Is your child passionate about art? Dedicated to music? Devoted to drama or dance?
If your child is an artist, you know how much time, energy, and enthusiasm they put into their work. Whether they study the arts for GCSEs or A levels, practise their art in school, or participate in groups outside of school, being an artist involves a lot of commitment. But will they have to give it all up once they leave school?
Practising Arts Outside School
Is your child passionate about art, music, drama, or dance?
Creating, practising, and performing art in all its forms is a big commitment. From hours spent learning technique to creating shows to experimenting with new forms and styles, young artists invest a lot of time and energy in their crafts. With this commitment, art becomes a big part of their life – and often one they don’t want to give up after leaving school.
Can your child make it as an artist? Or are they looking for other opportunities to use their creativity, skills, and dedication? Fortunately, there are many ways to follow a love of the visual and performing arts outside of school.
Creating Art
If you love creating art, music, drama, or dance, why not make your passion your career? This is the top choice for many young artists. If you are interested in a career in the arts, it is important to plan early on and thoroughly. Will you go to university, or a specialist academy or conservatoire? Will you have to prepare a portfolio or audition piece? What kind of contacts might you need in the field?
Not all artists and performers work independently or at the top institutions in their art. Aspiring artists should consider how they might practise their art on a smaller scale, like at a community theatre or orchestra, as a small business owner, or as part of a charity or organisation. Even if they do aim for the top, having other options is important as success can often take a long time.
Music and Arts Industries
In addition to creating or performing art, art enthusiasts might go on to support roles in the art and music industries. These roles might involve working with artists, musicians, and performers as agents, managers, or technicians. They might work in art institutions, like museums, theatres, or arts organisations. In these roles, young artists play an instrumental role in supporting fellow artists’ creativity – and can use their own creativity to bring art, music, and performance to life.
Many roles in the art and music industries involve bringing people closer to music. Art lovers might act as DJs or curators, using their knowledge of and taste in the arts to select art that will appeal to their audience. Or they might act as publicists, reporters, or critics, informing people about the best art available. These roles allow artists to share their love of art, music, and performance with a wide audience.
Creative Work
There are many ways to use artistic skills and creativity outside the arts and music industries. Art, music, and performance are important parts of other creative industries, like film, television, or video games. A talented visual artist might go on to create animation for a television series, whilst a musician might make film scores or video game soundtracks. Increasingly, artists can be hugely successful online, too, and any influencer needs to be a good performer with knowledge of what music and designs are appealing to audiences.
Every industry needs its creatives. Marketing often relies on visual artists, actors and directors, and musicians to create compelling ad campaigns. Understanding of design is important for everything from building houses to designing websites. Artists might combine different interests to study fashion or interior design.
Research and Teaching
In addition to creating, supporting, or promoting art, an art lover might choose to study art. Art students can go on to study the arts at universities or outside academia. They might study the history of art, music, or performance, like how art from different periods explores gender and sexuality or the sounds of medieval plays. Or they might think about the practice of art – like how listening to music affects wellbeing.
Teaching art, music, and performance is another great way to share a passion for the arts. Artists can teach in schools, universities, or through community organisations, theatres, and libraries. Some teaching roles have a special purpose, like the use of music as a medical therapy or teaching art forms from different cultures to help keep those cultures alive.
Everyday Arts
Whether or not you make a career out of artistic skill, you can still practice art in your everyday life. Visual artists can use their skills to decorate their home, create presents for friends and family, or sell or share their art online. Musicians can practise their music alone or with others, entertain friends, or join a local musical ensemble. Performers can find local community groups to perform drama or dance, or can create groups with like-minded friends and family.
Regardless of how you continue to practise your art, having a background in art will help you all your life. Learning an art – whether it is visual or performed – helps you develop creative skills that help people in careers, hobbies, and everyday tasks. It teaches you the importance of practice and persistence, skills that you need to succeed at whatever you undertake. And it helps you appreciate aesthetic beauty in the world around you, whether that is the sound of the wind, the shape of the skyline, or the way strangers interact on the bus. Knowing, understanding, and appreciating art helps make the world a better, brighter place.
Studying art, music, and performance at school opens up many opportunities to work in the music, arts, and creative industries as an artist or supporting artists and their work. In addition to creating art, art enthusiasts can share their love of art by promoting or curating art, music, and theatre. Or their might apply their creative skills to careers like marketing, research, or teaching. No matter what career art students choose, they will be able to use their artistic skills and talents throughout their lives.
