Maybe I shouldn’t have been shocked…but shocked I was. It wasn’t exactly what people were writing that surprised me, but rather the rabid intensity behind the words.                                          

In reviewing the thread of letters that followed Heather Ryan’s recent Salon.com article “My Cupboard was Bare” http://open.salon.com/user_blog.php?uid=1454, I couldn’t help but notice the reaction readers had concerning her choice of graduate degree. The comments ranged the gambit from smug rebuff to violent condemnation. You would have thought she devoted three years of her life running strange experiments on small, helpless puppies in some university medical lab on behalf of some pharmaceutical company.  But no, she wasn’t doing anything nearly so heinous. Instead she spent three years of her life sitting at a desk writing fiction, reading literature, and discussing everything from semiotics to postmodern literature in a seemingly endless series of seminars. How do I know this? Because that is largely what you do when you’re studying for a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. 

So why so much volatile emotion over getting an MFA degree in Creative Writing?

In case you missed this article, I’ll give you a brief summary. As a single mother, recently divorced, living in Eugene, Oregon and making a mediocre income doing office work, Heather Ryan found herself in a position in which she had no other choice but to take her three children to a soup kitchen for dinner. It’s not a terribly new story really. Many single mothers have had to do far worse than seek out charity to support their children. Some have resorted to shoplifting or even prostitution. So going to a soup kitchen strikes one as comparatively benign considering the alternatives.  

The point Ryan was trying to make is that there are a lot of financially border line people out there right now who are relying more and more on food banks and soup kitchens to supplement their income. You would think a story like this would inspire only sympathy from readers. We all know people are hurting right now, don’t we? It’s not quite the Great Depression…well, not yet…but people are suffering under the strain of inflated gas prices, skyrocketing grocery costs, and the deflating housing market. Yet although many people did respond with sympathetic and supportive posts, the majority saw a vulnerable opening and attacked Ryan like salivating vultures circling a wounded animal. (I know. Vultures don’t salivate, but I still feel the fantastical cartoonish image applies.)    

Still, why the visceral reaction?                                                                                                                     

The answer is simple. Ryan repeatedly mentions throughout the article that she has an MFA degree in Creative Writing. Actually, she uses this factoid to make the point that nobody with an advanced degree—a terminal degree, no less—should ever live in poverty. Her premise is that an advanced degree entitles you to a decent paying job in which you can support yourself and three children fairly comfortably. This isn’t a terribly crazy leap of logic. If you think about it, this idea conforms to the fairy tale we tell our children growing up. If you go to college, you’ll get a good job. If you don’t, you’ll end up a hobo hopping box cars and scavenging through people’s trash cans for the rest of your life.

However, these words lit more than one fuse…and those fuses blew up into a variety of angry responses that basically came to the same conclusion. If you got an MFA in something as frivolous as the arts, then you must’ve been drinking some crazy Kool-Aid when you applied to graduate school. Everyone knows there are no good jobs in the arts…much less writing. Pursuing this under water basket weaving degree is all well and good when you’re 18, but once you’re an adult, you should know better. You’re gambling with your future. You’re never going to find a career. You and your family will end up living in abject poverty. When the end of your miserable life does finally arrive, you’ll drop dead penniless, hunched over your lap top, an overeducated corpse whose family will have to sell his body to science just to pay off his student loans.  All this suffering…the result of that one poor choice…getting an MFA in Creative Writing.

As someone who finished his MFA in Creative Writing five years ago, I understand these sentiments. I may even concede that some of their points are justified. However, I would be negligent if I did not offer an alternative perspective. It seems many have a misconception about what an MFA degree is and the kind of career opportunities available to people who complete these programs. I’ve worked in the arts for over thirteen years now and have met many people who have prospered, survived, and floundered in their arts career. So despite the hardships I’ve experienced and watched others endure, I can say that getting a graduate degree in the arts does not necessarily condemn you to a life of poverty…if you play your cars right and…(gulp)…compromise.      

We’ll delve into this complex topic by addressing the issues raised against this degree program.               

An MFA is a Worthless, Self-Indulgent Degree                                                                                                                 

Is an MFA self-indulgent? Maybe. Is it worthless? Absolutely not.

An MFA is a terminal degree in which the student’s focus is on some kind of fine art. Universities offer these degrees in Creative Writing, Theatre Arts, Music, Painting, Sculpting, and even Arts Administration. As a terminal degree, an MFA is considered the equivalent to a PhD. in the academic areas it covers, enabling people who hold this degree to teach at a university or community college.

For three years, students study and practice their craft. This here is the distinction between an MFA and a PhD. One is a professional degree in which the student is given the resources and environment to develop their craft in an artistic area while the other is a research degree in which the student learns how to delve into an academic topic and produce new knowledge about some specific area of his or her discipline. While an MFA student will produce a new work of art, a PhD. will produce a dissertation that will analyze a piece of art.  I highlight this distinction because it underscores the purpose of the MFA as a terminal degree that is equivalent to a PhD. within its discipline. Frankly, I doubt anybody would have attached Heather so viciously if she said she held a PhD. in Literature. (Or maybe I’m wrong.)

This begs the question. How can an MFA be worthless unless, of course, you do not value the arts…or the artists that create these new works? (Unfortunately this is becoming increasingly true in the United States as the response to this article illustrates.)

