Research

[moonyprof]

 My union voted to agree to two-day-a-month furloughs for an entire year.  There's absolutely nothing nice to say about this:  I think it was a superlatively dumb move to make without any concessions or conditions, like reduced layoffs or decreased student fees, or maybe even the execs forgoing their car allowances for a while.  I don't want to

Comments

[chibitoaster]

That whole "stitching together work" thing? I know it all too well, myself. Until I get my MFA, that's pretty much what I have to do to supplement my regular job in the slow times.

And yeah, layoffs seem inevitable at this point. Although there's a lot of optimism in the news (i.e. things are not getting worse as quickly as they were a few months ago), the end is not yet in sight.

As far as the college where I work is concerned, they've just been cutting back on adjunct faculty this year. Not so much on the number of them, but some who used to have two classes now have one. Some who were around for 3-credit courses now have 1- and 2- credit courses. It's sad to see it happen (especially since there are a few of them who drive from on end of the city to the other every other day), but at least it's something.

I work in the continuing education department, though, since I don't have my MFA yet. And that has been drastically cut. This fall/winter season, there are only a handful of classes. It's actually bad enough that I've backed out of my drawing class, and we've re-scheduled for the spring. :(

Well, good luck! As long as you're tenured, that's a little help. Not a guarantee in these times, but it's something!

[moonyprof]

The class cuts are horrible, too. The President of my school cut the *entire summer session* on the last day of spring classes. No, I did not mis-type that. I'm sure in September I will have even more than the usual number of students on the verge of tears, explaining that they need this class to graduate. Time to degree is increasing, too.

Where I am, if you're adjunct faculty, you get healthcare if you have a certain course load. If it dips below that, then suddenly you don't have healthcare coverage any more. That was top on my list of Stuff We Want to Prevent.

Oh, well. Let's hope for the best. I'm glad my specialty is literature. If I'm going to be un- or underemployed, at least I can be unemployed doing something I enjoy.

[chibitoaster]

That's about where I am in my career. No, I'm not in anything as glorious as a design firm or a staff illustrator for a publishing house (is there even such a creature anymore?). I work at a grocery store that values artists, and hires two of us to do any of the signs and illustrations needed for the store.

No, it doesn't pay a whole lot. But I've got benefits, and I can do what I like to do. Do what I'm good at, and what I'm meant to do. And in my off time, I can take freelance illustration jobs, volunteer for the schools and libraries, and sometimes get teaching gigs.

Fall programming at one of the art organizations I have worked for has been cancelled. This year's summer program where I was teaching drawing classes was cut drastically, too, and we ended up working with a skeleton crew.

But I'm working. And the recession will pass. And I live in a state that is putting more money into art programs, and still values higher education. So, that's good.

I really hope things get better for you guys out there. I had considered CalArts after I graduated in 2005, but decided the cost of living was too steep, and I'd be better off sticking around here and working a bit to get my debt down before heading off to grad school. Now I'm not entirely sure that was the best course of action, but at least I'm not in the terrible position of graduating with an expensive degree in a time when it's nearly impossible for an artist even with an MFA to get a good job.