Introduction
Art colleges are failing their students, according to the author of an article published in The Atlantic. In her article, titled “How Art Colleges Are Failing Young Artists,” she argues that many art schools have lost their focus on teaching young artists how to be socially relevant by focusing so much on career training. She also claims that art professors have become part of a commodified system and are not able to help students develop as artists or citizens. The author says that universities are overpriced and unaffordable for most people who want to pursue a degree in the humanities. This creates a crisis at both public and private institutions where there is no longer any money available for student loans or scholarships which would otherwise allow low-income students access to higher education and careers in the arts field. If you still not into using a tv storyboard you can catch up with other companies that already using it.
The collapse of the new liberal arts
The new liberal arts are a response to the commodification of higher education. They are not about job training, but rather critical thinking and the ability to think for oneself. This can be seen in the way they emphasize liberal arts subjects like philosophy, ethics and justice studies over traditional fields like business or computer science. The goal is not simply to prepare you for a career but also equip you with the tools needed to make an impact on society as whole.
In this sense, colleges failing young artists could be said to be failing them in their role as educators because these schools aren’t offering something valuable enough for students entering into adulthood: jobs that require creativity and critical thinking skills—or at least an awareness of those things—in order for people at all levels of society (from CEOs down) have better lives together than otherwise possible without such knowledge.(#ENDWRITE
The failure to teach ethics
While the arts are an important part of human culture, they’re also a powerful tool for change. The failure to teach students how to use their work as an instrument of social justice is a shame: it prevents art schools from being effective at their mission, and it leaves young artists ill-prepared for life after graduation.
Artists need training in ethics and fair use laws if they’re going to have any hope of using their work for good. If you’re passionate about making art that contributes something positive—even if that means challenging your audience, asking them uncomfortable questions about race or gender or class—you must learn how not only to produce great work but also defend yourself legally when someone tries to sue you for it.
Art colleges have become career training centers.
Art colleges are concerned with their bottom line.
They’re not concerned with the quality of the education.
How can you tell?
You can look at the courses offered by many art colleges and see that what they teach is not creative, but career training. They teach students how to make a living as an artist through selling your work or teaching others how to paint/draw/sculpt/etc., but they do not teach them how to be an artist. They don’t ask hard questions about what it means to be an artist, why we create art (or if we should), or even whether or not they want to be artists in the first place!
The crisis of the non-profit art museum
The museum is a business.
But it’s not just any business: the art museum is a non-profit business.
At first glance, this seems like an oxymoron: how can you be both for-profit and nonprofit? But we must remember that in the world of art, anything is possible! It’s not so much an issue of whether something is or isn’t but rather what it means to be “for profit” or “non-profit.”
For example, when you think about Amazon selling books online, they’re clearly making money off of their books sales. If they weren’t doing so well financially off these transactions (and they seem to be), then why would they continue operating? On the other hand, if you were to ask someone who works at Goodwill where all their profits go after closing time every night—you’d probably get very little information back because Goodwill operates as a non-profit organization and doesn’t have any profits to give away! So even though both Amazon and Goodwill sell goods for money in their respective industries within society today—we can see that there are important differences between being labeled as “for profit” versus “non profit.”
Professors are part of a commodified system.
The academic art world is not a fair place for its teachers. Instead, it’s becoming more and more corporate. We see this most recently in the rise of the “emerging artist” and “post-grad.” According to The New York Times:
In order to maintain their edge, many galleries have begun showing younger artists; they’re called emerging artists or post-graduates today. These are often still very young people who have only been working for a few years but have already made an impression on their local scene. They don’t sell much yet — maybe one or two pieces a month in each gallery — but they’re good at what they do and offer a kind of cultural cachet that other young artists cannot match: they’ve got something going on! So when the time comes to promote your own work or if you want something new for your studio wall (and who doesn’t?), why not choose from among these rising stars?
Universities are overpriced and not affordable.
While it may seem like a good idea to attend a university these days, the price of education is rising at an alarming rate. According to the College Board, tuition and fees at 4-year public institutions increased by 6% between 2017 and 2018 while those of private nonprofit universities increased by 5%. The average cost of attending college has reached a new high of $20,000 per year for public universities, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education, but that figure doesn’t include room and board or other expenses such as textbooks (which can easily run as much as $100).
These rising costs make it difficult for students who want to pursue higher education but don’t have access to financial assistance—and even if they do secure loans or scholarships, these students will be saddled with debt after graduation that could take decades to pay off. This problem is compounded by the lack of affordable housing in many major cities where many art colleges are located; renters often struggle just getting by on their monthly rent payments while saving money toward their student loans each month. There’s also an issue with food insecurity among college students: research shows that roughly 1 in 5 undergraduates say they’ve skipped meals because they couldn’t afford them—and we all know what happens when you skip meals: you’re more likely not only need medical attention but also become sicker than your peers who eat regularly!
The perils of pairing art with money
Art is a commodity, and so are the people who create it. Artists are treated as commodities and expected to function like machines: producing work at a predetermined rate while working under strict budgets, deadlines and expectations. You might be surprised to learn that artists are not valued for their work, or their ideas. Nor are they valued for their skills or knowledge; instead they’re expected to constantly re-invent themselves in order to stay “relevant.”
Artists’ value is also determined by what kind of art they make (and by extension what kinds of people will buy it), as well as how much money these pieces can be sold for at auction houses like Christie’s or Sotheby’s—which means that any artist whose work isn’t deemed valuable enough by curators won’t get into exhibitions because there wouldn’t be enough money made from selling their pieces.
Art colleges need to realign their curriculum towards the betterment of society.
Art colleges need to realign their curriculum towards the betterment of society. In order for an artist to be deemed successful, they should be able to demonstrate that they have made a positive impact on the world around them. Furthermore, art colleges must provide affordable options for those interested in pursuing a career as an artist or musician. There is no point in creating artists who cannot make money doing what they love because they cannot afford it! Art colleges also need to teach students how to be ethical and critical thinkers instead of simply teaching them how to make art that looks good. All too often we see young artists get caught up in their own heads trying desperately not only impress others but also themselves with every piece of work that goes out into the world.
Finally, we must remember that if we want our future generations’ artwork/music/films etcetera then we need people who understand what makes these things so special: namely creativity (not just skill) combined with passion about something bigger than yourself — perhaps even something big enough that could help humanity evolve into its next stage of evolution!
Conclusion
Art colleges need to realign their curriculum towards the betterment of society. This may sound like a lofty goal, but one way to start is by teaching students how to think critically about what they are doing and why they are doing it. Artists are often criticized as being self-indulgent and narcissistic, but this is not true. In fact, artists can be some of the most generous people out there because their creative process is inherently linked with giving back to society through creative expression. Inquire here to start doing artwork in your home.