Research Center for Arts and Culture Oral History Collection, 1990-1993

Biographical Note

The interviews of the Research Center for Arts and Culture oral history collection were conducted by the Research Center for Arts and Culture at Columbia University from 1990 to 1993. The Artist Training and Career Project, of which the interviews were a part, sought to systematically analyze the career paths, training, and job satisfaction of people working in the arts. In addition to the interviews, the project's inquiry included a detailed survey was sent to 6,133 actors, 4,000 craftspeople, and 2,000 painters. Portions of interviews were published in three books, edited by Joan Jeffri, the Director of the Research Center for Arts and Culture: The Craftsperson Speaks , The Painter Speaks , and The Actor Speaks . The project was supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Actors' Equity Association.

Scope and Contents

The interviews of the Artist Career and Training Project were conducted by the Research Center for Arts and Culture at Columbia University from 1990 to 1993. The project sought to systematically analyze the career paths, training, and job satisfaction of artists, craftspeople, painters, actors, and related professionals, such as museum curators, critics, dealers, managers, directors, producers, and union representatives. The interviews address education, training, preparation to career entry, peers and colleagues, marketplace judgments, critical evaluation and public response, and career satisfaction and maturity. The study strove to include diverse participants in terms of gender, ethnicity, age, and stage of career. Other themes frequently discussed include the use of other jobs to supplement a career in the arts, aging, Actors' Equity, materials used in crafts, and the very meaning of having a career in the arts. The Research Center for Arts and Culture oral history collection documents the experiences of artists, craftspeople, painters, actors, and related professionals, particularly as they relate to the arts as a career. The interview questions were designed around what the project members termed a "multistage validation sequence" that would trace the artists' experience from early childhood through mature careers. As a part of this model, the areas that the interviews address are education, training, preparation to career entry, peers and colleagues, marketplace judgments, critical evaluation and public response, and career satisfaction and maturity. The study strove to include diverse participants in terms of gender, ethnicity, age, and stage of career. Other themes frequently discussed include the use of other jobs to supplement a career in the arts, aging, Actors' Equity, materials used in crafts, and the very meaning of having a career in the arts. Related professionals interviewed in the course of the project include museum curators, art historians, critics, dealers, managers, directors, producers, and union representatives. Sixty-eight of the collection's 138 interviews have been transcribed.

Subjects

• Acting--United States
• Actors--Interviews
• Art--Economic aspects
• Artisans--Interviews
• Artists--Job satisfaction
• Art metal-workers--Interviews
• Decorative arts--United States
• Interviews
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Painters--Interviews
• Painting--United States
• Painting--United States
• Potters--Interviews
• Sculptors--Interviews

Access Conditions

For the majority of the interviews, copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 1990-1993. Narrators who maintained copyright are noted at the interview level.