Benefits
Information gathered through SNAAP not only benefits arts training institutions, but also policy makers, arts leaders, and parents and students considering intensive arts training. The information provides the first national profile of how artists prepare in this country and allows for deepened understanding of what constitutes artistic success and contribution. In addition, data gathered through SNAAP can assist government entities, funding organizations and arts leaders in making investment decisions in education, training and resource allocation.
Image Credit: The University of Texas at Austin
Why is SNAAP important now?
Arts training institutions have articulated an urgent need for objective data. The information that SNAAP provides is especially timely, given the changing environment in which arts training institutions operate: career opportunities are shifting, competition for both students and resources is on the rise, a generational shift in leadership is underway, and a global pandemic rages on. Institutions require data to respond and plan effectively. Accreditation requirements also include data regarding alumni paths.
For postsecondary institutions that grant degrees in the arts SNAAP provides information to:
- address alumni career needs, enhance developments efforts, and improve institutional hires
- strengthen curriculum by discovering what artists need to advance in rapidly changing arts fields
- clarify what students learned and how it has been used in both arts and non-arts contexts
For policy makers, community development professionals and funders, SNAAP provides systemic information about:
- what led artists to pursue careers in the arts and other fields, including financing and other resource factors
- local and regional arts workforce issues and market patterns for community developers and planners
- how students who have trained intensively in the arts contribute to the creative economy nationally
- gaps in the arts training ecology, across disciplines, at different training junctures and across various geographic locales
- support mechanisms and resources needed to encourage and sustain artists in their most vulnerable five years after school and beyond
For parents and students considering intensive arts training, SNAAP provides information about:
- arts career paths
- educational resources
- the roles of professional relationships
- obstacles to achieving arts training and professional goals
Administrators, staff and faculty describe how they use SNAAP data to improve their programs in the SNAAP Casebook.
This compilation of direct quotes from administrators illustrates how they use SNAAP data and the value they provide.
Each of these conversations contributed a case to this collection – a casebook – of examples where administrators, staff, and faculty have used SNAAP data to help their institutions and programs. In some cases, the best value came from using their own institutional SNAAP data. For other cases, using and comparing to aggregate (national) SNAAP data proved pivotal. We have found that the main applications of the data include revamping recruiting efforts, implementing new and relevant curriculum, and formulating proposals that resulted in funding for programs.
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.
