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Arts and Entertainment Career Overview
The field of Arts and Entertainment includes a range of disciplines that encompasses many activities or interests that someone would participate in during their leisure time. The wide range of activities offered by the Arts and Entertainment industry from watching live theater to visiting a museum to going to a sporting event provides a diverse group of careers to facilitate and make these activities happen.
While there are many fields of arts and entertainment they are most often categorized into two broad groups:
Live performances or events - these include local and national theatrical performances such as plays, musicals, and dance performances, musical entertainment including bands, orchestras, disc jockeys, and professional sporting events
Historical, cultural, or educational exhibits - preservation and exhibiting of objects, natural wonders, historic sites with cultural or educational significance including museums, zoos, botanical gardens, and nature parks
An individual who is interested in a career in the arts and entertainment industry can choose to work behind the scenes or in a position that provides them with exposure to the public. Although each position has its own unique requirements there are many shared characteristics including:
Career Education
Individuals interested in entering a career in the arts and entertainment industry should possess a high school diploma or GED. Performing artists such as musicians, dancers, and actors will often complete a post-high school program at a performing arts academy in order to get more formalized training and additional practical experience. Successful completion of a bachelor's degree is necessary for those performing artists who are interested in becoming teachers after finishing their live performance career. Those interested in working behind the scenes for a theatrical production company, for example, as technical support will have different education needs. People working in production of live events often start their careers in entry level positions and learn on the job. Some choose to complete programs at local technical schools, community or junior colleges in audio-visual, sound or broadcast technology, or electronics in order to get training and hands-on experience before starting their career.
Employment as a professional athlete requires a great deal of talent and dedication as the competition is intense. Although some athletes are recruited directly from high school most professional athletes complete a bachelor's degree at a four-year college or university. Most will play their sport while in college and gain more experience as well as learn practical skills and knowledge to assist them when their professional athletic career has ended.
Schools for Arts And Entertainment are listed in the column to the left.
This table shows summary data on occupations in the US. Clicking on any occupation name brings you to a page showing job prospects and salaries for that occupation in hundreds of metro areas across the country, with data updated through 2008.(Where data is denoted by an asterisk (*), summary info was not available.
The green bars in the table below indicate the relative salary levels and growth rates of each occupation, compared to the others. The levels are determined by sorting the occupations (by salary or growth rate, separately) and then dividing them into ten groups corresponding to the the ten possible green bar levels. So a single bar means the occupation is in the bottom 10% for that characteristic compared to others on this page.
Click each Occupation title for more details.
| Occupation | Jobs | Median Pay | % Growth 2006-2016 | Video |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actors | 44,360 | * |  11.6% | |
| Art Directors | 33,670 |  $76,980 |  9% | |
| Audio and Video Technicians | 45,200 |  $38,050 | 24.2% |  |
| Broadcast Technicians | 33,550 |  $32,900 | 12.1% | |
| Camera Operators | 19,270 | $41,670 | 11.5% | |
| Coaches | 175,720 |  $28,340 |  14.6% | |
| Communication Equipment Workers | 19,770 | $52,930 |  10.2% | |
| Craft Artists | 5,440 | $29,080 | 8% | |
| Editors | 110,010 | $49,990 | 2.3% | |
| Film and Video Editors | 18,720 | $50,560 | 12.7% | |
| Fine Artists | 9,380 | $42,650 | 9.9% | |
| Multimedia Artists | 31,500 | $56,330 | 25.8% | |
| Music Directors and Composers | 9,120 | $41,270 |  12.9% | |
| Musicians and Singers | 47,030 | * | 10.1% | |
| Photographers | 61,670 | $29,440 | 10.3% | |
| Producers and Directors | 78,060 | $64,430 | 11.1% | |
| Public Relations Specialists | 240,610 | $51,280 | 17.6% | |
| Radio and Television Announcers | 37,290 |  $26,940 | -8.2% | |
| Reporters | 50,690 | $34,850 | 1.2% | |
| Translators | 36,610 | $38,850 | 23.6% | |
| Writers | 44,170 | $53,070 | 12.8% | |
These schools offer particularly quick info upon request, and we have written detailed profiles for each (click school names to see the profiles).
Request info from multiple schools, by clicking the Get Info links.
We have some additional detailed pages at the state level for Arts and Entertainment.
Numbers in parentheses are counts of relevant campus-based schools in the state; online schools may also be available.
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