Art-making is a wonderful and amazing process and those who work in any field of art should have particular pleasure from it. However, being an artist today can be difficult. Most of the art-oriented students encounter many problems after graduating, in particular when it comes to job searching. The project of the 6-partner schools from Poland, Romania, Belgium, Turkey, Slovakia and Slovenia titled "Career In Art" reacts with its objectives to the current requirements and needs of the labour market in Europe. The artistic creativity of students itself is nowadays not sufficient for career development and success in the labour market. Students and graduates must learn to see art as their future job, as a source of their livelihood or as their future career. By the implementation of this project we want to help students to find answers to their questions when they enter a real and independent life. How to become a successful artist? How to make business efficiently? How to find a well-paid job in the artistic field? However, the most important is, the quality of the art work and the knowledge of several disciplines. The project is unique as most art-related projects focus only on artistic development, "Career In Art" focuses on learning the job market and obtaining qualifications. Searching and finding the right answers is a part of project objectives. We want to teach students and future graduates how to create a good portfolio of their works, how to search and find the right contacts, how to start their own business or how to promote their work to the public. During the project activities the students and teachers will be able to expand and improve their communication, language and professional skills together with abilities in the field of IT. Within multicultural dialogue they will discover different ways of looking at art creations, presentations and promotions, as well. They will also be able to compare the possibilities and conditions for further career development in various fields of art in different European countries. The project will bring an additional educational dimension to students and teachers. They will recognize and learn different art-making techniques, styles and forms of art. The participants will also familiarize themselves with the history of art in different countries. Short-term activities for students with students travelling to partnership schools will be one of the biggest factors to fulfil this objective where common workshops, lectures, discussions, field trips, multinational conferences, exhibitions of the students´ works and a display of student amateur films will be carried out. The added value of these visits will lie in getting to know the differences and similarities of the real life of the school, family and society in different countries. This will strengthen tolerance and responsibility in participants of the project. The successful implementation of the project will require involvement of the professional subjects teachers and the students of all 6 participating schools, as well as, the management participation of all 6 schools in cooperation with cultural organizations, enterprises and firms from artistic and business environment. The results of our common work in the “Career In Art“ project will be international exhibitions, a common website, international catalogue of works of art, dictionary of artistic terms, especially for art schools, methodology of the graduate development in the art fields, a leflet with guidelines for future artists which will be presented to the general public in all partner countries. In order to disseminate the results of the project, we will use a common website, websites of the partners, articles and interviews in regional and nationwide print and electronic mass media, personal meetings and conferences. We wish that the results of realization and implementation of the international project on students will lead to a positive development of graduates- artists who will be prepared to face the demands of the new European labour market.
The project saw involved 6 partner schools, most of them art schools, whose 16-20 year-old students are often discouraged from pursuing a career in art. Sometimes parents discourage them, because they see no employability in the field of art, and sometimes students themselves decide to take a completely different career path because they are scared of not being able to make a living out of art due to the general lack of employment possibilities. All partner schools, however, believe that it is possible to make a living out of art – it is just a matter of "know how". The main objectives of the project, therefore, were to support students in assuring them a suitable environment for gaining high quality knowledge in the field of art, skills which will assist them in being competitive with their peers in the European labour market, learning key competences (communicative ability in foreign language, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation), developing the knowledge of and understanding the diversity of European cultures and languages, helping students to gain basic life skills needed for their personal development and future employment, learning with the help of ICT support and introducing a European dimension into the pedagogical process. We believe that our original objectives were met. By engaging in various art workshops at school and abroad, students gained new quality knowledge in the field of art, which equipped them with self-confidence and boosted their motivation. Moreover, art based activities enhanced creativity and innovation with our students, since they were engaged in hands-on projects, learning from mentors or skills craftsmen. By meeting artists who make a living out of art, talking to them, exchanging views on art, interviewing them, as well as entering international tenders, making a guide on how to organize an exhibition, attending a seminar on business in art, made students aware of labour market demands and made them understand the competences needed to succeed as artists. As a result they bettered their entrepreneurial skills and are better prepared for future employment. English being the key language behind every joint activity, students and teachers improved their speaking and writing skills. Some activities saw them engaged in writing CVs, cover letters and job applications in English, as well as putting together a multilingual dictionary of basic art terms. Students were also communicating with their peers in English during exchanges or staying with host families, which contributed greatly to improving their communicative abilities. We got familiar with vocab of partners' native tongues. Working together on short-term exchanges and other school-based activities helped students understand that different cultural backgrounds lead to different interpretations of art. With that and with the help of the study trips to galleries, museums and sites of national importance students became aware of the diversity of European cultures and languages. All in all, we introduced a European dimension into their learning experience. Students learned with the help of ICT support, which was at the core of many workshops. They designed logos, filmed videos, edited photos, animated objects, designed bags, made calendars and posters, and, most importantly, digitalized their portfolios, which will help them with entering art universities and future employment. Students developed on a personal level. They gained confidence, motivation, improved problem-solving techniques, adaptability to new circumstances, learned to accept and be tolerant. Engaging in workshops such as Philosophical Approach to Art and Hear Me, they discussed how cultural and political backgrounds affect art, they learned to understand those differences, accept them and become more tolerant citizens. Owing to evaluation that we have made and talks with participants we know that the project has had a great impact on them. Students who were involved in activities of learning in the form of short-term exchanges commented that those were life-changing events that they "will never forget" and that they for sure want to pursue a career in art. One of our aims at the beginning of the project was to change statistics when it comes to the number of students who want to pursue a career in art. Since students at various schools had the tendency to continue their studies outside the field of art, we wanted to change that trend – reverse it. We are happy we were able to make some improvements, especially visible with students taking active part in the project. It is a small step but we are glad to have made it and the project will have the ongoing, long lasting result with hopefully the world receiving a few new artists or craftsmen.