I have this opportunity to go anywhere for art school( architecture, film and culinary too ) its all paid for plus i will get a monthly stipend,
Im 30 years old, very good at drawing i have an excellent portfolio. but i dont know where i should go. anywhere in europe, australia usa and canada. i just want something new been living in the midwest for a long time. i just want suggestions.
So, you’re looking for recommendations for a place to get an art degree (BFA? MFA?) Or are you looking for non-degree programs? Both?
Anyhow, I know a handful of artsy and/or academic types who’ve taught at schools including the Baltimore Institute College of Art, RISD, and CalArts. All have had good experiences. I’ve got a friend who teaches at the architecture school at Cornell, now, too, after spending some years as a museum curator. Friends who were art undergrads at Cornell (my alma mater; although I wasn’t in architecture, art, or planning personally, I did live in the art dorm near that part of campus for a couple of years) don’t speak that fondly of the place, but the architecture school is a very good one assuming you can get in. I believe the BArch is a five-year degree, though, so if your deal might happen cover only four years you’ll want to look elsewhere.
I also know a woman who went to St. Martin’s College in the UK, and another who went to Goldsmith’s, whatever that is, for some kind of master’s or postgraduate certificate in something digital/multimedia. Neither complains, both have successful design-related careers, although the woman who went to St. Martin’s is the kind of rich person who basically gets a weird posh job (buying, selling and occasionally designing absurdly expensive, impractical furniture, in her case) for a hobby. The Goldsmith’s woman is an actual normal human with a real job requiring her to sit and design things in a studio for money she needs to live.
Oh, and I also know people who have both studied and taught at various schools in Italy, all of whom have rhapsodized about it. But most were just Americans spending a year abroad on an English-medium program for rich foreigners; the teacher was teaching short courses to Americans studying in… maybe Abruzzo? Can’t recall. But he was also a professor at the Politecnico di Milano for a few years before that, which is a serious school.
this is just an opportunity that just dropped on my lap, all i need is to get accepted in a reputable school.
what im looking for is a greeat country thats not too expensive so i can save and invest a portion of my stipend in the four years of studying.
im actually experienced in drawing, have an excellent portfolio. but im also looking to do film, i always wanted to direct a film.
I just want a a place to enjoy my early 30s, hot girls are a bonus. thought about Amsterdam but their university is hard to get into. im not a partier or drinker. im going to focus mostly on school and enjoying the city ill be in. it can be anywhere, even australia.
>what im looking for is a greeat country thats not too expensive so i can save and invest a portion of my stipend in the four years of studying.
Italy is relatively cheap and has reputable programs in art, design, and film.
>I just want a a place to enjoy my early 30s, hot girls are a bonus.
This is not the same request as described above, IMO. A 30something (undergraduate?) may or may not hit it off with his classmates. I’ve got a 40something friend who’s now in grad school in Athens and he’s having a great time, but he’s focused on school, not pulling chicks.
>thought about Amsterdam but their university is hard to get into.
Amsterdam can be great, but it’s not a cheap city. Not sure which school you’re looking at (I almost went to grad school in Leiden, which is an excellent university overall, but is not in Amsterdam, and I don’t even know if they’ve got an art program), but I’m sure they’ve got at least a few schools that are good for arts stuff. A friend went to the Vrije Universiteit there and liked it—it’s also very easy to get into if you’re a foreigner who can pay full overpriced foreigner tuition IIRC—but it’s also not known as an art school.
Try applying to a school in Austria. Just make sure they don't reject you right away.
lol, i thought about Vienna
Italy is the first thing that came to mind, ive been in the west coast of europe already (spain, portugal and france) i always wanted to visit italy.
about the hot girls thing, its not like im trying to date or pull women, just being surrounded by them gives me good boost in happiness. im a foreigner and the staggering fees will be payed off. Im just 30 years old, i dropped out of college when i was 21 and made m,oney my own way, but this feels like a great opportunity, cuz i will be payed to do something that i love and build connections as well.
looking at schools, but paris is quite expensive.
Rome is better anyway. But really, don't consider anything else besides these two. Networking and opportunities is everything. I went to college to a small town and I regret it. Creative and driven people need space to grow.
i agree, thats why i dropped out, it felt like i was going nowhere. this is a second chance thats completely paid for, thanks for the advice, Rome is at the top of my list.
I welcome any other suggestions, i really would like film, but drawing and art in general is what im really good at, im not kidding i draw portraits and comics.
Filming short films in rome seems like a an excellent idea.
