An increasing percentage of our youth population is expressing an interest in pursuing a career in the art and design industry; however, few of our teachers and counselors are aware of the wide variety of career opportunities available in this field. For this reason, we often use our Over My Shoulder Foundation blog as an opportunity to share some youth mentoring programs that were designed to expose our youth to real life experiences of what careers in art and design would be like.

A career in film is much more viable these days. Source: ponsulak via Freedigitalphotos.net

According to the Open Education Database, the fastest growing careers in art and design include the following: animator, art director, fashion designer, film director, graphic designer, interior designer, landscape architect, and photographer.

If you think about how we live our lives today (interacting with friends and family via social media and being heavily influenced by the advertisements that we see on the internet), we are constantly confronted by the visual arts industry. For these reasons, there has been a spike in demand for individual’s knowledgable and capable of handling a career in this field, and this trend will only continue as our society becomes more dependent on technology. Where those that majored in art years ago had a difficult time transitioning into the workplace, today’s need for individuals with a creative background will continue to increase for years to come.

A great example of the success one can find by pursuing their career in this ever-growing field is the story of Maria “TOOFLY” Castillo, who turned a passion for graffiti and illustrations into various products — including stationary, jewelry, and her own line of t-shirts. You can read more about Maria’s story on my blog.

Mentors can play an instrumental role in helping to guide a young person with these interests find the right career path. We need more mentors, and if you have an interest in serving as a mentor to a member of our youth that would like to pursue a career in art and design, please contact me at the Over My Shoulder Foundation today.