by Erika Atkins Scott Austin Heleya de Barros
( Open scene) Me: I want to go into the arts. Parents / Teachers / Friends / Family: What’ s your back-up?( End scene) All three of us have had this conversation in some form at various( and repeated) points in our lives. We did it anyways. We became a freelance actor / teaching artist, a public high school theater teacher, and an arts education nonprofit administrator. We didn’ t go into these careers for the money. We have all hustled. We even got our masters degrees to further our training. Now, mid-career, we find ourselves in a field with incredibly high turnover rates, exceedingly high performance and output standards, and little opportunity for growth. Is a career in arts education sustainable? Pay equity for race and gender have been at the forefront of many national conversations which has led many in arts education to question our own pay structures.
18 Incite / Insight Member’ s Corner
Summer / Early Fall 2018
THE HUSTLE
Economic Sustainability in the Arts Education Field
by Erika Atkins Scott Austin Heleya de Barros
A 2 part version of this article originally appeared on ARTSBLOG in June 2018.
( Open scene) Me: I want to go into the arts. Parents / Teachers / Friends / Family: What’ s your back-up?( End scene) All three of us have had this conversation in some form at various( and repeated) points in our lives. We did it anyways. We became a freelance actor / teaching artist, a public high school theater teacher, and an arts education nonprofit administrator. We didn’ t go into these careers for the money. We have all hustled. We even got our masters degrees to further our training. Now, mid-career, we find ourselves in a field with incredibly high turnover rates, exceedingly high performance and output standards, and little opportunity for growth. Is a career in arts education sustainable? Pay equity for race and gender have been at the forefront of many national conversations which has led many in arts education to question our own pay structures.
Examining compensation on a national scale can be complex because the cost of living and work opportunities vary vastly across different regions. For this reason, much of our focus here will be on the New York City( NYC) metro area where we all live and work. We will look at the state of arts education compensation from the perspectives of 1) a teaching artist, 2) a public school theater teacher, and 3) a nonprofit arts education administrator. What issues do these three areas of the arts education field encounter when it comes to equitable compensation? How can we learn from, and help advocate for each other? What does the state of arts education compensation and funding say about the value this country puts on artists and arts education?