Art and Design schools and professional practice. By Monique Fouquet
When selecting a school to pursue art or design studies, it is important to look closely at the curriculum of the institution that you are considering attending to see if it offers courses to prepare students for professional practice. Such courses are usually available to students who are in their final year of a Bachelor degree and aim at helping students make the transition from school to professional life.
The goal is to provide students with the knowledge and skills to enter the cultural, media or design sectors with assurance, awareness and integrity. In such courses, students learn to identify ways in which artists and designers respond to their cultural, social and economic context.
Since it is becoming clear that the opportunities available to today's emerging artists and designers are increasingly broad and varied, their education should include preparation to enter the professional world. Learning to identify professional opportunities entails learning not only practical but also critical, conceptual and theoretical skills.
Professional practice courses should cover a range of issues such as project management, setting-up a business, writing and preparing proposals and contracts, understanding intellectual property rights, developing budgets, financial management, and marketing, as well as the skills needed to make ethical and sustainable decisions. The topics covered might vary from course to course or from institution to institution but should address situations that artists and designers are likely to encounter in the public or private sectors.
For example, the increasing number of open competitions for commissions for public art offers new opportunities for artists who have the skills to make effective presentations of their ideas in a competitive context. This includes the skills to write effective statements, briefs, and curriculum vitae.
Art and design professionals may also want to access funding from public and private sources and knowing how to write clear and comprehensive proposals is essential. Approaching a gallery, a dealer, or a curator requires a well organized portfolio and students should learn to document their work through a variety of means from transparencies to digital reproductions. Since artists and designers are often called upon to address an audience, learning to develop public speaking skills is important and should be part of their education.
Aspects of professional practice are sometimes embedded in studio courses. These usually include issues related to safety and health specific to materials, shop and equipment. A good education in art and design would not be complete without proper training in handling materials and equipment safely. Upon graduation, students may not have access to the technical staff that most art and design schools employ and initially must rely on the knowledge acquired during their studies.
Internships and co-op programs within some art and design schools also prepare students for professional life and offer practical work experience that can help students secure employment after graduation. But preparation for life after art school should not always be limited to the specific skills needed for existing occupations in related fields. It should also help students to pursue flexible strategies to achieve their own individual goals, and to imagine innovative ways to use their creative abilities.
There is a large difference between a market-oriented, client-centered approach to art and design education and artist-oriented development of artistic expression. One does not rule out the other, in fact, and most individuals operate somewhere between. In any case, each frame of reference must exist together to provide checks and balances for a worthwhile education.
Monique Fouquet is Vice-President, Academic at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Image: ‘ESC' - 3D animation by Justin Henton