Go to Rome or Paris. These two are artists home since forever.
bump
as a northgay living at 65°N I will contribute with the notion of FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING please do not choose a location that turns into a cold black abyss during winter time
every year we somehow manage to forget the dread of winter here
DO NOT make the same mistake
i want out of here
Yeah, because seasonal inspiration has never struck any artist and tension, even depression, is so terrible for artists…
Making good art means suffering the pain of creation. If you avoid misery, pain, and suffering, you’re not going to make it.
go to calarts
isnt Calarts dead? especially after tumblr lgbtq people run it now. and California is quite expensive.
I agree, I went to college in a small mountain town, nothing to do there except snowboard. god it was depressing.
>isnt Calarts dead?
My friend who worked there until last year didn’t seem to think so. It’s still putting on exhibitions and graduating students.
>especially after tumblr lgbtq people run it now
Are you unironically complaining about, or even expressing surprise at, the preponderance of queer liberal types at … an art school? In California?
Queers and leftists (or before modern leftists, who’ve maybe only been at the helm for the last century and a half or so, political dissenters of other flavors) have been in charge of art, or certainly very well-represented in art….
I was going to say “since the Renaissance,” but then I remembered classical Greek and Roman traditions. So maybe “for as long as there’s been art.” I don’t know about their politics, but I’m sure at least half of the Neolithic cavemen painting animals on rocks were fricking each other.
>isnt Calarts dead? especially after tumblr lgbtq people run it now.
tumblr is dead period, the LGBTQ were the ones keeping it alive with the awesome gay porn, till Yahoo bought it. Now its just an algorithm run advertising space for articles for roasties
>isnt Calarts dead?
absolutely not. a school like that isn't going to die anytime soon. but you may have a difficult time getting in if you aren't already a decent artist with an impressive portfolio.
my understanding is that CalArts is basically THE only school to go to if you want to work in hollywood animation professionally. they have industry connections that no other art school has. CalArts and Julliard are both in a class of their own when it comes to creatives
you may want to look into Gobelins in Paris, I've heard good things about it as well.
this will be 100% paid for, plus a monthly allowance. Hollywood to me is not worth it anymore. I just want to film my own movies. i understand i can do it now regardless of school, but i want to get paid doing it while investing the money i get. thats why i thought about rome, paris or amsterdam. I can film low budget stuff there, build a portfolio of short films there where i can get access to good equipment and actors that are starting out. New York and LA are the only places that are worth it in the USA but its incredibly expensive. I lived and worked in both in my 20s. I Love both cities but i dont want to lose my monthly allowance there, i would like to have a surplus to invest.,
>australia
Aussie here. It can be fun but if you are doing ANYTHING artistic this is not the place to be. Every single artist and musician I know leaves the country to pursue work.
I thought about australia because it feels like an interesting kind of place for me. Tame impala and a lot of aussie directors pop out of its scene. no?
Would you recommend Sydney or Melbourne?
i heard from artist/cartoonist friends that calarts is mostly an lgbtq circle jerk. im not complaining about queers or leftists. its just now its either with us or against us, i dont believe my time there would be as enjoyable as other places. plus California is quite expensive.
I agree that itll be a waste of time if i actually paid for it. and the whole being 30 thing(close to 31) is bothering me . but itll all be paid for + a monthly stipend of 2k, i can invest my money while experiment artistically and build connections.
Ive been through that stuff, been an artist/Musician since i was a kid. have experience and an excellent portfolio to show for it. but connections are much needed in this world, i dont like to bring up famous artists. but people like Kaws and Neckface are nothing without connections.
A girl recommended Seul to me years ago when i was 23. I want film the most, because it always felt like the endgame for me. but i want to approach this as an investment in my future and self. the money will mostly go to investments. and exploring ways to profit from my art, while building myself artistically. be it film, music or regular drawing.
I have to say thank you all for the suggestions and advice, im open for more.
I’m not saying it’s a bad move because you’re 30. After all, it’s paid. So I don’t see how it could be a bad move. I’m just wondering if it’s the optimal move. If I were you, I would probably be trying to get into galleries or whatever and applying for grant funding. I would moving to the cities where people are getting paid to do art full-time and getting recognition for it, and school would be my plan b. I don’t know anything about film, but I look at a guy like Kurt Eggers, now a big time Hollywood director for a model. He did go to some art school but mostly he just spent a lot of time working theaters on broadway and producing short indie films until he finally got some investors for a bigger project. I’m not sure he would tell you that art school was even worth it. So sure, you could go to school and I don’t think it would necessarily hurt you. I just think it might not be the best way to help yourself though. There’s always the opportunity cost of time if nothing else. I just think that if it were me, I would be identifying a specific route, and I would be moving to the “capital city” for that, and just doing small stuff to build up a sort of portfolio, and working hard to get funding, whether grants, investors, whatever. But if you think you should go to art school, you should do that. I wouldn’t go to Seoul. I also wouldn’t listen to any girl’s opinion about art as a career.
