the job-ready graduate: on the right path

Over the last decade there have been a range of policy initiatives to support young and emerging artists to develop innovative practice, for example the dedicated funding categories at the Australia Council and mentoring schemes such as Youth Arts Queensland’s Spark program. What appears unexamined in this focus on artist emergence is the university sector, from which many of these young artists begin their careers. Support programs from funding bodies offer pathways into professional practice, but how do young artists find their way towards these pathways in the first place? What routes do performance graduates take from university study to professional practice, and what strategies have universities adopted to assist their graduates to prepare for and manage this transition?

Read the rest of my recent article, The Job-Ready Graduate: On the Right Path, published in the print and online editions of RealTime #86, here.

Image: Rebecca Cunningham, 1 Litre of Blood, 1000kgs of Bullets, photo by Sharka Bosakova.