I pursued a degree in the humanities and was convinced for most of my twenties that I was going to work as a tenured professor after getting my PhD. What I had not anticipated was that I was going to shift careers after finishing my studies. All in all, the graduate school hustle was brutally painful to me, leaving me not only burned out, but also emotionally scarred from abusive mentoring, student harassment, and cultural adaptation. On top of all that, I realized that a crucial reason why grad school had almost never been energizing to me is that it was disconnected from my interests in art and design. (Later on, I would also learn that it was disconnected from my values and that job placement for PhDs has been at an all-time low in the face of a collapsing academic job market.) The next problem I encountered was that I lacked technical artistic skills, which made it hard for me to contemplate career shifting without pursuing further education and acquiring even more debt. I remember researching how to work in the arts without being an artist, but quickly hitting a road block due to the scarcity of information online. I did manage to conclude my studies and write a dissertation that somewhat reflected my core interests, and a semester later I started an internship at a contemporary art center. Surprisingly, I found that many of the skills I had developed as a humanist were highly valued in arts non-profit management.
In my experience, there is space for non-artists in the art world in the realms of gallery management, event planning, marketing, education, resource development, and administration. Managing an art gallery, I found myself relying heavily on my customer-service skills to communicate with artists and visitors, while honing my handyman skills to handle and install artwork and to help design exhibitions. (Your practical chores inside and outside the house will come in handy later, folks!) Special events are not too different from gallery management when it comes to their actual set-up, but they also require research skills and communication with stakeholders because that is essentially what it takes for event planning to be successful. Marketing materials, in turn, include press releases, social media posts, newsletters and website updates, entailing excellent writing skills. That’s right: You don’t have to be an expert in graphic design! In fact, being a clear, versatile writer who is capable of appealing to different audiences was a more useful competency than design skills for me to be able to successfully do marketing. (With that said, tech literacy and a keen sense of aesthetics will never hurt anyone.)
Additionally, art centers typically offer a variety of educational opportunities for members and the community, and non-artists can contribute by researching and organizing educational programming, as well as by putting their teaching skills to use as instructional assistants during workshops and camp sessions. Next, research, writing, and networking skills play a crucial role in resource development, which may take the form of grant writing and other fundraising initiatives that fuel any art center. I also found that my computer programming skills were very useful to facilitate the success of the organization from an administrative perspective, allowing me to automate some manual processes and thus maximize efficiency.
Last, but not least, the most important “soft” skill that I believe would help anyone willing to start a career in or transition to arts non-profit management is “ownership.” To reference one of Amazon’s Leadership Principles, ownership basically means not getting caught up in the minutiae of your immediate, short-term work tasks and having a more holistic, long-term view of them in relation to the entire company. It also means never saying “that’s not my job,” since art centers tend to be short-staffed and use any help they can get from volunteers. Although you do experience what could be considered “glamorous” moments working at an art center, behind the scenes there is a lot of intellectual and physical work, and no one (not even our brilliant director!) is frightened of putting in effort and getting their hands dirty to contribute to the organization’s success.
Don’t be discouraged if, like me, you’re not an artist, but love the arts and want your profession to reflect that. Chances are your past work experience and current skill set are just what you need to take the first steps towards a career in the art field!
--Jefferson Maia
In my experience, there is space for non-artists in the art world in the realms of gallery management, event planning, marketing, education, resource development, and administration. Managing an art gallery, I found myself relying heavily on my customer-service skills to communicate with artists and visitors, while honing my handyman skills to handle and install artwork and to help design exhibitions. (Your practical chores inside and outside the house will come in handy later, folks!) Special events are not too different from gallery management when it comes to their actual set-up, but they also require research skills and communication with stakeholders because that is essentially what it takes for event planning to be successful. Marketing materials, in turn, include press releases, social media posts, newsletters and website updates, entailing excellent writing skills. That’s right: You don’t have to be an expert in graphic design! In fact, being a clear, versatile writer who is capable of appealing to different audiences was a more useful competency than design skills for me to be able to successfully do marketing. (With that said, tech literacy and a keen sense of aesthetics will never hurt anyone.)
Additionally, art centers typically offer a variety of educational opportunities for members and the community, and non-artists can contribute by researching and organizing educational programming, as well as by putting their teaching skills to use as instructional assistants during workshops and camp sessions. Next, research, writing, and networking skills play a crucial role in resource development, which may take the form of grant writing and other fundraising initiatives that fuel any art center. I also found that my computer programming skills were very useful to facilitate the success of the organization from an administrative perspective, allowing me to automate some manual processes and thus maximize efficiency.
Last, but not least, the most important “soft” skill that I believe would help anyone willing to start a career in or transition to arts non-profit management is “ownership.” To reference one of Amazon’s Leadership Principles, ownership basically means not getting caught up in the minutiae of your immediate, short-term work tasks and having a more holistic, long-term view of them in relation to the entire company. It also means never saying “that’s not my job,” since art centers tend to be short-staffed and use any help they can get from volunteers. Although you do experience what could be considered “glamorous” moments working at an art center, behind the scenes there is a lot of intellectual and physical work, and no one (not even our brilliant director!) is frightened of putting in effort and getting their hands dirty to contribute to the organization’s success.
Don’t be discouraged if, like me, you’re not an artist, but love the arts and want your profession to reflect that. Chances are your past work experience and current skill set are just what you need to take the first steps towards a career in the art field!
--Jefferson Maia
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