Regarding Australia.
Yes the independent music scene is honestly pretty good, but ultimately these bands leave to tour to make any sort of money or get any sort of recommendation. 100% Melbourne over Sydney for what you want to do. Far more "artsy" and probably cheaper than Sydney at this point. Hell I would recommend Brisbane over Sydney at this point. Saint Lucia in Brisbane is honestly a great looking campus and as far as I know is one of the more internationally recognised unis. Plenty of other international students too.
The thing I am considering is that this study will take what, 1 -3 years? If you set up in Europe you will have far more to do or see. If you are in Australia you MIGHT get to go over to NZ or SEA if you plan it properly. What exactly is it about Australia that you find interesting?
I agree with you on everything, do you mean Robert Eggers(the lighthouse, the witch)?
art school was never on my mind until someone dropped this opportunity on my lap. im not broke, but im kind of lost right now.
>but ultimately these bands leave to tour to make any sort of money or get any sort of recommendation
like any city in the usa, you have to move to LA or NY to make it big, maybe Chicago too.
>If you set up in Europe you will have far more to do or see. If you are in Australia you MIGHT get to go over to NZ or SEA if you plan it properly
Thats the idea. use my free time to explore the neighboring countries or cities. +building connections + and saving money.
>What exactly is it about Australia that you find interesting?
everything to be honest, oversll it feels like the perfect place to explore in. the women are attractive the wildlife is interesting. the people i met coming out of there were always happy, excited with an amazing sense of humor. its just somewhere i would like to visit.
>like any city in the usa,
What I meant was the tour internationally. Americans have to move to LA or NY. Aussies I know that have even mediocre success have had to move to London or America to pursue their career. Hell even the roadies I know prefer to go to Japan/Europe for work rather then travel Australia.
>+building connections
You are really going to struggle to build any sort of professional connections in Australia. To emphasise my point before, people literally leave the country to do this.
>the people i met coming out of there were always happy, excited with an amazing sense of humor.
That being said, you will have a great time if you come over here to study, especially if everything will be paid for for the most part. A few people have mentioned that a 30+ year old might be a bit awkward around there younger students. For whatever reason most of our international students seem to be around 25-30, so you'll probably fit in a little more. Based on what you have told me you will have a great time if you come over here, but career wise you'll probably get nothing.
Do you really want to go to school at 30? There’s nothing wrong with it, but I think if you really want to make it as an artist, your time could be better spent. My anecdotal experience is that art programs at all but the most prestigious schools in big urban areas are pretty much worthless. 99% of the value is the network, and 99% of programs offer none.
You have to go where the galleries are, where the committees that supply grants and fellowships are, where the network is, where the money is. Go to New York, London, or the biggest city where people speak your language. I’ve heard some artists say that interesting things are happening in China and Korea but I don’t quite trust them.
Don't pay money to go to CalArts. I live in so cal and am part of a gay alternative community too and still meet people that have like $150k in debt to CalArts and never got an industry job that paid enough to live on.
I actually think you should go to a place that gives you your style, along with ideas. If you're already good at drawing you'd want to find something that pushes you ahead in a big way and differentiates you. For that I'd say avoid the easy picks like Paris, Rome, California etc. and try for a place with its own flare like Australia, other parts of France, Spain, Central/Eastern Europe or Asia (at least parts where English is spoken). It also gives you something well different fron the Midwest that isn't just a generic city and has nature 'n culture 'n shit).
this is good advice, maybe prague or greece. but i dont think they are known for their universities.
thanks man, maybe i should visit australia next month or something just to see how it is. but i remember the old people back in my college days, they were looked at like goofy from that college movie.
I have money that i saved up, i might go somewhere next month just to feel something knew, like cross Australia off my travel bucket list.
more suggestions welcome, thank you all for helping.
Prague is cheap, full of fine women too.
dont go to the UK,
>it was my mistakep2gxh
I don't know about the arts side of things, but Europe is probably more bang for your buck since it's cheaper, and you can also travel way more easily than in most other regions. Don't go to Australia, either, it's a waste of time and money (this is coming from an Australian).
I might just visit australia next month, just for a week. people collectively say its not worth a 4 year stay