SNAAPShots Pulse Edition
Employment After Arts Education
SNAAP Pulse is an invitation-only survey of arts and design alumni offering a unique opportunity to amplify the voices of creative communities.
Arts and design alumni across the United States continue to balance creativity, purpose, and practicality in today’s workforce, according to results from the 2025 SNAAP Pulse core survey. With most respondents engaged in creative work, either full-time or as part of hybrid careers, graduates report strong connections between their artistic training and professional lives. At the same time, they identify ongoing challenges, such as inconsistent pay, limited benefits, and uneven opportunities for advancement.
This national snapshot draws on responses from thousands of arts alumni representing more than 100 colleges and universities, offering a detailed look at how creative professionals build sustainable careers in a changing economy.
In Fall 2025, 2,516 alumni from 122 U.S.-based colleges and universities responded to the core survey as part of SNAAP Pulse – an ongoing data collection survey effort. The survey asked questions about respondents’ experiences at work, both within and outside of creative fields, and any new skills they have gained. The following figures and statistics give an overview of the responses.
Figure 1 shows the share of respondents’ income from arts-related work: Nearly 59 percent of alumni working in arts and design reported earning between 76 and 100 percent of their income from arts-related work, while 28 percent earned between 0 and 25 percent. About 29 percent were not working in the arts at the time of the survey and are excluded from this analysis.
Figure 1: Percent income earned from arts-related work among arts and design alumni respondents
Source: 2025 SNAAP Pulse Core Survey
Figure 2 illustrates the main occupations of respondents and the share of those working for one or multiple employers. Education occupations are the most common, encompassing higher education, K – 12, teaching artists, and others. By contrast, arts-based therapy is the least common occupation. Among those listing theatre, dance, or music performance as their main occupation, 61.8 percent reported working for multiple employers, higher than in most other occupations.
Figure 2: Main occupations reported by arts and design alumni respondents
Source: 2025 SNAAP Pulse Core Survey
Figure 3 reports respondents’ satisfaction with several aspects of their work. The results show that independence ranked highest, while pay and benefits received the lowest ratings.
Figure 3: Average level of satisfaction with work among arts and design alumni respondents
Source: 2025 SNAAP Pulse Core Survey
Technical Notes
- Main occupation refers to the job in which respondents spend the majority of their paid work time. Respondents with multiple occupations identified a single “main” role.
- Satisfaction was measured on a 1 – 4 scale (1 = very dissatisfied; 4 = very satisfied). Weighted averages were calculated by aspect and income level.
- All data are weighted using the procedures outlined in the SNAAP Technical Documentation.
Source: 2025 SNAAP Pulse Core Survey
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Arts and Design Alumni
The authors of this report, Dr. Rachel Skaggs, Dr. Jennifer L. Novak-Leonard and Dr. Jeff Barbee, provide insight into arts and design graduates whose work is — or before the pandemic was — in the arts, design, or creative realm by examining their working lives, economic lives, and the skills that they needed to attain or update during the first two years of the pandemic in the United States. This report was supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
