Performing Arts

The Performing Arts career area includes working as a performer in dance, drama, music and other forms of entertainment, from stand-up comedy to circus acts, as well as jobs in arts administration, community arts, music technology and theatre technology. This is a high visibility career area with an aura of glamour and the prospect of extremely high earnings for those at the very top of the business. However, the harsh realities of being a performer usually include years of hard work in the face of tremendous competition, rejections at auditions and frequent periods of unemployment or temporary employment in unrelated jobs. Competition for non-performance jobs such as arts administration, stage management and theatre technology is also fierce. Some 179,290 people in the UK work in performing arts, with 30% of those working on stage as actors, musicians, dancers and entertainers. Around 10% of UK performing arts workers are based in Scotland, 45% are based in London and the South East of England. A few performers earn exceptionally high wages but most are low-paid. For example, in the music industry only 5% of the workforce earn over £41,000 a year, 39% earn less than £10,000 a year.

Here are a few workforce facts about the performing arts sector:

• 51% of the workforce are male, 49% are female.
• 58% are self-employed.
• 73% earn less than £20,000 a year.
• Around 10,000 people are employed in the Scottish music industry, with over 30% working freelance.
• Dance employs around 31,000 people in the UK, including dancers, teachers, choreographers, technicians and managers.
• There are around 260 professional ballet dancers in England and Scotland.
• Dancers often have a fairly short career - many 'retire' aged about 35.
• The dance workforce is highly qualified, with around 46% achieving a dance-related award.
• A lot of work in sound technology is freelance.

Job prospects across the performing arts are likely to be stable. However, it is predicted that 30,000 more technical staff in performing arts and live performance will be needed by 2017. Skills and personal qualities you need to have or develop to work in this area You must be:

• skilled in performance delivery
• self-disciplined and well organised
• prepared to travel and move around to find work
• resilient and able to take criticism
• very good at networking - developing contacts in the industry and sector you want to work in
• determined
• energetic with plenty of stamina.

The Creative Choices website has information on getting into the arts - and specifically dance, music, drama and theatre.

We often hear of performers becoming famous without having any training or qualifications. But this is really very rare:

• 86% of actors have formal training
• dancers usually start training at a very young age
• almost all classical musicians have qualifications
• a large proportion of popular musicians are trained to a high level.

Routes into the performing arts You can take qualifications in performing arts at all levels, from 1-year National Certificates (NC) or National Qualifications (NQ), through Higher National Certificates (HNC) and Higher National Diplomas (HND) to degree and postgraduate courses. You can also train through private teaching, which can lead to qualifications such as those from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) and the Royal Academy of Dance. More information We have split the job profiles and courses for this career area into 6 sectors:

• Arts administration
• Community arts
• Dance
• Drama and theatre technology
• Music
• Music technology.

Sources

Equity website

Dance UK website

Music Sector Review: Report (March 2014) – Creative Scotland website (www.creativescotland.com)

Creative and Cultural Industries: Performing Arts Statistics 2012-13 – Creative and Cultural Skills website (http://ccskills.org.uk)

Working Futures 2010-2020, UKCES (August 2012)

NGRF, LMI Future Trends, Sectors – Performing Arts

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