Career Success in the Arts

ARTS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & CAREER SUCCESS

Workshops from the Arts Division & Career Success

Keep an eye on Handshake for workshops and other career-related events, especially when they’re specifically for students in the Arts!

When possible, we record Arts-specific professional development events and provide slides afterward, for example: 

• RESUME & COVER LETTER WORKSHOP presented by Career Success for the Arts Division – PDF of the presentation slides.

• PORTFOLIO WORKSHOP FOR ARTS DIVISION STUDENTS – Watch this excellent presentation by Career Success in collaboration with the Arts Division for solid advice useful for all students as well as advice tailored for each major in the Arts Division!

     THOUGHTS FROM PROFESSIONALS/FACULTY ON THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING A PORTFOLIO:

• “What’s most important to me is clarity on how to connect with someone, and that’s usually on a website. I encourage every theatre artist to have a website and public social media profile. Even if they don’t have enough material to create a robust reel or developed portfolio, they should have an online presence that makes it easy for people to reach out to them. People might be surprised at how often I’ve had to reference random YouTube clips and IG reels to decided whether or not it’s worth pursuing a conversation with a designer/assistant, etc.”

• “The thing I hear most often from professional casting directors, theater directors and other arts leaders and administrators who hire is the importance of having a concrete website with an easy to find email address (NOT a contact form that goes to your email). Instagram/Tiktok links are great, folks like to see social media engagement, but a website that operates like an online portfolio, capturing all the artist’s talents in one place, is more helpful to folks who are hiring. We don’t have the time or space to go to five places to see work!”

Visit the Arts Division’s CAREER OPPORTUNITIES page!

See the Internship, Award, Scholarship & Grant Opportunities section in the Theater Arts Undergraduate Handbook.

UCSC Career Success Office

Students should tap into all of the critically important resources of the UCSC Career Success Office, including:

Handshake – sign up for the platform UCSC uses to connect students and alumni with campus and off-campus job search and career coaching resources! Handshake Video Overview for Students (YouTube)

Get info! –

1. Relevant weekly job posting – simply list at least one career interest in your Handshake profile for “Jobs Digests” emails! Details here.
2. Sign up for the Arts, Creative & Communications newsletter for tailored arts-related job listings and other opportunities in your email in-box!
   • You can receive two Handshake-based email updates with tailored information about jobs, internships and events relevant to your interests!
   • Sign up with these instructions.
3. PPD NEWSLETTERS: Get program and department-specific info. about upcoming events and opportunities and select outside announcements that may interest you through the THEA NOTES and AGPM Announce Google Groups! Sign up for either or both (the lists are not shared with any other department or organization and non-majors/minors may unsubscribe at any time). 
   • Sign up for THEA NOTES – (Theater Arts & Dance)
   • Sign up for AGPM Announce – (Art & Design Games + Playable Media)

Get help! –

Career Success offers students guidance and resources on:

• Resume and cover letter creation and editing
• Student employment guidance
• How to avoid job fraud
• Career videos on demand
• Career coaching
• and more!

• Schedule a coaching appointment or drop-in for career coaching and advising! 

Other great Career Success office resources:

• What Can I Do With This Major (navigate to the website link under “Get Started”)
• Planning Your Career Path Checklist
• Career Assessments
• Research Online Databases (career research websites list)

Faculty & Staff Mentorship  

In addition to working with your academic advisor, it is important to connect with others in the department who can serve as helpful mentors.

Permanent “Ladder rank” faculty are assigned as official mentors to Theater Arts majors as part of the declaration process, but all students may and should meet with faculty, including lecturers and staff as well.

Seek out the people in our department that teach classes or do work or research in areas that interest you – you can learn a little about them the PPD People page. They can be important and helpful resources to help you with the direction of your work, and to give you ideas about possibilities of what to do after completing your B.A. Keep them informed of what you are doing, discuss your work and interests with them, and ask what projects they’re working on too – this is part of networking!

When considering an internship, apprenticeship and job positions, and before applying to graduate school, it is highly recommended that you consult with at least one faculty member, preferably in a field related to the area(s) for which you are applying. If you take a class with them or you can help them become familiar with your work in other settings, they may be able to write letters of recommendation for your applications.

Faculty and staff bio and contact information is available on our People and Contact pages, and in the Campus Directory.

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KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL NETWORKING

1. Do good work!
2. Be good to work with!
3. Be in touch!

These three guidelines can set the foundation for successfully networking in the arts or any field. Networking in the arts, as in any field, involves building relationships with others in your area(s) of interest. Connecting with your peers at school, in internships, at work, as well as with faculty, staff and broader industry professionals and demonstrating that you are reliable and competent is the way to to advance at any level of your career. Establishing positive connections can lead to opportunities, support, and valuable new insights for your developing path. Doing this in online settings can be useful and eve essential (be sure to use the guidance above and have an online portfolio, resume and cover letter!). Meeting people in person when you can find the opportunity – at conferences, clubs/groups, exhibition receptions, etc. – is even more powerful and effective where you can share your online portfolio after chatting in real life!