Fine art degree: employment prospects

[EpsomSalted]

My child is predicted A in Art, A in history and A in Spanish at A-level. She is leaning towards doing a Fine Art degree but her other option is History with Spanish. Her heart is with the art option.

How employable is someone with a Fine Art degree nowadays? What can you do other than be an artist, an art teacher, an art therapist or a designer? I know nothing of the creative industries.

Also, do you wed to do an Art Foundation before the degree? Her school says she does but uni requirements seem mixed.

and finally where is good for fine art that’s NOT in London?

all advice very gratefully received.

"I don’t believe having an art background supports engineering to any notable extent, it’s largely irrelevant to success"

You may not believe it, but I've heard more than one admissions tutor say it at university open events.

My son got an A* Fine Art at A level with Bs in Graphics and History. He thought that Fine Art may not be the best for future employment prospects and so chose an Illustration degree which he reckoned would be more suited to the job market. He learnt a lot of digital design as well as some traditional drawing etc. This use of Illustrator, Photoshop etc did prove commercially viable as he secured a job as a Graphic Artist in due course. He's a bit worried about the spectre of AI in the future, but that's another story.
I would say that purely Fine Art would not provide as many transferable skills for the job market as Graphics, Illustration or similar.

@Gonksmum I think @PhotoDad has a dd with this degree and no job. It’s a lottery and it’s widely reported grad jobs are down 1/3. Obviously some grads will get the jobs they want but it’s getting increasingly more difficult. The trades such as electrician are going to always have work!

@OhDear111, I agree. My son was extremely lucky as he got a job in the same field as his hobby/obsession. The talks he had at Uni stressed that it was very difficult to get a graduate level job in Illustration and most people freelanced with a part-time job on the side. So, yes, it's not typical to get a reasonably well-paid, skilled job as a graduate. I imagine that it's similar with Fine Art.

@Gonksmum It’s making choices regarding courses very challenging! There’s a huge concern that entry level jobs in many areas are taking a hit.

I haven’t read the full thread but I think the job prospects for art graduates are quite difficult unfortunately. Yes, there are some art adjacent roles (costume, illustration, special effects, design) and it’s possible to make inroads in other directions (like the poster whose son now works in marketing).

However, the latter can present hurdles - a publisher is more likely to give an English grad an entry level role, or a bank a maths grad, say, as they are much more likely to have skills that align…

@EpsomSalted your dc could look at art-related apprenticeships. This is the current selection, but they are advertised throughout the year: https://findapprenticeshiptraining.apprenticeships.education.gov.uk/courses?Keyword=art&Levels=

Ignore the Level 7 ones though as the Government is de-funding them at the end of this year in favour of providing more lower level apprenticeships.

I do know someone who got a level 2 apprenticeship at a well know auction house after a foundation year at art college.

Definitely do an Art Foundation year - degrees will often accept students without one, but they just want bums on seats/funding, plus your dc will be a year older and a year 'better' at 'art' and will get experience outside the very tight & prescriptive A level Art curriculum.

They may be sure they want to study fine art now, but students often change their minds during an Art Foundation when they're exposed to so many other possibilities. I did one many moons ago, and there were friends who were set on Fine Art & ended up doing Graphic Design and vice versa.

Also think about what kind of job they want to do at the end of a fine art degree - it's a very self led degree & I imagine not many make much from a career as as an artist.

Those who want to have more chance of a steady income will likely study Illustration or Graphic Design, more commercial but still super creative.

I'd advise to look at a few uni degree shows online for various courses and see if they like the kind of work produced after 3 years! Maybe NTU, UAL, MMU to start with.

The “other directions” are really struggling though. We’ve way too many grads for the roles.

@zeezaw No Engimeerjng course looks at art favourably! Geography would be very good for environmental engineering for example. Technology for others. Engineers mostly do have maths or physics because that’s engineering! Technical drawing used to be useful but no one looks for art although understanding 3D is useful!

"No Engineering course looks at art favouraby"

Wow you are so certain of yourself aren't you?

UCL Civil Engineering does, for one. It's listed as a preferred subject and if I could be bothered to hunt it out there's an online video of the Admissions Tutor talking about the importance of having a range of backgrounds on Civil Eng teams.

It's not art specifically - just a mix of skills which include art.

Other unis that list Art as a suitable third subject for Civil Engineering include Imperial & Edinburgh.

Civil engineering doesn't need further maths, so there is plenty of scope for a range of third subjects. But I mentioned it in the context of its overlap with Architecture, for which Art is usually recommended.

