Hey there Framers! Hope everyone had a delicious and relaxing Thanksgiving weekend.  Here’s the third and final installment of Rosie Trump’s arc, So You Think You Want a M.F.A?  Read some great advice on post-M.F.A life!!

So You Think You Want a M.F.A.?

Part III: It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine

By Rosie Trump

You survived. You graduated. You are a Master of the Fine Arts. You have probably grown significantly in the past three years.  Your practice, your location, your outlook, your teaching, your motivation, your significant other—all the contents of your life may have shifted during your journey through graduate school. So now what?

In the first few months post-M.F.A., I suffered from severe withdrawal.  I have never considered myself a slave to routine, however I had inadvertently become addicted to the straightforward, well-organized schedule of my graduate school life. I now found myself with a lot of unstructured time on my hands.  I felt simultaneously relieved, disappointed, anxious and excited.

The (Creative) Hangover

Transitioning into post-M.F.A. life may bring with it a sort of creative hangover.  The past three years have been jam-packed with making, doing, and having others tell you what they think of your work on strict timelines.  Now, it’s back to just you deciding when, where and how to make your work happen.  For me, making my first post-M.F.A choreography was really, really challenging.  The difficulty emerged partly because I had to find new (and cheap) ways to book rehearsal space and dancers, and partly because of the crazy amount of pressure I placed myself under to create something ‘worthy’ of my shiny new degree.

You may find yourself a little burnt out, needing time to process or wanting distance from the voices of your former faculty.  This is ok!  Give yourself some (but not too much) time to grieve, rest, replenish and refocus. Then get to work!

Time and space will be two major challenges post-M.F.A.

Time: Sans those external deadlines, you may find your creative work taking a backseat to figuring out how to pay the rent/relocating/social events.

• I am a huge fan of creating a daily creative habit.  I highly recommend Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way and The Vein of Gold, as well as Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit. These ‘courses’ get your writing, generating ideas and creating everyday.
• Join Fieldwork (if you don’t live in a participating city, maybe you can start a new one.)  Fieldwork is an amazing format for receiving feedback and networking with fellow artists!
• Follow an inspiring blog.  I recommend this one.

Space:  Remember all those resources you had at your fingertips in graduate school?  Oh those were the days…

• Yoga studios, youth dance schools, recreation complexes and fitness centers usually have ‘off’ times during the day where they can offer you discounted rental rates.
• Teach a class in exchange for rehearsal time.
• Barter with dancers.  Can you offer flyer design, photography, videography or babysitting in exchange for payment?

It’s an academic life for me or It’s the hard-knock life for us

Getting a tenure-track job in academia is akin to a college football player getting drafted into the NFL.  It happens to some, but for most, it doesn’t.  I think this is a terrific analogy for describing the odds of landing full time, permanent academic employment (and useful for explaining to your family why you are still un/under-employed.)

If an academic career is for you, hopefully you began preparing for this path long before graduation.  Picking up an adjunct position, preparing job materials, running mock interviews with your faculty, etc.  Academic employment has a steep learning curve, with little room for error, so it is imperative you are on the offense from the very start.  While for many art fields the M.F.A. remains the terminal degree, the rise of the dance and music composition Ph.D. continues to edge M.F.A. candidates out of the academic market.

The Adjunct Trap: As a former adjunct, I personally can vouch for the benefits of this kind of position:  teaching experience, relatively high wage for number of hours worked, eager students, opportunities to choreograph for students/perform at faculty concerts.  I can also personally vouch for the limitations: lack of benefits/health insurance, uncertainty of classes/employment from semester to semester, time and gas spent driving between schools, lack of access to office space, being at the mercy of shrinking budgets.  Adjunct positions rarely turn into full time jobs at the same institution.

Helpful links:

The Professor Is In—this blog is worth it’s weight in gold for the M.F.A. interested in pursuing tenure track jobs.

The Chronicle of Higher Education’s On Hiring Blog

This article asks how Adjunct pay their rent (contains excellent links).

