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Fine Arts Programs Prepare Students for Real World

Those who get the commission do the work and classmates help with the project, learning the ropes along the way.

“It’s a way for students to get professional practice while they’re being mentored by faculty. They have to handle real projects, real budgets and real time lines,” Eickmeier said. “The students who come out are better prepared than they’ve ever been to find their way in the business world.”

When Ivy Tech Community College started its fine arts program in Indianapolis last fall, it began with an eye toward getting students real-world skills, said program Chairwoman Stephanie Lewis Robertson. That’s because the instructors are all working artists.

“It has become our mission internally … because we had to find it out ourselves through a lot of trial and error, and that takes a lot longer,” said Robertson, a textile artist.

Ivy Tech also is asking the state to allow it to offer a business- practices class for art students. The state must approve all new university classes to make sure there isn’t overlap.

Other universities offer business courses as electives but struggle to get sometimes-unfocused undergraduates interested.

Indiana University’s fine arts program first offered a professional skills class five years ago. In it, students are given a good dose of the cold, hard facts about making a living as an artist.

“A lot of it is making sure they understand the realities of it all,” said instructor Betsy Stirratt, including the fact that making a living as an artist is “something that very few people can obtain”

The class presents career paths for arts-related day jobs and teaches students the ins-and-outs of the art market, including presenting their work to galleries, pricing and building a reputation.

But the tough part is getting students to enroll in the elective. Usually only between 15 and 20 students sign up.

“There’s a lot of resistance to this way of thinking,” Stirratt said.

She said some students don’t think they need the class and even some faculty balk at teaching the commercial aspect of art, an attitude Stirratt doesn’t understand.

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