10 Artistic Careers With The Brightest Futures: NEA And BLS

With the country in the middle of a jobs crisis, finding any form of employment is tough, let alone jobs in the arts.

It turns out, however, that the future of America's creative-types might be far less bleak than it seems at present moment, according to a report by the National Endowment for the Arts, using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over the next seven years, job growth in the arts will exceed job growth as a whole, the report states. In fact, according to the report, artistic careers for painters, architects and photographers are expected to increase by 11 percent by 2018, compared to the projected 10 percent total increase in the American labor force.

Due to long-term structural changes, there will be approximately 2,196,100 people working in artist occupations in 2018 compared to 1,977,800 in 2008, the most recent year with data available, according to the report.

Certain arts industries are expected to see especially significant jobs growth. Jobs associated with museums, such as curators, archivists and technicians, are expected to rise 20 percent, or "much faster than average employment growth." According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the public's continued interest in arts, sciences, and history, when coupled with growing amounts of content and material to manage, will create demand for such jobs.

Still, finding a viable career as an artist remains a challenging pursuit. As pointed out by The Atlantic, people with educations in the humanities are among the lowest earners, and the expected job growth may be in part due to the fact that artists will often work for less -- the median annual wages of archivists in May 2008 was $45,020, for example.

Likewise, expect competition to remain high in nearly all artistic fields, with landscape architects, librarians and floral designers the only exceptions. Radio and TV announcers will have an especially hard time, as competition is expected to remain high, while jobs in those industries are projected to decrease.

Below are the ten art jobs expecting the the largest increase in job growth by 2018:

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• 10. Graphic Designers

  <strong>Employment change 2008 - 2018:</strong> 13 percent <strong>Employment 2008:</strong> 286,100 <strong>Employment 2018:</strong> 323,100 <strong>Median annual wages in 2008:</strong> $42,400

• 9. Actors

  <strong>Employment change 2008 - 2018:</strong> 13 percent <strong>Employment 2008:</strong> 56,500 <strong>Employment 2018:</strong> 63,700 <strong>Median hourly wages in 2008:</strong> $16.59

• 8. Multimedia Artists And Animators

  <strong>Employment change 2008 - 2018:</strong> 14 percent <strong>Employment 2008:</strong> 79,000 <strong>Employment 2018:</strong> 90,200 <strong>Median annual wages in 2008:</strong> $56,330

• 7. Writers And Authors

  <strong>Employment change 2008 - 2018:</strong> 15 percent <strong>Employment 2008:</strong> 151,700 <strong>Employment 2018:</strong> 174,100 <strong>Median annual wages in 2008:</strong> $53,070 (salaried)

• 6. Architects (Excludes Naval And Landscape

  <strong>Employment change 2008 - 2018:</strong> 16 percent <strong>Employment 2008:</strong> 141,200 <strong>Employment 2018:</strong> 164,200 <strong>Median annual wages in 2008:</strong> $70,320

• 5. Interior Designers

  <strong>Employment change 2008 - 2018:</strong> 19 percent <strong>Employment 2008:</strong> 71,700 <strong>Employment 2018:</strong> 85,600 <strong>Median annual wages in 2008:</strong> $44,950

• 4. Landscape Architects

  <strong>Employment change 2008 - 2018:</strong> 20 percent <strong>Employment 2008:</strong> 26,700 <strong>Employment 2018:</strong> 32,000 <strong>Median annual wages in 2008:</strong> $58,960

• 3. Interpretors And Translators

  <strong>Employment change 2008 - 2018:</strong> 22 percent <strong>Employment 2008:</strong> 50,900 <strong>Employment 2018:</strong> 62,200 <strong>Median annual wages in 2008:</strong> $38,850

• 2. Curators

  <strong>Employment change 2008 - 2018:</strong> 23 percent <strong>Employment 2008:</strong> 11,700 <strong>Employment 2018:</strong> 14,400 <strong>Median annual wages in 2008:</strong> $47,220

• 1. Museum Technicians And Conservators

  <strong>Employment change 2008 - 2018:</strong> 26 percent <strong>Employment 2008:</strong> 11,100 <strong>Employment 2018:</strong> 13,900 <strong>Median annual wages in 2008:</strong> $36,660

Comments

[tj3usa]

05:22 PM on 07/20/2011

This list is a big maybe list. If local production ever comes back and design outside of big cities thrives, for this list to really work. We have to have a wider base to work from not the winner take all New York/LA sort of concentrations.