Do the Hustle

The Hustle is the most important dance you will ever learn.  I am sorry to say, but a huge part of your post-graduate school situation may look and feel just like your pre-graduate school situation.  While your new credentials will certainly open a few more doors, you will still need to hustle for everything you want to do.  Need rehearsal space?  Do the Hustle. Ready to take your dance company to the next level?  Do the Hustle.  Need funding to tour your latest dance?  Do the Hustle.

You need a mentor!

• Whatever your career goals, find a professional (or two) in your community or extended network who is doing or has done what you want to do.  Ask them to mentor you.
• Set up regular meetings with your mentor to ask questions, check in, get advice on upcoming projects, etc.
• Build a new 5 Year Plan under the advisement of your mentor.
• Pay it forward–become a mentor to a ‘younger’ artist.

Working your network

• Regularly stay in touch with your former M.F.A. cohort—for both professional and emotional support.
• Don’t be afraid to ask others for what you want.
• Initiate the conversations.  Send the follow up emails.
• Ask yourself what you can offer to your dance community and become known as an artist who gives back. (This kind of currency is more powerful than you may realize.)

Apply, apply, apply

• Many years ago, I had a mentor (who I viewed as extremely successful) tell me that for every thirty things she applies for, she may get one acceptance.  While at the time I was floored, experience has confirmed this ratio to be pretty accurate.
• Rejection is a bitter pill.  Don’t take it personally.
• Invest the hours, the time and the money.  Keep doing it.  Your outcomes will get better and better.

Helpful links

Residency Unlimited– artist residency listings

Mira’s list– grants and artist residency listings

Res Artis– artist residency listings

Alliance of Artists Communities– artist community and residency listings

Advice on applying for grants and fellowships (including a grant application template)

 

 

Happy Monday Framers! Here’s part deux of Rosie Trump’s fantastic MFA Monday column!

 

So You Think You Want a M.F. A.?

Part II: Be. Here. Now.

By Rosie Trump

Graduate school should blow your mind.  It should turn your world upside down.  It should make you question everything you thought you knew.  If doesn’t, you are not doing it right.

Focused time and space like this will never exist for you quite the same again.  I advise that you do, make, embrace and take on as much as you can… and then just slightly more.  Process later.  This experience is designed to test your limits, alter your patterns and irreconcilably change your perspective.

Summertime and the living is not easy

It’s a bright and shiny new academic year! The very first thing you need to do is think nine months into the future to the summer.  Most programs do not provide you with any funding over the summer.  So you need to figure out how you will pay your rent, bills and expenses.  Most likely you will want to travel over the summer, so factor those costs too.  You can get very creative with financing your summer.  However (as I mentioned in Part I) do not take out student loans to do it!

Here are a few of my suggestions:

1. Budget during the year.  Squirrel away a chunk of money every month for nine months while you are receiving a regular income. This will not be easy, because you are probably not making very much as it is.  Still, there are many creative (and fairly painless) ways to cut corners.  Rent a room in a house with other grad students rather than renting a one-bedroom apartment.  This could cut your monthly costs by almost half.  Grocery shop at Food4Less rather than Whole Foods.  Invest in a coffee thermos and swear off those $4 Starbucks lattes.  Pack your lunches (and dinners for those late rehearsals) instead of eating on campus.  Shop at thrift stores.  I did not set foot inside a ‘regular’ clothing store during grad school and (long after that until I secured a full time job.)
2. Get another job.  I worked three jobs before attending grad school to save up money, and I ended up working three jobs during grad school, as well.  I taught a class at the local ballet academy, worked as a dance librarian and stage managed for the university’s theater.  What did all these jobs have in common?  Low time requirements, flexible schedules and relatively high wages.  This is the key to picking up a side job in graduate school.  Your number one work priority has to remain the M.F.A.
3. Apply for summer funding.  This route is a little bit trickier because there may not be much available to you, however it is worth a few hours of research to find out.  Does your university offer any summer study grants?  Are there state or national research fellowships you qualify for? Does your department run summer camps or summer classes you could teach?  Some of these opportunities may not be widely advertised, so ask around.  This is why it is so important to start this inquiry in October, not March.

