If there is one thing that is great about careers – it’s the choice at hand. There are so many paths we can go down, and a whole bunch of transferable skills we can take across. Someone skilled in events could transfer those skills to the corporate side of popular sports. We’ve got a lot of options in our career paths, and we’re almost spoiled for choice. There’s a lot we can do with our lines of work, and a lot of room for upward growth – but there are also plenty of options for moving to new career paths in different areas.
The arts and creativity is one of these career paths. There are a lot of different roles one can take in creativity. For one, we can harness our skills and our creativity and earn money with our skills. Roles can vary from being a voice-over artist to a creative designer, and all sort of skill sets are accommodated for. If you’ve got a talent, you could certainly find some sort of use for it in the creative arts industry. From acting to creation and design, there’s work out there. Even if you’re an admin genius, or a HR professional, your skills are needed in the arts.
One thing we need to talk about before we begin. A career in the arts can be quite unstable – you’ll need to rely on your freelancing instincts to earn a bit of a solid paycheck, and you could find yourself holding down multiple roles. Certainly, there are talented creatives who work a number of days a week on a second role to subsidize their art – work as copywriters, painters, decorators or even bar staff roles are used to ensure an artist can fund their exploits. It’s pretty common for creatives to look for two roles if they are serious about their craft. These roles can help a creative thrive and should certainly not be looked down upon. Part-time roles can ensure a creative has transferable skills to take towards other career paths and lines of work as well – just in case there is a change of heart regarding a certain line of work. It’s probably worth looking into funding as well – certain organisations and councils will award creatives money or a scholarship so that they can focus on their art. It takes a lot of time to research and create an application for external funding, but if an application is successful, it could be life changing. Other funding can be found from crowdsourcing. If you’ve got a particularly good idea, you might present it on Kickstarter and Indiegogo to attract funders. This is hard work though, as you’ll need to promote your crowdfunding page to attract investors and meet your target. You’ll also need to deliver on your promises – there are plenty of crowdfunding horror stories out there. Patreon is a good way of attracting monthly funds, and plenty of creators have found incredible success through Patreon. It takes a good idea and a worshipping of the followers though in order to reward them for parting with their cash. The life of an artist can require you to be as much of a salesperson as you are a creative, especially so if you are going it alone.
With that being said, some serious work can be found as a creative. It might be on a self-employed basis, or it could be something that sees you take on a role at a company, performing creative work.
Voice acting is an area where self-employed talents can thrive. New voice talent is always, always being sought after – simply because there is a dependence on proven talent – which can get production studios in trouble. They have their favourites, and for a good reason – but this creates a number of problems, especially with the projects a studio has to complete on a daily basis. If a studio is using the same voices on the vast majority of its work, it can get noticed by clients. New voices are needed in this industry – so if you’ve got a commanding voice, or can twist words around – why not create a demo and see if you can get in touch with a production studio.
Voice acting isn’t the only method of acting that can get you paid – you only need to see the budget of a TV series to realise the money that actors and actresses are paid for even the smallest of projects! There are plenty of exceptions to the rule, though – but for the most part, talented actors and actresses can find work. Work won’t usually come to a stage worker though, auditions and casting calls are the order of the day – especially so for beginners to the craft, fresh out of drama school. Don’t be put off even if you don’t have qualifications though – certainly a background in the arts can help, but some newcomers have carried roles to the awards. You’ll need to hone your craft though, so don’t be afraid to leap out of your comfort zones to build a portfolio.
Acting isn’t the only way you can get paid though – recently podcasters, of all things, have seen great success in earning cash from their talents. Not only have some award-winning podcasts been picked up by massive radio networks, but one podcast, in particular, is being developed as a TV show. Aaron Mahnke’s LORE has been purchased by Amazon – but not only that, Mahnke’s devotion to the craft has picked up a number of followers – something he earns money from due to a successful Patreon campaign that is constantly rewarding this podcaster for his ingenuity. Certainly, you shouldn’t get into this area to find a career, but you might be able to craft one from it regardless!
There are plenty of ways you can earn money from creative talents – but one thing is for sure – you’ll need to work hard at developing and honing your talents to ensure you’re creating the best stuff out there. Otherwise, nobody will part with their cash!
Are you considering a career in the arts? Share your experiences or thoughts in the comments below
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