In Florida there are multiple movie studios doing little or nothing, as the business is concentrated elsewhere. Rather than to make a billion on a film..... making much less, just a good working wage is enough to sustain the future of such lists.

It all depends. At present I would think it is a very if-y list, doubtful.

If we do not diversify and broaden our creative base, then our economy will be threatened seriously. Non-creative work will be done increasingly by machines. This is the growth area in the future which is what this list is hinting at. But it is not automatic and must be made to happen intentionally.

This will take some courage and confidence that is not apparent in many regions across the nation.

[Left of Right]

12:14 AM on 07/19/2011

Art! Makes the world go round! We would be flat without it!

[Scholastica8]

06:58 PM on 07/14/2011

I have a little hint about acting. I'm in the entertainment industry - below the line. It is already fairly well-known within the industry that within about 15-20 years, it will be possible for a very small staff of people to make a feature film via IT that will be indistinguishable from what we see today. Already, what I do is being changed and deminished and in most cases, actors cannot portray a character w/o my assistance.

A writer-producer-director will be able, with the help of IT software, maybe with teckies, maybe w/o, will be able to cast John Wayne with Marilyn Monroe, co-staring Oprah Winfrey and Kate Middleton in a Western set on Mars... without the benefit of actors, voice actors, props, sets, hair, makeup, wardrobe.

Johnny Depp, at 102, will be seeing new films with Capt. Jack Sparrow, who will never age.

It will all be done digitally in 3-D based on images and voice from any source. You will be able to star in your own film, yet never have to actually act.

This is really why celebrities are in a mad dash to copyright their images, names, and voices.

[Scholastica8]

07:04 PM on 07/14/2011

Also, because I happen to be a genealogist, I have a lot of experience with museums, libraries, etc. Do not believe the tripe about curators and preservationists being in demand. Rather, most museums, libraries, etc receive a lot of government and non-profit funding... both are being slashed. I know archivists in the US and Canada who have either been laid off or who will be laid of because grant money and non-profit funding is drying up. The scary thing for me, as a genealogist, is that documents and artifacts (unless fossils) really cannot be dropped and walked away from. Ultimately, they self-destruct.

[Left of Right]

12:19 AM on 07/19/2011

I hope one day we will have our financial priorities straight and in balance. There is an vital role for these jobs that are being slashed.

[LAustin]

01:02 PM on 07/19/2011

I luv genealogy, but I'm just an amateur (I spend a lot of time tracing our Family Tree). I'm itching to know how a genealogist is working in the entertainment industry. Just curious.

(I'm retired and spend a lot of time on Ancestry dot com, but I'll bet Ancestry dot com gets a lot of criticism by genealogists! If so, I understand completely.)

I'm just curious how you got into your entertainment line of work; maybe there is no connection?

[Left of Right]

12:16 AM on 07/19/2011

I don't like that at all! It's fake and without heart. But, I can believe it.

They've already done it with animation. Digital trumps the hand drawn, but I love the old hand animation. It has soul.

[Scott Fraley]

04:54 PM on 07/12/2011

Wow! I gotta find where they're paying Graphic Artists 42k!

[pcolinhill]

08:07 PM on 07/12/2011

At least Connecticut and Arizona from my experience. If you are a good, experienced designer I think this at the lower end of the spectrum.

[Scott Fraley]

09:42 AM on 07/13/2011

Thanks for the advice pcolinhill. I'm better than average, but not experienced yet (recent graduate). I just see a very low ceiling in my market and I'm already within spitting distance from it. I think I should learn heavier programming, that seems to be where the money is now adays.

[Inkedots]

04:25 PM on 07/12/2011

Well well well...

[weekendpartier]

08:57 PM on 07/11/2011

WHAT?! This is a stupid list!

[hardrain77]

03:26 PM on 07/11/2011

guess if I was ever really gonna become an actor...

