It's the time of the year when college seniors must make career decisions. Often the need to earn more money overwhelms student passions.
A huge percentage of college graduates earn degrees in the arts. When school ends, these young men and women frequently come to realize that their education is not helpful in their search for a job. Employment in their fields of study is scarce or it does not pay enough for them to rent an apartment, pay for food and repay student loans.
Many students, nevertheless, opt to pursue their dreams to become teachers or to work in areas where compensation is woefully low. Others eschew their educational studies and choose employment in small businesses. Some experience difficulty because their training is not applicable to companies that pay higher compensation. In many cases, students accept positions for which they are overly qualified.
The most fortunate graduates are those who attend "elite" colleges at which high paying companies recruit for their training programs. A large proportion of applicants give up their passion seduced by greater compensation. This is an unfortunate circumstance and sometimes creates animosity between students and their professors.
"Selling out" is an inane term that is used to intimidate high performing students in the arts who opt for business careers. It makes no sense for those who live in ivory towers to ridicule others who have an opportunity to work in a career that enables them to be financially independent. Suffering should not be a condition that one must encounter to live life to the fullest.
Yet, the perspective of these professors of the arts is understandable. The brain drain that results when careers in fine arts are abandoned is not healthy for an advanced society. What are the responsibilities of cultural institutions in this regard? Should they be more amenable to higher salaries to prevent this phenomenon? It all comes down to economics.
Take art history. The largest museums and affiliated companies in the art world pay the lowest salaries. In many situations, they take advantage of compensation laws by paying interns nothing. Their attitude is that they can attract talent even if they pay substandard salaries. The "honor" of working for such institutions has great value to the new employees that is more important than money, they say. Unfortunately for graduates that have to support themselves, accepting such positions is a tough choice. There are those, who are subsidized by their families, who can make such career decisions, but is it really a healthy situation? When should a child become financially independent?
What really is disturbing is that many large institutions have billion dollar endowments that are not used at all to subsidize compensation. The directors of these organizations are reluctant to use this money for anything other than art related expenditures. Their primary mission to do so is noble, but a certain portion of disposable cash flow should be used to assist new employees for the good of the industry.
Why is it that cultural organizations believe that its employees must suffer, or that some outstanding candidates are not worth the cost of a living wage? All this happens while multi-million dollar galas fund ever-growing endowments. This attitude will, in the long run, negatively impact our greatest sources of artistic pleasure.
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