There is a lot of sweeping generalisation on this thread.....
For instance, banks will favour Maths grads. Err not really. A quick Google shows most banks do not specify degree type. Neither do PWC or KPMG for the vast majority of their grad roles. They want skills and attributes which an art student can demonstrate as well as the next graduate.
It is a fact though that landing a graduate job is extremely difficult. For any graduate. In any discipline.
I personally know of many unemployed grads from all sorts of subjects. The main factor that differentiates them is having done useful stuff either on their course, via work experience/ employment, or volunteer work. And then the ability to work tirelessly on applying. And having the ability to get through cognitive testing, which varies widely between companies. Managing multiple applications at once, tailoring every single application, staying on top of emails, responding to time limited requests. And some luck. Etc. The AI nature of the first part of nearly all apllications means the in built prejudice (rife on here) against certain subjects is removed.
Some Fine Art students will be good at this process, some won't. In much the same way some history students will and some won't. Arguably the nearly entirely self led nature of a Fine Art degrees develops the skills to go through this process.
If the YP in question wants a trad grad job, then Fine Art is not a barrier.
However the statistics are driven by those who don't want a trad grad job. Making it as a full time artist is vv difficult. As is getting into creative industries. So the numbers earning highly will be low.
My DS wanted a grad job. He never wanted to be a practicing artist. But he wanted to follow his passion for 3 years. In much the same way a history student who wants to work in a field unrelated to history, wants to study their passion for 3 years.
My DS was best at art. He loves art. So he studied it. He has enjoyed his 4 years (with foundation).
He could have studied one of his other A levels and been miserable. And probably been in the same place.
There is no reward in life without some risk.
I find it bizarre that people are happy to disregard as worthless something that they often have no personal experience of. And then make sweeping assumptions, based on out dated info, guesswork or bald statistics. I have encountered this over and over on here and in the real world.
Its a brave parent who 'bans' a child from a degree subject. If they understand the reality and want to do it then why not? Its their life and their debt. Not yours.

Earning potential isn’t as great as other degrees, it’s true. However, we need more artists and creatives so I am all for it. I wish him all the best.
Theres a whole host senior roles other than teaching that he could eventually end up in eg. Creative Director, Art Director, Head of creative for design or advertising agencies

I honestly don’t think, unless it’s something vocational, you should think about job prospects when you’re choosing your degree. My dd has one of the better paid jobs in her peer group-her degree is theology-and she’s not a vicar!

@CurlewKate My DD has the highest paying job in her cohort from university (that she’s in contact with) and she knew exactly what she wanted before choosing her course. Of course some get lucky or make their own luck but that cannot be applied to everyone. Only 22 universities offer Theology. 15 are RG/St Andrews. RG still gives an earnings advantage. What are her other friends doing? That’s the key isn’t it? It’s one swallow etc issue again.

But these tend to go to graduates who have specific degrees in that area.

@Thingyfanding1 We don’t need more artists or creatives . The ones we have aren’t getting work. Look at the employment stats! There aren’t enough jobs.

Not at all. I worked in this area of recruitment for many years. These aren’t graduate jobs - they are examples of where you could end up with a fine art degree.

it’s important to remember that creative jobs are far more essential than they’re given credit for. Art and design is everywhere - the clothes we wear, the apps we use, the adverts we see, the films and music we love, even the layout of the spaces we live and work in. Every product, brand, and experience has been shaped by someone in a creative role.
Yes, the creative job market can be competitive, but that doesn’t make it unnecessary. Without artists, designers, illustrators, filmmakers, and other creatives, our lives would be far less vibrant,
Do we really need more bankers and lawyers? What we need are people who can imagine new futures and bring beauty and meaning into daily our lives. If this is what he is passionate about, then he should follow his dream.

All the stuff you list is design not fine art though.

There are design jobs, but design is quite technical, it’s not that easy from a fine art background.

But there would be people much more qualified than someone with a fine art degree.

When l was at art school, the big advertising agencies recruited straight from the advertising course at my college. And people worked their way up from there. I would think it would be very hard for someone with a fine art degree to break into advertising at any level when there are millions of advertising or graphics graduates available.

It all depends on how creative they are and their portfolio of work

Well obviously.

But I’m not sure how someone who spent 3 years sculpting or painting landscapes moves sideways like that. They are totally different disciplines.

Also fine artists don’t like to sell their soul to corporate firms.

I was talking to a family member recently who said she regrets taking an art degree now she is in her 50s and wished someone had spoken to her about money when she was younger. She has always been employed in the arts- proper paid work in costume and conservation. Gets paid peanuts. Really stressed about the future. Feels she would have been better off doing a humanities degree and continuing to do art outside of school. However I can't imagine her enjoying any other work and she is supremely talented.It's terrible that the arts are not appreciated and paid fairly.