[DTree]

02:30 PM on 07/11/2011

The nonprofit arts industry generates $166.2 billion annually in economic activity, supports 5.7 million full-time equivalent jobs in the arts and related industries, and returns $12.6 billion in federal income taxes. Measured against direct federal cultural spending of about $1.4 billion, that's a return of nearly nine to one.

And yet, when it comes to cutting the budget the Arts receive the least and are the first to be cut. Just last week, a House subcommittee approved a $20 million cut to the NEA.... go figure.

You can send a note to your representative telling them to support arts funding by clicking here:
http://capwiz.com/artsusa/issues/alert/?alertid=13209311

[Road Crew Worker]

12:50 PM on 07/11/2011

Word to the wise: find multiple things you like, and see if you can blend them into something. I love writing scripts for movies and drawing. What am I studying right now? Animation. See? Easy. Don't try to make money off of just one thing.

[themainpoint]

01:08 AM on 07/17/2011

Good for you. Diversify and/or combine!

[GirlFriday123]

11:39 AM on 07/11/2011

I would love to see how they compiled these numbers.

I paint, with a fair amount of work represented in galleries in the Northeast, but even when the economy was booming and I had a couple good years where my sales earned more than my salary from my day job, I never quit my day job. There is no health insurance for artists, there is no safety net whatsoever, and so much of an artist's income depends on other people's disposable income.

[Southern Cali Native84]

04:30 PM on 07/11/2011

Painting wasn't one that was listed......sorry.

[lifepanels]

11:09 AM on 07/11/2011

$16.59 per hour for actors? Is that movies or stage? I hope that's for unionized low level extras and bit players. I mean, it must be, but even at that it does seem rather low.

Where's the glamour?

[HoraceOvidson]

04:20 AM on 07/11/2011

Had Hitler been able to successfully find a job in the arts, the world might have been spared a lot of pain. Art jobs can be very civilizing. Lets have more.

[kudzumaster]

03:36 AM on 07/14/2011

But their eyes would have burned. He was not a good artist.

[jdevans]

11:24 PM on 07/15/2011

Hitler applied twice to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and was rejected both times. If he'd managed to get in and get some training, he might have been a half-way decent artist. At least good enough to not start wars that cost millions of lives.

[aschedjidoi]

07:08 PM on 07/18/2011

He was mediocre by their standards. Hitler should have aimed lower, so that he would have had a chance in the arts.

[hypnotoad72]

05:31 PM on 07/10/2011

Here's an artist - based solely on timing, color, and compositional structure, it's top-notch:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZeRwuN68VQ

What's being presented is a tad controversial, of course...

[zrants]

04:18 PM on 07/10/2011

Good news for artists. I have gone in and out of the arts profession a number of times and keep going back to it. As they say, content is king.

[Andrew Gamache]

08:21 PM on 07/10/2011

Good news for artists? I see job growth in a number of areas around the arts but none for the artist. Good news for the button pusher and the wall hanger. Good reporting Mr. Huffington Post contributor.

[demilieu]

03:01 PM on 07/10/2011

This writing has little basis in facts that I can identify. For example, from the AIA national figures, licensed architects in the US are at between 25-35% unemployment these days. Acting as a viable career? If my (Nick Cage) uncle is Francis Ford Coppola, maybe.

[Arts4u]

04:19 PM on 07/10/2011

Wow.. I wouldn't have guessed it was that high. We never should have allowed the overbuilding of homes and commercial properties. I've recently read that both are about 20% overbuilt.

[hypnotoad72]

05:32 PM on 07/10/2011

Made with high quality, imported drywall because domestic quality is far poorer and more expensive by comparison:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2009-03-16-chinese-drywall-sulfur_N.htm
http://www.articles23.com/Art/265/263/Asthma-and-Allergies-Chinese-Drywall-s-Contaminants-Can-Affect-Your-Health.html

[WireDolly]

11:07 AM on 07/11/2011

Yeah, likewise. I actually do have a relative who's been helped into great success as a recording artist. Does she share? No. Just like everything else in this country, as soon as you have more than enough, it's time to pull the ladder up behind you and point fingers at everyone else who's not had the same luck.