 

3, 2, 1 GOAL! or How to make the most of your M.F.A. from the very start

I am a very big advocate of setting goals.  I think setting concrete goals are the keys to achieving what you want.  My advice to you is to create a 5 Year Plan for yourself at the very beginning of graduate school.  The 5 Year Plan outlines two to three goals per semester/quarter, including the summers.  It is important that your goals extend beyond your time in graduate school.  This way you can pointedly use some of your time in the academy to gain the specific skills, credentials, etc. needed to achieve those future goals.  Each year you should revise your goals to reflect progress in your creative, professional and personal life.

Example of a 5 Year Plan (all goals are in addition to academic requirements)

Year 1 (M.F.A year 1)

• Fall: research summer funding, create a new solo
• Spring: apply for the university’s research mini-grant, submit solo to local showcase, co-choreograph a duet with fellow M.F.A., attend ACDFA, audition for ADF summer scholarship
• Summer:  attend ADF, seek professional networking opportunities

Year 2 (M.F.A year 2)

• Fall: spearhead the graduate student concert, submit abstract to graduate student/regional conference, choreograph a group choreography, submit duet to the regional fringe festival
• Spring: meet with advisor and/or a faculty member to discuss post-graduate goals/ job prospects, set up mentoring meetings, plan trip to NYC
• Summer:  travel to NYC, take workshop with superstar choreographer, audition for dream dance company

Year 3 (M.F.A year 3)

• Fall: apply for conference attendance grant through GSA, submit roundtable and performance abstract to national conference, begin creating job application materials
• Spring: workshop job materials with fellow M.F.A. students, choreograph a new solo, collaborate on new project with Film Studies graduate student, apply for summer internship at Jacob’s Pillow
• Summer: submit M.F.A thesis project to regional/national festivals, internship at Jacob’s Pillow, seek professional networking opportunities

Year 4 (Post M.F.A year 1)

• Go on the job market, mount solo show, begin new collaboration with composer, submit dance film to regional and national film festivals, seek professional networking opportunities

Year 5 (Post M.F.A year 2)

• Apply for artist residencies abroad, launch crowd surfing campaign to fund new dance film project, seek professional networking opportunities

 

The Perks of Being a M.F.A. Student

Pursuing a M.F.A. puts you in a wonderful situation–one where you have access to resources!  But resources are only valuable when you know how to use them and make the time to do so.

Health Insurance:  You may have been living for years without affordable access to health care.  Find out everything your new health insurance will cover and book your appointments—the dentist, the chiropractor, acupuncture, prescriptions, women’s health, etc.  Make the time for this now, because it will be gone before you know it.

Studio space:  Vanished (for now) is the $20 an hour studio rental fee.  Use as much rehearsal time as you can!  Book frequent and regular studio space and then promise yourself you will never skip it.  Even if you go in and just roll on the floor for an hour– GO!

Technology:  Most universities have state of the art computer and media labs.  You can use and rent computers, video cameras, digital cameras, light kits and recording equipment.  Learn how to use this equipment and then rent it for your own photo shoots, dance films, graphic design projects, etc.  Want to learn Final Cut Pro, Photoshop or Illustrator?  They may offer beginner workshops on this software.

Classes:  Depending on the flexibility of your M.F.A. program curriculum, you may be able to take courses outside your direct program.  I took a Video Art course and an Art Theory course during my M.F.A. studies, and these courses were valuable to me far beyond the course content.  If you can, take the opportunity to (thoughtfully) supplement your program with outside courses.

There is No Crying in Baseball or as a M.F.A.

Feedback, feedback, feedback! Get it EVERY chance you can. Listen to your critiques.  Use them to force yourself to make better work.  Do not take anything personally.  Get really good at talking about other people’s work.

Last but certainly not least… build a support system.  Your cohort of fellow M.F.A. students will most likely be your lifeline to sanity, your biggest allies, your future colleagues, your (yes) crying shoulders and your closest friends.  You will not love them all, but fostering a positive community should be a strong and early priority.