As a Spring 2020 Grad, I began my post-undergrad life during the height of Covid quarantine. With my B.A. in Communication Arts, I had wanted to jump right into my first “big girl job,” but the unprecedented nature of that era instead started me down a winding path that led me to where I am today.
After a stint as a barista, and as an English teacher in Spain, I moved to New York City to develop my art practice and continue my search for that elusive “big girl job.” Being surrounded by talented, motivated people who made work out of their art, I started hosting weekly figure drawing sessions in my shared art studio. This evolved into a larger community, not just for me, but for the people who came week after week.
While hosting weekly figure drawing sessions and working numerous part-time jobs, I applied to the Bolz Master of Arts program looking for the professional and academic skills to land that coveted job. During my first interview in the early application process, I was all business, highlighting the most professional-sounding experience I had on my eclectic resume.
Almost as an afterthought, I mentioned my weekly figure drawing sessions. To my surprise, Becky, the interviewer, lit up and asked to know more. I told her about how I initially got the idea to create these sessions through noticing a gap in affordable arts programming, and about my weekly routine of creating promotional posters, booking models, selling session tickets, managing the budget and leading the session. I had considered these drawing sessions an extension of my art practice, but she immediately recognized this DIY art program as something professional and worthwhile towards my application.
As I moved through the Master’s program, learning about arts management and listening to inspiring guest speakers in my classes, I began to understand my own skills and previous experience through the business lens and in the context of my wider career journey.
For one assignment for MHR632: Introduction to Arts Entrepreneurship, we had to think of an enterprise proposal and write a business plan as a grant application. For this assignment, I had initially thought up other potential enterprise ideas, but ended up writing about the figure drawing sessions I had started in New York.
After I turned in that assignment for the class, I then submitted that proposal to the real grant application for the Arts Business Competition. To my surprise, my proposal was accepted as a finalist in the competition, and I had the honor of presenting it in front of an audience of my peers and judges and winning grant money to put back into the sessions to help it grow.
This masters program has given me the business framework to connect the dots between my artistic skills and my DIY art programming experience towards the career in the arts that I am looking for. Though the future still feels uncertain, I feel more confident as a job seeker and excited to continue making art and using it as a tool to bring people together.
Categories: