Chapter 7 - Training
When it comes to getting hired and/or paid for doing your creative work, some would say it doesn’t matter how you learned your craft. The buying audience will probably never know where or if you got a degree (unless they look at your bio) and it’s unlikely to affect their buying decision if they did know. They’re buying what you made, not where (or if) you went to school for it. On the other hand, a prestigious degree might be impressive to gatekeepers (gallery owners, directors and choreographers, venue operators, funders, employers in arts organizations, etc.) who can hire you, on the assumption that if you got into a top school and graduated from a top school, you were good when you were accepted and even better after training with top professors for a few years.
The Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP) is a 20-year-long study of artists and their higher education experiences. You’ll be hearing a lot about SNAAP in this chapter. One of SNAAP’s recent reports quotes research suggesting that “artistic workers with higher levels of education tend to be better positioned in a number of ways (including earnings) than are artistic workers with less education,” while recognizing that other researchers found that “arts education has no impact or a very small impact upon the earnings that flow from artistic work.” (Read more of the report in the Spotlight on page ___.)
If everyone you’re talking to agrees about the best way to get trained as an artist you need to talk to more and different people, because training as an artist is not a fixed trajectory, in the way that it is in some other fields (you’ll want your surgeon to have gone to medical school). Always consider the source of your information (including me) and what’s important to them, and remember that every person’s experience and path are different.
If you’ve already completed your training, please don’t skip over this chapter, even though it’s a long one. You may already know a lot of it, and it may seem irrelevant to where you are now. But you might find some new ways of thinking about the training you had and about what you might need to fill in; and you never know what might come up in the future.
Three qualifiers before we begin:
“Self taught” is a legitimate way of training, and one I won’t be talking much about. A lot of information is available to you, much of it literally at your fingertips, online. There are successful artists who never went to a day of music school, art school, film school…. You don’t have to be enrolled in a program to learn. You can learn on your own in addition to any training you’re getting, and you should never stop learning even if you’ve completed a degree.
As we begin the “practical” chapters, I’ll say again that there will be some disagreement with and exceptions to what I write. These are generalizations as I and others have observed them, plus a few opinions, and if you’re reading this more than five years after I wrote it, all bets are off. Education is changing quickly, so do your research. It’s a good professional practice to start now.
Everything I’ll write about training, especially about undergraduate and graduate school, is based on the educational system in the United States. If you live outside of the US or are considering studying there, guess what: do your research.
Spotlight page - SNAAP
Types of training
There are four places where you can get trained in your creative work: liberal arts college, conservatory, grad school, and professional training. Each has pluses and minuses. If you’ve already made decisions about your training, this information might help you think about how to balance what you might not have gotten and, more importantly, capitalize on what you did get.
Liberal arts college
Most colleges you’d consider for visual and performing arts training are liberal arts colleges, which are designed to expose students to many areas of study or work. In this usage, “liberal” means “with freedom” (same Latin root word as “liberty”), and “arts” actually means “skills” (i.e. artisan vs. artist). So a liberal arts education is designed to give you a freely usable variety of skills.
A university usually contains several colleges (or schools) with specific focuses. There might be a College of Arts and Sciences (basically a liberal arts college within the university), a business school, a law school, etc. A School of Music within a university might act more like a conservatory than a liberal arts program.
The liberal arts college/college of arts and sciences is designed to give students a broad basis of study in many different areas, with one specialization (major) and possibly other emphases (minors). This specialization may or may not have obvious paths into a career post-college. Certainly, getting a business degree suggests that the student plans to go into business of some kind — but what about a history degree? Unless the student plans to teach, write about, or research history, we can’t assume that the student is planning on “doing” history for the rest of their lives, just because they got the degree.
The philosophy behind liberal arts degrees is that studying a wide range of topics, and specializing in one, has benefits that go beyond career preparation. Most jobs are going to require either advanced education or on-the-job training. But for some reason, when students choose to get visual art or performing arts degrees in liberal arts colleges, everyone assumes that they will pursue full-time careers in that area, when the same assumption isn’t made about students getting English, history, sociology, or even chemistry or biology degrees. Studying any field gives someone knowledge, skills, and ways of thinking that are transferable into many careers. Probably, if you’re reading this book, you’re not expecting now to transfer what you learned in your arts education into another career, but you might get to that point one day. So, let me say right now, and I hope you’ll remember if/when you get there, that it’s okay. Your arts degree hasn’t been wasted if you end up using what you learned, and who you became through it, in some other profession.
The liberal arts education is designed for mind-and-character preparation, which can then be applied to many different careers. Steven Mintz, a history professor at the University of Texas at Austin, wrote a blog post entitled “The True Purpose of a College Education” for Inside Higher Ed online, in which he said:
If most graduates think that a college education’s essential value lies in career preparation, then we’re doing a poor job of explaining our broader objectives: to produce culturally literate, well-rounded adults who are knowledgeable about the arts, the humanities and the social, behavioral and natural sciences, who can think critically, communicate effectively, argue logically and solve complex problems.
All of those things are really important for an artist to know and do.
Today, however, it seems many students and most parents expect that the main outcome of a college degree should be “getting a good job.” Yet, as that expectation has increased over the years, more students than ever are pursuing arts degrees even though “good jobs” for artists (if you’re defining it as a decent-paying-full-time-salary-with-paid-health-benefits-and-two-weeks-vacation-and-a-retirement-package) are relatively rare (sorry if that’s a spoiler, better you know now than find out later). I graduated with seven other people with degrees in theatre, almost 40 years ago. In May 2023, my college program graduated ____ people with theatre degrees.
A liberal arts undergraduate education has real advantages for artists. The purpose of a liberal arts degree of creating well-rounded adults also helps to create well-rounded artists. Learning about literature, math, science, languages, philosophy, and other academic areas builds the mind and spirit of an artist and gives them something important and valuable to say through their art. They might get less coursework in the technical aspects of their discipline than their friends at a conservatory who don’t have to take as many “core” classes in other departments; but, with some exceptions in physical development needed for dance or music, technical skills can be perfected later and it’s unlikely that the conservatory-trained artists will ever go back and study physics on their own.
A large liberal arts college or university program might come close to providing the best of both worlds. In a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) or BM (Bachelor of Music) program, core coursework outside of the major is reduced, and a program large enough to offer a BFA/BM degree would likely have more faculty members (with more specializations) and better facilities than a smaller school that only offers the generalist Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.
On the other hand, a small college may have the advantage of closer relationships with your faculty and more opportunities to present/perform publicly than if you were “competing” with more students. It may also offer a better quality of life for the four years you’re there than a large university where you’re just one of many thousands of faces on campus.
When choosing a college or university, be honest with yourself about who you are and what is best for you right now, as well as in the future. Also consult others in the ways discussed in the Discernment chapter. There are more reasons to choose a college/university than the size and reputation of the program in your arts discipline.
Conservatory
“Conservatory” is a generic term for any school that provides focused training in the performing arts, and sometimes in visual art. They can offer undergraduate degrees, graduate degrees, or both. Some secondary schools (and even primary or middle schools) and non-degree-granting schools call themselves conservatories also.
Whereas liberal arts colleges/colleges of arts and sciences will have similarities to each other, every conservatory is different. The Juilliard School in New York City offers programs in music, drama, and dance. Others only train students in one area, like Curtis School of Music in Philadelphia. A conservatory can be a free-standing institution, like AFI Conservatory film school in Los Angeles, or a “college” within a university, like Eastman School of Music within the University of Rochester.
A conservatory student and a student at a liberal arts college might get the same degree, but the conservatory student will probably take even fewer core classes outside of their artistic discipline than the liberal arts BFA student, who will take fewer core classes than a BA student in the same program.
The obvious advantage to studying at a conservatory is that, if you get to take more classes in your creative discipline, you are ostensibly getting better trained than your friends at a liberal arts college who are having to take geology and political science as well as their arts classes. Conservatories are also often larger than the equivalent school or department at a liberal arts college, and offer the advantages of size in facilities and faculty.
If you’re sure you want to go into your creative work professionally, why wouldn’t you go to a conservatory?
You might not get in. Conservatories are very competitive and, if you haven’t already had top-notch training in your high school years, you might not be where you’d need to be to get accepted.
You might pay a lot more for a degree from a conservatory than from a liberal arts college (although there are plenty of expensive liberal arts colleges). As we’ll discuss shortly, student debt can hinder your ability to pursue your creative work professionally.
Your pool of potential friends would be reduced to people who have the same interests as you. You wouldn’t get the traditional “college experience” you might be looking for, with sports, student groups, and special events that bring diverse students together.
You wouldn’t get the broad exposure to many areas of study that are the main value of a liberal arts degree. For that reason, if you ever move into another career path, a degree from a liberal arts college might look better on your resume than a conservatory degree.
Grad school
Whether you choose a liberal arts college or a conservatory, as you near the completion of your Bachelor’s degree you might also find yourself considering graduate school. Undergrad professors often push grad school hard, and it can be a good bridge from college to the professional world.
Grad programs are usually at large schools (either liberal arts or conservatory) with big programs, good facilities, and many specialized faculty members. In grad school, you probably wouldn’t have to take any classes outside of your creative field, and your entire focus will be on growing as an artist. Grad school is fun that way and, were it not for some potential downsides, it would be worth going just to get to spend a few years completely immersed in your creative work and able to grow and take risks without fear of financial or professional repercussions.
The most common graduate degrees in the arts are Master of Arts (MA), Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Master of Music (MM), and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). As with the BA vs. BFA/BM, someone in an MA program will likely take a wider variety of courses, and fewer courses, than someone in an MFA/MM program. MA programs are common as a predecessor to PhD studies. An MA usually takes 1-2 years to complete; an MFA 2-3 years; and a PhD another 5+ years after the Masters. Some grad programs offer Master of Science (MS) degrees in arts administration, arts leadership, or arts business and entrepreneurship. An MS is equivalent to an MA rather than an MFA or MM.
If your goal is to teach college, or if you find yourself wanting that one day, a graduate degree is almost always required. See the next chapter for more about how education relates to teaching.
Our culture sees four-year undergraduate degrees as a good thing for almost everyone, and is willing to create systems to support people in getting them. No such sentiment exists for graduate study. Parents who saved for and gladly paid for college might not have the ability or willingness to pay for graduate work as well. The federal Pell grant doesn’t apply to grad school, and there are fewer scholarships available on the graduate level. Aid packages from the graduate program might include a full or partial tuition waiver, part-time employment in the arts department, or other types of support, but you could still easily end up paying more out-of-pocket for a two-year MA than you did for a four-year BFA. If you take out student loans to make up the difference between aid and cost, you could be hindering your ability to pursue your career for years to come, as we’ll discuss in a later section. Carefully calculate and consider what a grad program is going to cost before accepting an offer.
If you’re absolutely sure that you want and need a grad degree, consider taking a couple of years after undergrad to live with your parents, work five jobs, and save a ton of money before starting your grad work, so that you can begin your career on a better financial footing than if you had to borrow a lot of money.1 Even if you won’t need to borrow for a Master’s, it might be worth getting some life experience before signing on for grad school. All you know when you finish college is academia and there’s more out there. You might discover that your goals and interests change and clarify during those “gap” years, as mine did if you remember my story from the Introduction. Had I gone immediately to grad school after undergrad, I would have gotten the wrong degree.
But there’s an alternative to grad school that works well for some people, particularly those who aren’t naturally wired for formal education or who wouldn’t be able to get a graduate degree without incurring a lot of student debt that they don’t want to begin their careers with.
Professional training
Good classes, coaching, and educational programs are out there, both online and in person, that aren’t associated with a degree program. Even someone with a degree will benefit from professional training and shouldn’t assume that college or grad school gave them all of the skills and knowledge they need. These classes are often developed and taught by working professionals, who may have had as much or more training and experience in their field as a college professor has had. The only difference is that the teacher is working within an arts organization or for themselves, rather than working within an academic institution.
This type of training has a few advantages which can also become disadvantages.
You can pick and choose what you want to learn, rather than having to learn what someone else’s degree plan required. Technical classes are built into a good degree plan, and you don’t get a choice about whether or not to take them. But it might be hard to justify going out of pocket for those important classes — figure drawing for a visual artist, voice and diction for an actor, film technology for a director, etc. — when there are more “fun” classes that seem more immediately pertinent to your creative work.
You can “pay as you go,” studying part-time while working, and avoiding debt. Even if you have to come up with a large chunk of money at the beginning of a class, it usually won’t be anything like what full-time tuition would be. And few classes or programs are going to demand enough time that you wouldn’t be able to work in your field and in other income-generating jobs while studying. But if you take one class at a time, it will take many more years to get the same amount of training that a college or grad student might have gotten as a full-time student, compressed into less time.
Your instructor might be a working artist, giving a useful perspective to the class that would be different from a college professor who spends most if not all of their time in an academic institution. But the instructor in a professional training situation might not be an experienced teacher, and there might not be any oversight or evaluation of their work. Since, in professional training, you have a choice of who to study with when you generally don’t in higher ed, it’s worth getting recommendations from other artists before investing in a class or program.
Similarly, the other students in the class might be working artists, and networking is a major benefit of professional training. But since anyone can pay the fee you might end up in a class in which other students are at a much lower skill level than you, or aren’t really serious or motivated.
Professional training goes where the students are, so if you live in a larger arts market you will likely have more options for in-person professional training than someone in a smaller market. Online courses are great for many types of training, but won’t work for some. The availability of professional training might even influence your decision on where to start your career, as we’ll discuss in Chapter 9.
Choosing how and where to learn your craft is a big decision, but the availability of professional training helps mitigate concerns about needing to learn everything in four years of college or having to go to grad school if it’s not the best option for you. It takes discipline and initiative to get what you need outside of an academic environment, but it can be done.
Training in business and entrepreneurship
The purpose of this book is to prepare students for fulfilling, sustainable arts careers after graduation. In the next chapter we’ll look at the issues that impact sustainability. Some of them can be prepared for while in school.
Returning to the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP), one data summary reported:
[Arts alumni] wish that their institution had taught them about the nuts-and-bolts aspects of work, including how to network and promote themselves, how to handle debt and budgets, how to manage the business concerns associated with their particular arts-based work, how to be entrepreneurial, and how to find jobs.
One SNAAP survey revealed that, of more than 90,000 arts alumni polled who were currently working or had worked in their creative field, 71% said that entrepreneurial skills were “very” or “somewhat” important to their profession or work life, but only 26% said their institution helped “some” or “very much” to develop those skills.
It would be great if learning how to navigate the “business” of being an artist — and it is a business — was baked into every visual or performing arts degree plan. But arts departments have enough to do just getting students trained in their creative work, much less in everything that’s needed to have a sustainable career when they get out of school.
Plus, the typical visual or performing arts faculty member may not have the background to teach those skills. Dr. Doug Dempster, Dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas at Austin, was quoted in a 2020 SNAAP report: “Most faculty members in most arts schools have limited or little experience with the professional practices required of an artist employed entirely outside the patronage of an educational organization.” The marketplace changes rapidly and someone who teaches a full load of classes and does everything else that’s required of a college professor can’t possibly keep up with everything that’s going on “out there” as well as inside the institution. Large music schools often have a “music business” specialist or two, but few other arts departments are large enough to keep a full-time faculty member with a specialization in arts business and entrepreneurship, and the structure of most institutions prevents sharing faculty across programs.
So I wonder how many of the 26% of artists polled by SNAAP who got the entrepreneurial skills they needed in college or grad school actually went to the business school for that training. Although it can be helpful to study with someone who is knowledgeable about the arts, on many levels business is business and it doesn’t really matter what product or service you’re selling. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that a business school professor couldn’t possibly understand you, or that you couldn’t possibly understand them. Studying outside of your arts program could even help you learn to compartmentalize making art from marketing and selling it, two very different mindsets that you’ll need to move between when you get out of school.
Students who are serious about getting these skills have a few choices.
They could select a school that offers coursework within their arts program that develops business and entrepreneurial skills, or that at least encourages going to the business school for the information.
If those classes aren’t required, students could prioritize making space in their schedules to take classes in business and entrepreneurship, whether inside or outside of their program.
If classes aren’t available at the institution or don’t work within the student’s schedule or degree plan, they could seek professional training in arts business and entrepreneurship, much of it available online, while they’re in school (perhaps for independent study credit) or immediately after graduation. See the Resources section of this book for suggestions.
Other issues
In addition to where and how you learn your craft, there are a few other things to consider in making decisions about your training. I’ve already mentioned the first one — let’s dig more into it now.
Debt
The Strategic National Arts Alumni Project article, “Careers in the Arts: Who Stays and Who Leaves,” mentioned on p. ___ and the Spotlight page also states:
Prior SNAAP research finds that debt levels among arts students have increased considerably in recent decades, and early SNAAP research tentatively suggested that having any student loan debt is associated with shorter artistic careers. We find that alumni with large amounts of student debt (over $50,000) are significantly more likely to leave the arts than individuals who report lower levels of debt. [emphasis added; references to journal articles removed]
The report doesn’t offer an explanation for their findings but, based on my own experience of having borrowed way too much for grad school, and the experience of many of my artist friends, I’m pretty sure I know the reason.
The more debt you have to repay — student debt, credit cards, car loans, whatever — the more you need to get paid. If you’re like almost all artists, it will take a lot of time dedicated to building your arts career before it starts to pay you a living wage, if it ever does. While you’re building your career, though, you still have to pay your debts. So you get a job (or jobs) outside of your creative field while squeezing in your art around the edges. The more you owe, the more you need to work in outside jobs. The more you need to work in outside jobs, the less time you have to invest in your arts career. The less time you have to invest in your arts career, the longer it will take to start to pay you. The longer it takes to start to pay you, the more you might wonder exactly what you’re doing and whether it’s worth it. Then it’s a matter of time before you become one of SNAAP’s statistics.
And lest you are thinking “I just won’t repay it, what can they do to me?,” as I’ve known some artists to say, be forewarned that defaulting on student loans (i.e. not paying them back) will have significant consequences for your life. Among other things, your credit rating will be poor for seven years or more, keeping you from getting credit cards, car loans, or home loans and potentially keeping you from getting a job you want since some employers check credit ratings.
Plus, if you’re a Christian, the Bible is very clear:
“The wicked borrows but does not pay back….” (Psalm 37:21)
“Pay to all what is owed to them….” (Romans 13:7)
If anything, the Bible warns against getting into debt in the first place. Some Christian financial advisors even warn against student debt on biblical grounds, although others believe that a college degree is an investment that allows someone to make more money over time than someone without a college degree might make.
Be careful about other kinds of debt, too, while you’re training or starting out in your career. Borrowing to purchase a car or home might also seem like a good investment and, as “secured” debts (i.e. if you don’t make the payments the lender can take back what you bought and the debt is cleared), car loans and mortgages are safer than credit cards and other types of “unsecured” debt that just keep digging the financial hole deeper. If you come from a well-off background, it may be hard to scale back in your lifestyle expectations. Keep in mind that your parents probably didn’t start out with everything they have now, and that they gave you.
You don’t have to be a “starving” artist. There’s nothing lost, though, in living as simply and inexpensively as possible for a while in your early career. If you defy the odds and end up making it big quickly, you’ll be able to say you paid your dues.
Networking
Of course, the main purpose of training in your creative work, wherever and however you choose to do it, is to increase your skill level. Another valuable result of training, though, is the network you’ll build. Sustainable arts careers are built on relationships, and the more people you know, the better off you’ll be.
As I mentioned in my story in the Introduction, when I finished grad school, I got a huge break professionally by being able to jump immediately into directing and teaching for a rising young theatre company. Why? The theatre company was started by someone I went to college with. He knew me, my background, and my abilities, and fast-tracked me into a role that other people in our local theatre community coveted.
It’s worth considering where you might want to end up living and working before you decide where to train, because many of the people you train with will likely stay in the city where the program is, if there are opportunities there, or move to the nearest larger market. If you stay (or go) there, too, you start out knowing people who can help you and you may have access to a large alumni network there. One reason why undergrad and grad programs in NYC and LA are so competitive to get into (and expensive to attend) is because students there are already building networks in major arts markets.
Whether you stay in or near the market where you trained, or move to another one, pursuing professional training in that market in addition to your academic training is a good way to get to know people working in your industry, in your city.
Don’t be afraid to contact the people you know and ask for their advice or help. If the idea of “networking” feels a little icky to you, you’re probably not someone who will use people for your own benefit. The very fact that you know it’s a danger will likely keep you from doing it. The healthiest people out there will have a “rising tide lifts all boats” mentality, and won’t see helping you as harming themselves. In fact…
Mentoring
…some of the best allies you’ll have are more experienced artists in your field. For thousands of years, young artists learned their craft, as well as how to run their businesses, from older artists with whom they apprenticed. Find an artist in your local community whose work you respect and who would allow you to buy them an occasional coffee or lunch so that you can hear about their work and their career. Even if they’re not doing exactly what you want to do, they might have other experience that you could learn from, and they might have connections that they’d share that would be beneficial.
Don’t assume that they won’t have time for you. Ask. The worst they can say is no. And get used to that, you’re going to hear “no” a lot in your career. If they say no, ask someone else. Keep asking until someone is willing to talk with you.
Faith and Training
You may have chosen to attend (or be thinking about attending) a Christian college or university. If you are a Christian, there are definite advantages to this choice. In an educational context friendly to Christianity, you might get to learn more about how God works through education, your calling, and the arts; you might find that your values are reflected in campus life and in your training; and you might be more understood and accepted than in a secular school. Or you might not. There’s a wide range of what a “Christian college” looks like, which will affect all of those areas and more. If it’s important to you to attend a college or university that mirrors your beliefs and expectations exactly, be sure to — let’s say it together — do your research.
If you’re a Christian and you don’t go to a Christian college or university, or if you’re pursuing professional training, please get connected to a Christian community that supports you in your creative work. Even if you are at a Christian college, you’ll need a church community in addition to your school community, for the “discernment” reasons discussed in Chapter 6 and more.
When I was on staff at Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC, I talked with many artists who drifted from their faith before coming to Redeemer. The reasons I heard most often included:
They didn’t feel accepted and valued as artists in their families or home churches and thought that judgment came from Christianity, rather than being the (dare I say uninformed?) opinions of individual Christians;
They felt marginalized or distrusted in their creative fields because of their faith, and their faith seemed like a liability;
They thought they had to choose between being an artist and being a Christian, and they chose what gave them more immediate joy;
They thought they could only do G-rated or evangelistic art if they were Christians, and that didn’t interest them;
They couldn’t figure out how to both love people who differed greatly from them and follow what they thought was Christian doctrine, and they chose love.
Then these artists came to Redeemer and heard our pastor, Tim Keller, talk about the arts in an informed and nuanced way as important vocations in God’s kingdom with vital (life-giving) roles in society. After hearing a different perspective, the beliefs and feelings that led those artists away from faith and the church started to change, and they returned. Unfortunately, many of them were in pain from and dealing with the consequences of decisions they made while far from God and now regretted.
My purpose in telling you this story in this chapter is to say that an important part of your training — your discipleship, learning to be a follower of Jesus — is to learn what it really means to be an artist in God’s kingdom, and a Christian in the world. Use the resources at the end of this book and any others you can find to educate yourself enough to know what to look for. Then keep looking until you find the church community where you will be loved and nourished, and where you can grow and flourish as an artist and as a child of God. If you get spiritually grounded while you’re training, you’ll have reliable, stable guardrails that you can move freely between once you’re pursuing your career in the world.
To recap and reframe: There are many different ways to get training, all of which have different goals, strengths, and potential problems. Don’t expect something from a training model that it’s not trying to do. Take responsibility for finding out what you need and filling the gaps. Get everything you can out of your training — work hard, don’t just get by. Once you get out into the world, the stakes will be much higher than a grade on a transcript. We’ll be talking about that in the next chapter.
Practices and pitfalls
Here are some practices that can help you get the most out of your training (past, present, and future) and avoid the pitfall of entering the marketplace less prepared and supported than you might be.
Consider any training you’ve had. What do you think the school or program thought was important? How do you see that now in what they taught and in what they expected from you? Write down what you got from your training, and what you didn’t get. What gaps do you have that you might need to fill through additional training or independent learning? It’s not being disloyal to ask these questions — you learned a lot and no training program can be everything to everybody.
Reach out to an experienced artist in your community. Who is flourishing in some way that you would like to know more about? Ask to take them out to coffee or lunch, or bring it to their studio or workplace. Online meetings don’t work well for this kind of informal networking. Go to the meeting with three specific questions in mind, but be prepared to mostly listen.
Make a “wish list” of resources to check out. What books, videos, in-person classes and online courses would provide a good supplement to your education? Ask artists you respect what they recommend. Select twelve that seem valuable for where you are now, and schedule one per month for the next year. Sacrifice some time in leisure activities to build your knowledge and skills.
Thoughts from Artists and Others
There was nothing about training in the original questions I sent out to friends for responses. I will start collecting new quotes soon.
This is advice that some artists I respect disagree with. Be sure to see “Thoughts” for differing perspectives.