Today the concept of “art” is firmly entrenched in the language of education. It refers to a fairly wide range of specialties related to the creative industry (theater, film, music, fine art, design, architecture, media, etc.).
According to the surveys of applicants and graduates conducted in recent years, art education is becoming more and more prestigious in the eyes of students. Although the competition for admission to creative departments is significantly less than the demand for economic, legal and business departments, art specialties have gained the right to be considered elite. They are designed for a special target group – creative people with special abilities or talent for drawing, singing, and music. Without initial aptitudes or a very strong desire, sometimes replacing an innate talent, it will be difficult to advance in this field.
What explains the increased interest in art education? First of all, the change from the “era of managers” to the era of expert knowledge. If 8-10 years ago a management diploma in practically any field guaranteed job placement, career perspectives, and as far as the economic situation allowed, stability, then today the leadership has shifted from managers to specialists, carriers of knowledge and skills, professionals in their field. Nowadays, first-class journalists, analysts, designers, film experts, art historians, and even philosophers have the same high life chances as a successful manager. Specialized knowledge is a significant resource, a capital that yields considerable dividends.
In addition, today’s era is called the visual era by cultural scientists and social scientists. Drawing, animation, 3D-image are the main carriers of messages. The visual image has replaced the auditory image. “An eye for an ear,” says Marshall McLuhan in his famous book, Understanding Mass Media. Images surround us everywhere: on the street, in the media, at home, in the office, on the road. Visualization has reached such a scale that it has overshadowed the textual presentation of information. The problematic of the body and the ways of bodily expression of meanings and emotions finds itself in the center of attention of the modern media. All this creates a huge space for the activities of art specialists.
Types of art education
What types of education refer to art education? In the classification of art education we use the division suggested by The University of the Arts London.
Fine Art & Design
This category includes design (graphic design, industrial design, illustration), painting, book design and graphics, sculpture and ceramics. It also includes specific practice-oriented specialties such as art therapy, or in other words, art therapy.
Academic areas also find a place in this group. In particular, art education. (This term is used in a different meaning from the one we originally used.) Those interested in teaching arts-related disciplines or in administering arts education programs enroll in this major. This group includes art and museum studies, which are appropriate for liberal arts theorists who love history.
Performing Arts
This group includes jobs in theater, dance, plastic arts, and music. The leaders in this field are British schools – Tech Music Schools and The University of the Arts College of Performing Arts. Apart from theoretical courses in music, dance, and theater theory, students also get a great deal of practical training and opportunities for individual and group performances, with future job prospects.
Media and Communications
The majors range from journalism (TV, radio and print journalism) to media planning, telemarketing and PR. Some of the top universities offering interesting programs are New York Film Academy (majoring in broadcast journalism with NBC NEWS), The University of the Arts London (College of Communication).
Design Education
Perhaps this is the area of greatest interest today.
Today we are dealing with designers in almost all spheres of industry: production of daily use goods, film and TV industry, publishing, construction, textile production. In this connection, there is a high demand among applicants for classical specialties: graphics and illustration, clothing design and interior design. There is also a notable interest in industrial design. Young highly qualified specialists are in demand in the field of consumer goods design (from household appliances to furniture).
The direction in education “visual communication” is widely known. Programs in this specialty train art directors who have an arsenal of tools for creating graphic design and attracting knowledge from other areas: photography, advertising, marketing, branding, project management.
Currently, the direction of “television design and animation” is actively developing. Professionals develop the style of channels, design TV programs, announcements and advertising campaigns. Students learn to create innovative computer games, cartoons, and television commercials.
“A designer is a professional whose vocation is to make our lives easier, to convey messages to certain audiences, or to create a shell of where people live and the objects they use,” says Alexander Avramov, director of the British Higher School of Design.
The leading foreign universities offering quality education in design are: in Italy – Instituto Marangoni, Instituto Europeo di Design, NABA (Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti), in the United States – Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Academy of Art University in San Francisco. In the UK, according to the Times University Guide rankings, the leading universities in Art & Design are universities known for their achievements in many academic fields: University of Loughborough, University of Brighton, University College London.
The art market offers a wide range of opportunities. Mastering the visual world and creating sustainable images is something you can do with a solid education. A quality education is a guarantee of success.