necessary to get general work experience and then to target moving into specialist roles further into your career. Some of these professions can be competitive to enter and this can be even more so for a niche in the sector. Work experience and motivation are consequently key attributes when aiming for such a role.
Examples of these professions are listed below. Click on the job title for a general profile courtesy of Prospects.ac.uk:
Additionally, not all job roles can be listed in a directory - some are just not that specific and others may be relevant to particular employers or organisations. Understanding the sector you are aiming to work in is consequently useful: Creative and Cultural Arts. Employment in smaller organisations is also increasingly common: SMEs - Small to medium sized employers.
Self employment and portfolio careers
It is not unusual for those in creative sectors and professions to be self employed and / or to have portfolio careers where several jobs make up their working life.
More information is available from the Self Employment page on this site. This lists some organisations set up specifically to work with and help creative graduates, as well as linking to practical advice about setting up and running a business.
For more information about portfolio careers click on the 'structure' link on this page from Prospects: www.prospects.ac.uk/links/flexiblework
Sector information can also be useful, particularly for Creative and Cultural Arts and SMEs - Small to medium sized employers. Other sectors can be explored from www.prospects.ac.uk/links/sectorbs.
Further study
If you are thinking about further study there are several key areas to research. These include assessing the value of further study for your future plans, finding and applying to the most appropriate courses and funding your study. More information and course search facilities are available from the Postgraduate and Further Study page.
It can be necessary to be quite persistent in your course search as there is not a central admissions service for postgrad courses (except for some vocational subjects). UCAS's search facility can be particularly useful in identifying universities that have relevant departments and then the universities themselves are then the best source of information www.ucas.ac.uk.
A couple of sites that may interest music and performing arts students are:
Conservatoires Admissions Service UK: www.cukas.ac.uk.
The Conference of Drama Schools represents 22 drama schools in Britain: www.drama.ac.uk.
Other options
Have a look at our sections: Which Career?, How do I get a Job?, Work Experience, Postgrad and Further Study, Work and Study Abroad / Time Out and Special Interest Groups for resources aimed at all students regardless of course. Subjects covered include CVs, applications, interviews, decision making, career planning through your course, work experience, postgrad and further study, gap year / time out, diversity, international students and ethical careers.
Generally we encourage you to start thinking about what you want to do after university as early as possible in the course (don't worry - we know it doesn't always work like that!). For some tips on this see the Career Planning Through Your Course page.