Practical Creativity Three seniors weigh in on careers in the arts

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Acting major? Art History major? Music major? What are you going to do with that? Every year the question is posed with a perplexed brow to thousands of students majoring in the arts. It is widely known that careers in the arts are notoriously difficult to break into and perhaps not as immediately lucrative as a gig on Wall Street, but that is not stopping these ambitious seniors from taking the plunge.

Jazz

Like many aspiring artists, I plan to begin my post-collegiate career by mooching off my girlfriend for a while. After bumming around Europe for a year or two and writing a never-to-be-published coming-of-age novel, I'll probably go to grad school, insuring that regardless of my actual artistic achievements, I'll be able to hold on to a mediocre salary. With any luck, a small part of my soul will still remain intact when I am finally able to retire from my job handing disinterested football players their required "ART" credits at a third-tier state school.

Another way to say all of that is that I am shooting for a career as a composer of art music (a.k.a. "classical"). There is an 'industry' associated with this kind of music (recording, publishing, facilities, administration, agents, etc.), but it isn't lucrative or artistic, and I have no interest in it as a career. Most composers teach because it guarantees a regular salary and, often, well-rehearsed ensembles to play new music. In general, the university level is best for this because the pay is relatively good and the students tend to be more actively involved. There are very few composers who could live off of their royalties and commissions, so most will aim for a school that best suits their style and philosophy of composition. However, it is an extremely competitive field, so I have no idea where I'll end up. At the university level a doctorate is nearly always required, so I really will be scrounging for the next 10 years or so, and hopefully at the end of it I'll have a good degree, a few job options and a few people who enjoy my music.

Although I came to Middlebury as an aspiring guitar god, I've realized during my time here that I'm not interested in stardom and I need a greater amount of control over my art than I can get in any capacity other than as a composer. I'm also aware of the level of competition in any area of the arts, but I can't say it bothers me much. I enjoy teaching, performing and composing music - and that enjoyment isn't tied to standing in front of an audience or being paid a ton of money or anything else ≠- it's just what I like to do and I can't imagine my life without it.

- Tristan Axelrod '08

Art Business

When I graduate in February, I am going to pursue my interest in the intersection between the visual arts and business. I love all art, and I am also fascinated with the fluctuations that make the market tick and help determine the value of art.

I have pursued a number of paths in the art world through my professional experience. I spent the summer at Christie's in New York working in the Department of British and Irish Art. I am an artist myself, and I have also been an artist's assistant, done art direction on a short film and worked at a small museum. I also have some business experience - having spent a summer with an equity investing firm - and I attended the Tuck Business Bridge Program at Dartmouth.

Ten years from now, I'd love to start my own gallery, be a corporate art buyer or work in art investing. In the meantime, I'm going to find a job that will get my foot in the door. I hope to find a job in New York - either at an auction house or in a gallery of contemporary art. On the flip side, I would also be delighted to start in the business world, and segue into art from there.

I am also working on a project with Bethany Holmes '07, a fellow History of Art major. We are going to start an informal springboard space for up-and-coming artists to exhibit their work. We're not calling it a gallery; it will be a space in which we show art, but are not officially selling it. The focus will be on putting art up on the walls, throwing a party and letting artists make their own connections with potential buyers or galleries. This venture is about getting to know artists and facilitating conversation around art rather than being commercial in nature. Although I want to work in art commerce, I recognize how important it is to gain experience with the art world before striking out on my own.

- Allegra Morosani '07.5

Screenwriting

The biggest problem with aspiring to be any kind of artist is that there is simply is no surefire way to getting there. The nature of art itself is creative and individual, thus there is no well-beaten path to becoming something inherently new.

I want to be a screenwriter. Great, so I'll write a killer script and MGM will give me a million bucks for it, right? Wrong. That is the legend perpetuated by the '80s when Hollywood turned towards writers and started paying big bucks for scripts left and right. Doesn't happen anymore. Now, most working writers spend years working within the film industry making contacts before ever selling anything, for really not that much money.

I've heard that the only semi-sure way to move up in Hollywood is to get a job at one of the huge, Mafioso talent agencies in Los Angeles, move to a position where you would be assisting the agent of whoever it is you want to be (writer, actor, director), eventually try and become an assistant to the writer/actor/director herself, and then finally become established enough so people are willing to consider your work seriously.

To me, this sounds like an awful lot of serving creative people and not doing enough creating yourself. When I mentioned this fact to a Vice President in Los Angeles, he said (and they are all "he's") that if I actually wanted to write, I would do it on the two nights a week that I would not be going out - that is, going out in order to meet people who I could potentially give my script to. My boss in Los Angeles told me that recently, when he had been stopped at a red light, some guy in the jeep next to him recognized him, jumped out of his jeep, opened his trunk, took out a script and threw it through my boss's open window, all before getting back into his car and screeching away when the light turned green.

It seems to me that you have to strike a balance. If you want to be an "artist" in corporate America, the scene is well, corporate, and you have to play by those rules. But you can't forget why you're there in the first place. If you love being creative, you'll find time for it, no matter where you are.

- Julie Lipson '07.5