For the Field
SNAAP provides value to educators, policy makers and funders through publications, events, and more.
SNAAP was founded almost 20 years ago in response to the need for clear and reliable data as it was articulated by arts training institutions at that time. As the circumstances for higher education and the artistic and creative fields have been dramatically impacted over the last several years and continue to adapt and push forward for more change, SNAAP has been embarking on a process to refresh and take even deeper stock of the information and data needs of post-secondary institutions providing training in arts, design, arts administration and related creative fields.
In fall 2021, as part of these efforts, SNAAP set out to garner insights on pressing information needs within post-secondary arts and design fields as they relate to understanding and improving the careers and lives of graduates of related degree programs through a series of focus group conversations and interviews with faculty and administrators. The insights garnered through this process are presented in this report, Data, Pressing Needs, and Biggest Challenges: Insights from the Field.
Information Needs
DataBriefs
The SNAAP DataBrief provides topical findings useful to arts leaders in higher education and beyond.
2026: Volume 13, Number 5
Measuring Early-Career Earnings for Arts & Design Grads: Evidence from SNAAP on Income Volatility, Advanced Degree Pursuit, & Long-Term Career Trajectories
Dr. Joanna Woronkowicz, Dr. Christian Folk, Dr. Doug Dempster, Dr. Angie Miller, Lee Ann Scotto Adams, Mason Kerwick
2025: Volume 13, Number 4
Stepping Outside the Classroom: How University Contexts Shape Arts Alumni’s Entrepreneurial Intentions
Wen Guo, Ph.D., and David McGraw, Ph.D.
2025: Volume 13, Number 3
Agglomeration and the Success of Arts Majors Working in Entrepreneurship and Innovation
DataBrief prepared by Richard Paulsen, Ph.D.
2025: Volume 13, Number 2
Push and Pull Factors Impacting the Career Transitions of Artists and Arts Graduates Beyond the Creative Fields
Aisha Motlani, Ph.D.
Reports
SNAAP publishes annual findings based on the results of the SNAAP surveys as well as special reports.
Special Report 2026
Sense of Belonging Experiences of Arts and Design Alumni
Dr. Christian M. Folk, Dr. Angie Miller, & Dr. Nathan Martin
Special Report 2024
Arts and Design Alumni Employment and Perspectives on Their Work and Careers
Dr. Jennifer L. Novak-Leonard University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Special Report 2024
Reflections: Alumni Perspectives on their Postsecondary Experiences in Arts and Design
Dr. Jennifer L. Novak-Leonard & Dr. Shanita Bigelow University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Special Report 2024
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Arts and Design Alumni
Dr. Rachel Skaggs, Dr. Jennifer L. Novak-Leonard & Dr. Jeff Barbee
Conferences
The 2021 SNAAP Research Symposium, Learning from Arts Alumni: Supporting Careers and Addressing Inequities, took place on October 20 – 22.
The second 3 Million Stories conference took place March 3 – 5, 2016 in Tempe, AZ.
The first SNAAP conference (March 2013) brought together arts educators, policy makers and funders to investigate the arts school of the 21st century: “3 Million Stories: Understanding the Lives and Career of America’s Arts Graduates.”
SNAAP also offers workshops to institutions to assist them in using their data.
Data Sharing
The extensive, one-of-a-kind SNAAP database (housing survey data from 2008 — 2017) is available to qualified researchers on request. Under participation agreements with SNAAP institutions, data that identifies individual institutions or individuals cannot be shared. A fee may be requested to offset the time that SNAAP analysts will need to strip the data of any identifying information and prepare the data for transmittal. Please contact info@snaaparts.org for more information.
SNAAP is committed to enabling an array of scholarship and research about art and design graduates and will share details in 2023 about ways to access data From the 2022 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.
