Contrary to popular belief, there is more to Media and Visual Arts than simply becoming a sketch artist or painter. These may be exciting endeavors, but arts and design can be more diverse than you think.
As a matter of fact, enrolling in the arts and design track would open you to several job options—and most of them won’t be in an artistic industry. Only 18.2 percent of fine arts graduates will actually work in art, design, and media.
In this article, we’ll go through six non-artistic career options that arts and design students can consider exploring upon graduation:
1. Journalism
Finishing the arts and design strand in school won’t necessarily require you to cover the arts niche. However, it should equip you with the fundamentals needed in the practice of journalism in the digital era. If you’re going to specialize in mobile journalism, your skills in photography and videography will come in handy. Or perhaps you’d like to take your skills to the next level and be a photojournalist or documentary producer.
Regardless of what your intended specialization is, a background in arts and design will put you in a great position to tell stories from a more artistic perspective. Journalism today actively seeks ‘human interest’ stories, favoring long-form, visual storytelling over its standard, news-type iteration, so you’d fit in well.
2. Art curation
A usual misconception about art curation is that you’ll need to be a visual artist in order to practice it. However, several curators and even gallerists do not have a degree in fine arts nor an experience in visual arts. Instead, a lot of them are trained art critics, with strong backgrounds in art history and theory.
If you’re into any of this, consider working for a museum or a local art gallery, and see if you have what it takes to curate your own exhibitions.
3. Marketing
A job in marketing would require creativity, regardless of what position you have. If you’re blessed with skills in visual design, you may just find fulfillment as a creative specialist. Fond of making up witty slogans? Try out copywriting. You have an option to work in-house at an agency or as a full-time freelancer—either way, the key is to be adept at working at a fast pace and within the bounds of a client’s brief.
Want to specialize in something related to tangible arts and design? Art marketing would allow you to do marketing specifically for artworks and artists.
4. Events organizing
If you’re particularly gifted in marketing, you can utilize your skills by becoming an events organizer. You don’t have to limit yourself to birthday and company parties—try out wedding planning, promotions coordination, catering manager, the works! Your job would be to organize events and programs for clients.
What’s great about being in the events industry is the opportunity to meet a lot of interesting people. You might even have the opportunity to help artists find their big break.
5. Science communication
We are now at a time when science no longer shies away from converging with the arts. Scientists are finally appreciating the potential of these collaborations with art practitioners, particularly in terms of making their findings more accessible to the general public.
Enter science communication, through which artists help scientists make research communicable by interpreting data in a visually engaging manner. Think infographics, animation, and other forms of data-friendly visual media.
The arts and design track should give you ample knowledge in visual communication, something that can help you greatly if you wish to pursue a career in scicomm.
Explore more job options with the arts and design track
These are only some of the job options that students of the arts and design track can enjoy in the future. Who knows what other new careers await student-artists? By majoring in the arts and design strand at school, you can broaden the scope of your skills and knowledge.
If you have a heart for the arts, consider pursuing your passion by enrolling in arts and design courses. As a Philippines-based learning institution that promotes high-quality, industry-based teaching, the CIIT Philippines can be your pathway to the future.
There’s nothing as rewarding as getting to do what you love. Invest in yourself by enrolling in an arts and design strand school. Explore our courses to know more today.
