Overview
SNAAP is an online survey, data management and institutional improvement system designed to enhance the impact of arts-school education. SNAAP provides the first national data on how artists develop in this country, helps identify the factors needed to better connect arts training to artistic careers and allows education institutions, researchers and arts leaders to look at the systemic factors that helped or hindered the career paths of alumni, whether they work as artists or have pursued other paths.
Who is surveyed, and what kinds of questions are asked?
SNAAP defines “the arts” and “arts alumni” broadly, to include the following fields: performance, design, architecture, creative writing, film, media arts, illustration and fine art.
Graduates of institutions that participate in SNAAP are invited to complete SNAAP’s online questionnaire. Beginning with the 2011 administration, all members of every graduating class are surveyed.
Arts alumni are asked about:
- satisfaction with curricular and extracurricular experiences
- current and past education and employment
- relevance of arts training to work and further education
- types of art practiced and how often
- support and resource needs following graduation
- experiences as teachers
- income and support, student debt and other financial issues
The complete 2015 questionnaire can be found here.
How is SNAAP administered?
SNAAP partners with art and design colleges and conservatories and arts schools and departments within comprehensive colleges and universities to administer the survey to their graduates. SNAAP is a user-friendly web-based survey specifically developed to reflect the nonlinear nature of arts training and careers.
What do participating institutions receive?
Institutions receive reports and a complete dataset. The reports summarize the lives of alumni since graduation for:
- comparisons and analysis of the national aggregate group, and peer group, of respondents on key indicators (e.g., graduation rates, percentage pursuing arts careers, non-arts career paths, income levels)
- confidential internal institutional analyses of their alumni with appropriate comparison groups
- access to data files for individualized institutional research
To learn more view our Sample Institutional Reports.