Is it that the degree does not seem practical? Is it that there are no promises attached to the degree?  Granted, an MFA is no guarantee that you’ll end up having a great career as an artist…or that you’ll even be a decent artist at the end of the program. However, the same can be said of Law school. There’s no telling if a student will turn out to be another Supreme Court Justice…or a wash out. (I’ve actually met a former lawyer who gave up his profession to pursue a career in acting. He found no bliss in the courtroom. But on stage…he did indeed find his joy.) The same is true for an MFA program. It merely provides students with a fertile ground where they can explore and discover their potential as artists. The degree itself can’t promise success or even employment…but neither can any degree.  

I should note, as a hiring manager, I interview plenty of recent graduates with degrees in business, international relations, English, and political science who struggle to find gainful employment.

 And, honesty, a degree plays a lesser role when deciding on a job candidate than his or her past work experience.        

But what about job security, you ask. These degree fields might not immediately open doors for students, but in the long run they’ll be more prosperous than some muralist.      

On one level, I’ll concede this is largely true. However, as the dot com bust proved and the oncoming recession will again remind us, there is no such thing as job security in the business world. I’ve have friends who work in the dot com field who have been unemployed for over a year. I know an MBA who recently had to take a job as a telemarketer to make ends meet. I met a guy with a degree in architecture who ended up working as a construction worker. Lets be honest. A degree, no matter the discipline, guarantees you absolutely nothing.  

Not an MFA in Music…not an MBA in Finance.

You’ll Have No Career in The Arts

This takes me back many years.

When I first started doing theatre in college, I helped a Guest Equity Artist named David Kim move into his apartment. He had come down from San Francisco to perform in a show at The Western Stage in Salinas. Noticing that I was young and new to this field, he kindly offered to make some coffee and talk with me about his experience working in theatre. His words still ring in my ears because they proved so true, and I think they apply to all the arts no matter your medium.

“Theatre is not a career,” he said. “It’s a lifestyle.” 

At the time I was too young and inexperienced to realize it, but this young actor had just given me some advice that could save many aspiring artists a headache.

First, a life in the arts is not a 9 to 5 job. You can’t just go home after work and wash away all the headaches of the day in the shower. Actually, the shower is an idea chamber for an artist; a veritable incubator where the steam from the water excites something in the imagination that often sparks some insight about the project you’re working on. Also, most artists carry their work home. (Most actually work from home, so there really is no escape from the office). An artist’s whole life—her romances, family relationships, friendships, business partnerships, acquaintances, everything—will revolve around her art. Although the same can be argued about many career paths, there is one major difference.

While this kind of dedication on a traditional career path will lead to a steady progression toward a certain goal, this is not the case in the arts. Very rarely does an artist’s life or her work follow a linear step by step progression. There is no corporate ladder per se. It’s more like surfing. Sometimes you catch the right wave and win that plumb role or write that killer story. Other times, however, you slip up and crash in the water, missing the next big break, but thankful you haven’t been devoured sharks. There’s always another audition, another submission deadline, another art show.

Yet, despite this fact, you can still have a comfortable life in the arts with a few compromises.

Now before I outline this…I want to address the critics who will inevitably descend. What I am going to propose here is to have a back-up plan. Others will rightly argue this isn’t a good idea. Succeeding in the arts is difficult enough when it’s the sole focus of your life. If you try to divide your time between a “real” job and your art, you’ll never succeed. The real job will anchor you down. It’ll consume all your time. You’ll never get any meaningful work done.

This is a pervasive sentiment. I even once heard a literary agent say he would not represent anyone if they had a job outside of writing. He wanted them working like it was a 40 hour work week even if they weren’t making money. One frustrated writer asked him how the writers he represented ate. He answered with a shrug. “Playwrights don’t eat a Whole Foods.”

I’ve even heard professional writers scoff at teacher/writers as if the paying profession diluted their artistic output.  

First off, I agree with everything stated above…to an extent.

Ideally, you should pursue your artistic career like a 40 hour a week job. It should be your life. It should be your lifestyle. This, of course, is an idealistic situation. You can only do this when you’re young…meaning when you barely know what you’re doing as an artist.

Yet…like it or not…life happens. Artists are not immune. You get older. You get married. You have kids. The next thing you know: you need a steady paycheck and health insurance. The time has come to compromise. It’s time to get a “real” job and pursue the art after hours.

There’s nothing wrong in this…nor should it be seen as a failure. It’s merely a reality. Sometimes you can even find a “real” job that gives you the flexibility to pursue your artistic aspirations more fully than a 9-5 job, but these jobs, mostly located in the ivory tower of academia, are competitive to get as any job hunting blog post on the Chronicle of Higher Education will painfully illustrate.

But anyone interested in pursuing this type of career should face facts. This is America, not Europe. The government would rather spend money on war than the arts. The funding isn’t there to support professional artists.

I once knew an artistic director who pointedly said one of the reasons he was so successful was that he never got married and had children.

So what the hell kind of job can an MFA get?

I know it sounds like I’m arguing for the opposition…but I’m not.             

There’s plenty you can do with an MFA.

It all comes down to the individual. What is his or her skill set? What’s his or her prior work experience? What kind of temperament does he or she have?

I know someone who had both an MFA and a PhD. in Theatre who ended up working as a trainer for Bank of America. Do you think his degree was pointless? Absolutely not. The communication skills those degrees develop directly translate to working in corporate training.

What about an MFA in painting? They can become a house painter! (Just kidding) There are plenty of jobs in graphic or interior design.

Or writing? There’s editing, copywriting, public relations, publishing, marketing, nonprofit development…countless jobs where the skill set will transfer.

So, just remember this the next time you hear someone run down an MFA…

It’s not the degree…It’s the individual.