AFTER graduating from the E.R. Burrowes School of Art, a family member said to me: “Great! Now you can go to University and do something with your life.” Although my initial reaction to her statement was infuriation, I was suddenly hit with reality and faced with the question of what now? I quickly decided that I was going to follow in my father’s footsteps and become an entrepreneur. Let’s just say, God had bigger plans.

What now? It’s a burning question facing many graduates today.

I visited the graduating class of the University of Guyana’s Fine Arts programme exhibition at the Giftland Mall a few weeks back. There, I happened to ask one of the exhibiting artists, Chelsea Ramotar: what’s next? Her response didn’t surprise me, she simply said: “I would like to be a full-time artist.” I had to smile because nine years ago, that was me: the aspiring entrepreneur.

Not every entrepreneur is an artist but every artist is an entrepreneur. Whether we use our creative skills as a main source of income or in addition to some other, making art is a business. More than just a product, artists provide a service. One that requires a great deal of talent. However, no successful business is run on talent alone. Not to be misconstrued, hence the term: “starving artist.”

Becoming an artist involves a combination of academia and talent. Artists are mathematicians, we have to know profit and loss calculations. A major aspect of creating aesthetically pleasing products is researching works by other artists, cultural practices, history and more importantly our target market. When an artist creates a piece he/she is not just doing it for themselves rather we do it for the people. Artists are scientists, the number of formulas used daily may surprise you. How many other professionals have to study anatomy? Think about it. Business management is an integral part of being an artist. The bottom line is, without academics, we’ll have a large number of starving artists.

The fact remains that insufficient earnings have a way of hindering creativity. While some might argue that artists shouldn’t create for the money; rather, they should create for the love. The reality is that nobody works only for the love. Money is an important factor regardless of occupation. It would be naive to think that artists can survive for the love of art. Art is a business and artists are entrepreneurs.

So, as we eagerly await CSEC results and parents and students are faced with the question of: what now? I hope that this column would have given you some insight as to what it takes to become an artist. So, whether your child was in the art, business, science, or technology stream, becoming an artist is still a possibility. They will need all the skills they acquired to have a successful art career. One that is not solely based on income but is inclusive of the individual’s passion.