“No Master But My Own” @ AICA-USA
Last year, I was thrilled to announce that I was chosen to participate in the 2015 Art Writers Grant Program/AICA-USA Art Writing Workshop, which paired me with a mentor to help sharpen my writing skills and outline career goals. I was chosen by Susan Snodgrass, an inspiring writer and a very supportive guide through our months together.
The major project that we decided to work on together was a long-form article examining the conflicts surrounding professionalization as an artist, particularly the impacts, positive and negative, of attaining a postgraduate degree in the current economic climate. The author (me!) analyzes reports and writing on wider trends with respect to postgraduate education and careers in the arts, as well as performing personal interviews with six individuals regarding their personal grad school experiences and the impact higher education has had on their artistic careers and practices. This is a work of living research, to establish conclusions that are ideally both personally useful for those questioning the suitability of a postgraduate education for themselves (including this author), and for those more generally interested in the subject of professionalization within the art ecosystem.
Thank you so much to Susan Snodgrass, Amei Wallach, AICA-USA, the Arts Writers Grant Program, and all my interviewees! It’s been a long road!