The simple fact is that education is expensive but having a degree or going to a school with more prestige behind it opens more doors. The same way nepotism does I suppose. Don't get me wrong, I'm not necessarily begrudging people of having a head start in life, what I am begrudging is the doors it opens and subsequently keeps shut for those of us who don't have a mountain of money and connections.
At most universities the proportion of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds on creative degrees is small
BAFTA-nominated actors are five times more likely to have attended a private school, at 35% compared to the national average of just 7%. It seems very evident that commercial success is often tied to wealth, but it is not only the world of famous creatives that is disproportionately saturated with the upper echelons of our society. At most universities the proportion of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds on creative degrees is small which is a trend that exists across higher education.
When we see trends and statistics like this it can be disheartening and has certainly made many a student I know shy away from pursuing a creative career in favour of job security. Art is so often defamed as a waste of time, if we look back at ex-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promising to scrap 'rip off degrees' and replace them with high skilled apprenticeships I think it's clear where some people's feeling lie but even if we start at a disadvantage it does not mean pursuing a creative career is impossible.
With the rise of small businesses on social media and sites like Etsy people are allowed to take their artistic pastimes and make careers out of them. Whether this comes from creating prints or making jewellery practical art seems to be becoming a more accessible market to move into.
Art is so often defamed as a waste of time, if we look back at ex-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promising to scrap 'rip off degrees' ... I think it's clear where some people's feeling lie
I would argue these days the problem with being working class and an artist is if you get branded as a 'working class artists'. So much of art, particularly painting, writing and music, is defined by personal experience and if people who are working class come out and talk about it and are then rocketed to fame it can be difficult to balance a working class background with new found wealth whilst maintaining the image you originally had.
This is exemplified by someone like Sam Fender whose music is so defined by his youth and living as a working-class person in Newcastle. When he writes now I think we have to ask if he's playing into a working class identity to sell music. Whilst I don't think this is the case with Sam Fender specifically it is a problem that plagues working class artists: even if you can break into an artistic industry can you be successful without the narrative of having a lower socio-economic background? Or are working-class artists only made famous because of their uniqueness in that sense?
What I'm trying to say is that any field of art is difficult to break into, difficult to define yourself in and even more difficult to have real success no matter where you start out. Art is, to an extent, accessible to the working class but there is always the risk of being defined as a working class artist when you perhaps don't wish to be.
I do wish to say that if you want to pursue an artistic career and have even the smallest opportunity, go for it, even if you only try for a year, even if you work a 9-5 and sing in your local at the weekend, even if the cards seem stacked against you. You never know what the internets next craze might be, maybe it'll be you.
Now more than even art needs to express perspectives that get pushed to the side, art is a necessary part of our culture that we must fight for and continue to make.