3 Million Stories Website

Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP)

At least three million individuals have received arts degrees from American educational institutions over the past half century.  Yet little is known about these graduates from the performing and visual arts, architecture, art and music history, arts education, arts administration, and writing.  Where do they work and how do they make a living?  Is their training relevant?  What do these graduates, and those who train them, need to know about future trends in the artistic and creative labor market?  Where are the growth areas or the jobs of the future, and where are we seeing declines?  What do we need to know to better serve students from less privileged backgrounds?  How should our arts training institutions prepare those students who do not intend to become artists?  How is arts training relevant for doctors, lawyers, business managers, and engineers, and what do graduates working in these other fields say about their arts school educations?  What are some of the most innovative models for the 21st Century arts school?  What are the critical issues policy makers and educational leaders must address to ensure the relevance and vitality of arts degrees, programs and schools in the future?