A graduate in any area of the visual arts entering the professional arena today cannot expect to be looking to a streamlined career of employment. Instead his/her career will be a patchwork of activities crossing all professional and disciplinary boundaries from art-making to applied design commissions, occasional administrative jobs to part time teaching and back. Graduates will work in a variety of contexts from self-employed freelancing to private agencies, corporate structures and the public sector. This course aims at equipping students with fundamental knowledge and skills in a variety of professional skills that will help them to jumpstart their professional careers in the visual arts.

VART4036 Professional Practice for Visual Artists is made up by a sequence of workshops delivered by (external) professional specialists together with visual arts practitioners. Each workshop includes lectures, seminar-style talks as well as small practical assignments, which allow participants to get initial hands-on experience with the respective area. The intention of the course however cannot be to educate specialists, it rather aims to make aspiring professionals aware of these matters, and indicate ways of approaching potential problems arising.