Extra qualifications are becoming more important for everyone, and the arts sector is not immune. Just about everyone feels like one degree or diploma is not enough. But it’s not especially about the piece of paper in the arts. For some undertaking further studies is about taking the time to develop a deeper understanding of their craft, while for others it’s a way to grab hold of the additional skills they need to keep up with a fast changing world.
For a lot of people in the arts there weren’t undergraduate let alone masters degrees around when they were starting out and, well it didn’t really matter; a diploma could kick things off and then they’d learn by doing. It was particularly true in the performing arts, notes Prof. Su Baker, Director of the Victorian College of the Arts. But the landscape has completely changed, she says, ‘students can start at an undergraduate level and know that there are all these different pathways right up to PhD – it’s very different.’
Bruce Finlayson, Course Coordinator, Arts Management at the WA Academy of Performing Arts compares trying to learn on the job with trying to learn blindfolded. ‘You’re often not aware of the options that are there, ‘ he says. People learn it all eventually, but why muddle through 10 years or more to get that knowledge? ‘Instead of having to learn off other people, you get a body of knowledge under your belt and in your head, so you’re already a couple of steps in front.’
And sadly those opportunities to learn on the job are far fewer these days anyway. The need to constantly change contracts, employers, sectors, even states means individuals have to work hard to keep their skills transportable, transferable and up-to-date.
Peta Downes, Executive Coordinator – Creative Industries at the University of Western Sydney, says artist’s need more than just creative skill. Governments and academic institutions are finally seeing the significant economic contribution of the creative sector she says, and that the arts are more than just an outlet for creative expression. It’s a natural progression she says for artists to develop business skills in addition to their creative ones in order to tap in to the potential opportunities and wealth of the emerging creative industries sector.
Supporting Emerging Artists
Yet, the idea of a job still remains an anathema in some areas of the arts. Prof. Su Baker says, there’s a joke that, if you’ve had to get a job you’re a failed artist. And a lot of artists do see a job only as a way to make the money they need to fund their ‘real work’. But, she says, ‘We train them to be artists in whatever form it is and much of being an artist is making your own luck, it’s like being an entrepreneur. You’ve actually got to go and find the opportunities.’
But you’ve got to be the artist too, and really develop your practice. Baker compares undertaking additional qualifications such as a Masters with receiving a grant, for those who can access scholarships. The cultural role universities are playing in this area, financially supporting students, is she thinks, akin to government arts support.
‘Arts schools have become a support base for young emerging artists…there’s facilities, studio spaces, there’s the institution, there’re peers, there’re mentors.’ Undertaking two additional years of study on top of a three year undergraduate degree gives artists time to mature she says. It’s about having more development time, like an apprenticeship. Expecting people to be ready to launch forth with just three years training is a fairly new idea. Baker notes that many of those who do do just three years and go out to launch successful careers, such as Ricky Swallow and Patricia Piccinini, studied or worked at their practice before coming to the VCA, often at TAFE level. It really does take more time, she says. Plus, with so many people now having undergraduate degrees, entering into a graduate program is a way of ‘adding value’ and specializing in a sector that has up scaled across the board.
The VCA has seen strong demand for their graduate programs and a notable trend of experienced people, sometimes in their mid-30s returning to study, to refresh their skills or reconnect with their industry, or to develop skills in courses of study not available when they took their first qualifications.
Skills Gaps
Bruce Finlayson reflects that in the rapid period of government funded arts development of the 70s the focus was on creating supply, building companies, training artists and creating interesting Australian work. Now, it’s swung round to focus on demand, audience development, because over the past 30 years or so Australia has produced a huge number of highly skilled practitioners, but there’s no way the government can support them all to do their work. The audience, the private sector support and the markets have to grow.
Another side to that is artists becoming more focused themselves on developing their audiences and their markets. ‘I think there’s a new feeling, there’s a new buzz coming through the theatre area that I’ve noticed. It reminds me a lot of the early 1970s,’ says Finlayson. ‘ – with younger people coming up and they’re just doing things slightly differently. But they’re doing it independently and they’re not worrying about having to play the big financial subsidy game, you know, they’re just doing it. And there’s a real vitality out there.’ But for many artists, this changing environment requires new skills and training.
When the University of Western Sydney was developing their Creative Industries course they canvassed the industry extensively, asking what were the skills gaps facing artists. They then identified a range of units within the existing arts, business and law schools to meet those gaps, from introduction to business law and management dynamics to new media contexts, as well as creating new interdisciplinary and practical units with a focus on the creative industries. What’s different about the course is it shows that additional qualifications don’t have to be at a Masters level. The two year Associate Degree sits between a Diploma and an Undergraduate degree, with prerequisites of a HSC and three years of paraprofessional / relevant industry experience. The focus is on commericalisation, building small to medium enterprises and interdisciplinary networks, and how to manage arts and creative organisations at a senior level for creative practitioners.
They’re not saying that artists now have to be creative entrepreneurs, says Downes, but they are saying you have to have a wide range of skills. ‘I think it’s a really important question because in my experience, it is so. You have to be multi-skilled; you have to be able to work across different aspects of the arts industry or the creative industries and be employable. You can’t just sit on one skill and say this is it; this is all I’ve got. Because you won’t find the work comes to you. You have to almost be ready for anything and be prepared as much as you can. So to me developing those professional skills and those additional skills is essential to surviving.’
To learn more about the University of Western Sydney’s Associate Degree in Creative Industries, visit www.iamcreative.com.au/
For graduate programs at the VCA see www.vca.unimelb.edu.au/research/graduate
And for courses at Edith Cowan University, WAAPA, see www.waapa.ecu.edu.au
