What Are Professional Skills?

Professional Skills refer to skills needed to have a successful career in the theatre not related to the artistic craft itself. Examples include networking skills and opportunities, marketing skills, and effective communication skills.

Why Are Professional Skills Important?

According to SNAAP, the U.S.-based Strategic National Arts Alumni Project, whose mission is to “maximise the success and impact of creatives in society by driving evidence-informed change in training and illuminating the value of arts and design education,” professional skills provide a necessary safety net for a career in the arts which is inherently precarious. These skills have the potential to lessen the attrition effect which notes the high rates at which BIPOC artists transition out of the field. Due to systemic racism, Black and Latine artists are likely to be in a more financially precarious situation than their white peers and cannot weather the financial ups and downs of a career in the arts. SNAAP believes teaching professional skills in art schools plays a large role in democratising the arts industry. Their study notes “that economic precarity in artistic paths necessitates entrepreneurial thinking, and that the training of artists as entrepreneurs not only allows more people to participate in sustainable careers in the arts but can serve as a means of democratising access to creative educational experiences across the curriculum.” (Whitaker and Wolniak, 2022.)

Research Question

Do MFA theatre directing students in Year One and Two in the theatre program at Columbia School of the Arts feel it is the University's job to teach them professional skills needed to maintain a career the theatre industry? Is there a correlation between the desire for these skills and socio-economic status?

Survey Respondents

92% of first- and second-year directors responded to the survey. I recruited respondents by speaking with directors in person prior to the survey, promoting the survey on social media and via email, and lastly by conducting the survey in person at the performing arts centre during times the first and second year directors had class, and offering free coffee. I assured them that all responses would remain anonymous unless they voluntarily provided contact information, which 70% of them did. 100% provided permission to share this survey outside of my class presentation.

Coding Strategy

I coded responses by socio-economic status which I determined by how students pay tuition, which was then broken down into three categories:

I. Tuition Paid by Individual or Family Member’s Funds

II. Tuition Paid by Combined Funds: Loans, Scholarship, Family, Self

III. Tuition Paid by Combined Funds: Scholarship and/or Grant

Survey Results

• Year One and Two students feel the University should provide professional skills but that it is not doing so in an intentional and systemic way.

• The level of need/desire for these skills correlates to socio-economic status. Those who pay tuition from multiple sources (ie. scholarships, loans, self) had a higher desire for professional skills and expressed specific, granular ways in which these skills would help their careers. Results from this survey mirror previous data collected on this topic.