Investing in Art Students

Do you ever get the feeling that someone's trying to tell you something? Giving hints, leaving little signs, even dropping notes? Recently, I had this funny feeling that someone or something wanted me to become an investment banker or a consultant, despite the fact that I want to be an artist. Perhaps it's silly, but the coincidences were uncanny. Every day when I came home from class, I found the basket on my door stuffed to the brim with neatly-packaged advertisements for banking and consulting companies. Fishing amongst the glossy paper, I would uncover The Crimson only to find its pages likewise filled with these ads; the sports section suddenly seemed like a recruiting forum.

Then there were the notes slipped under my door. Sometimes I found notes in my mailbox. Sometimes I was given toys with company logos. And everywhere I went on campus, posters promising a wonderful I-banking/consulting life lined the stairwells, covered the entrances to the dining halls and glared at me from every lamppost and tape-able surface imaginable. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but these messages left little room in my mind for misinterpretation: Forget art. I should bank or consult. But I'm stubborn, and so, naively, I ignored the signs thinking that new ones would inevitably appear guiding me along my dream-path to a sun-filled studio. I patiently waited for the ads, the posters, the notes, the toys, but found nothing. Then I started searching for them, hunting for them, reading anything that remotely seemed relevant. Nothing, nada, zilch.

What was going on? Was the art field being censored from the Harvard campus? Was I being sheltered from the potential hardships of becoming an artist, and instead being steered to more lucrative careers? Why this push, or rather shove, towards banking and consulting?

Although a little discouraged, I still had Career Week to look forward to. Surely my future job could be found in an entire week dedicated to the subject. Yet what I encountered was a collection of panelists lacking the representation of even a single person connected to the arts, a fair with 27 I-bank booths, 42 consulting firms and zero remotely relevant artistic professions (unless two advertising companies sufficed)--and more toys, fliers and posters, none of which pertained to an art career. Then I really was discouraged.

While I am not such a conspiracy-theorist to believe that the University is deliberately trying to subvert the aspirations of its art students, the school must become aware of the power of what it does not say or do. It is human nature to crave a certain amount of recognition and even approval. Harvard's mute stance towards its art students leaves them with the impression that they are not worthwhile, not of value, at least in relation to students pursuing other occupations. Granted, there are more students interested in banking and consulting than in art, yet the approximately 50 seniors concentrating in the History of Art and Architecture or Visual and Environmental Studies do not constitute an insignificant portion of the student body. If any group needs guidance and support, it is these students whose future career paths will most likely be winding rather than direct.

Although the same process for finding a banking or consulting job does not necessarily apply to finding a job in the arts, such as with recruiting, there are certain actions Harvard could take to offer a little more support. There are two great challenges facing prospective artists; first, discovering and focusing in on a particular career out of the numerous choices, and second, learning how to break into that career.

Harvard could help to overcome these obstacles by, for instance, hosting a panel of artists from a variety of careers who could give students a better sense of their options and how to achieve them. Artist-alumni could be invited to speak, providing encouraging examples. Additionally, continuing to update the resources in the Reading Room, offering portfolio reviews and holding discussions with the standard bribe of free pizza for attendance would all be extremely beneficial. Not only would such plans ease student worries about the daunting task of entering the art world, but they would also give students the essential recognition and respect that they need in order to strive for and obtain their goals.

This is not to say that support for art students is entirely lacking at Harvard; the University does offer many forms of guidance to those who take the initiative to seek out advice. The career counselors at OCS are extremely knowledgeable and committed to helping students. However, the amount of attention that Harvard devotes towards I-banking and consulting detracts from the significance of pursuing other paths. Students feel obliged to at least consider these high-profile careers and tend to feel lost when they look for evidence of the school's encouragement of alternative options--such as an art career.

Alexandra K. Olson '01 is a sociology concentrator in Lowell House.