Encore's Arts Turn Career Minded This Fall

"Arts careers are very competitive."

"There is no future career when you pursue the arts."

These are common things that are told to students when they want to explore careers that involve artistry and creativity. The level of success in an arts career really depends on how you plan and how diverse / flexible you are willing to be in your arts field.

When people are looking at jobs for the future, there are quite a few that are moving into automation and are likely to be eliminated in the coming decades. The job world is evolving. One common agreeance with journalists and researchers for job security in the coming decades is the need for medical, technical, and creative jobs.

It is true that creative jobs top the list as being part of the top three industries that are not going to become automated. This is good news for all kinds of artists, performance, technical, and visual alike. A computer cannot and will not be creative. Students, whether they want a career in arts or not, need to learn how to explore their creativity so they can survive the job market in the coming decades.

Encore's Arts programs are evolving to fit the needs of graduating students to fit into the job market in the creative spectrum. Being able to combine the creativity of an artist with the knowledge and "know how" to prepare careers is critical to a young person's success.

Encore has been evolving the arts programs for about three years now. Over the course of the next school year, all of Encore's arts teachers are or will become credentialed teachers in their field with a career technical education emphasis. This means that all of that amazing creativity and mastery that students will gain in their arts lab classes will be combined with practical career training in that field. Students are going to learn how to research, seek and build their own career while exploring what they love. It will be like getting a double major in arts and business at the same time.

There are millions of people in the state of California and millions of ways to explore and get into a career. With the career technical education arts background that the students of Encore are receiving they are moving ahead of the competition because they are looking at their art as a business. Whether they become the next American Idol (almost had two this year from Encore) or the Voice (almost had one for each of the last two seasons) or if they are working on building their own record label, mural design business, film company, wedding photography, dance studio, or any other innovative way to explore their arts / creativity as careers - Encore students are learning how to plan for their future and think with a career minded brain.

Even if a student decides to go into medicine after graduation (current Encore surveys point to about 25% of Encore graduates go into the medical field after high school) skills gained from studying a passion, like art, to learn skills about building a career will make the skills translatable into other fields. Encore is very excited about where the future brings the young artists that turn career minded while at Encore High School. Intertwining the arts with career preparation is critical to getting young people to care about "What are you going to do with your life?"

This fall, with Encore's new online course platform, artists will have additional tools to explore and plan their careers for after high school. When students complete the series of courses, they will have been introduced to skills that will not only help them find a job and a career, but they will also have been exposed into how to turn their art into a viable business. They are learning how to be a business owner if that is what they desire to do. Creativity is going to run the world and creativity is not going anywhere. Creativity and artistry are two of the most wanted traits in a person that a computer cannot duplicate. It is time to celebrate that creativity and artistry with a strong background that will help them succeed.

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Denise Griffin, CEO is the author of this blog for Encore Education Corporation. Part of Encore Education Corporation is Encore High School, a free public performing arts regional high school in Southern California grades 7 - 12. Encore's program is currently taking applications for the fall 2020 enrollment. Encore offers full time, hybrid time, and independent study programs. Encore offers transporation from the Inland Empire and the high desert. www.encorehighschool.com. Where arts and academics grow together. WASC Accredited. Copyright 2020.