<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHzQF6LOCD0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHzQF6LOCD0</a></p>
<p>I only listened to the first few minutes, but the point was made: Why study art in school, when it is the skills you need (drawing/painting, etc., business acumen, marketing) that will make you successful? The same question could be asked of music students.</p>
<p>Training can be very useful, and is most often essential. One problem is that many students enter university training without a clear idea and understanding of what specific training they need to reach their goal,or even what their goal is, what the market is for their particular art, and whether or not that particular institution will provide them with the training necessary to achieve their goal.</p>
<p>I feel that the study of art and music is different than say, entering college and studying engineering or political science. In music, a student should ALREADY be at a professional or near-professional level of playing when entering conservatory studies. When a student is already that advanced, he/she is in a far better position to discern and determine which school, if any, will help them achieve their goals. Someone studying political science or engineering will learn those skills in college; it is not so important where they study.</p>
<p>As I’ve seen anecdotally through my daughters’ friends and colleagues, many prospective art students do not have clear goals or an understanding of the art market when entering university. They usually do not yet have many skills yet. Unlike with music, there are few opportunities to study art seriously before high school or even during high school.</p>
<p>There are a number of professional artists, in various different fields, who do well. These stories arre often lost in the constant drumbeat we all hear in the media and elsewhere about the “starving artist”. I think that a serious study or book that explored various successful artists, and their paths to get there, would be most useful to prospective art students. Most of the articles I’ve read on the topic are shallow; many writers only talk with those with undergraduate degrees. For example, there are many, many successful artists who have never attended college, but their stories tend to be overlooked because they did not pursue their profession in the “traditional” way.</p>
<p>The video or comments mentioned the film “Art School Confidential”, which is a good film on this topic.</p>