Monday, May 26, 2014

Creative Jobs in the Community Series...

As an Artisan Jeweller, I am highly focused on all things handmade and creative. It took me many years to figure my direction, and even today, I am still struggling with the desire to create versus the commercial need to earn a living.

I have a 12 year old who is extremely creative and artistic, she loves all things Manga and is obsessed with drawing and fashion and is an extremely good writer. She heads into high school next year and the career decision is looming and it weighs heavily on me. Its a real balancing act between the Practical Vs the Creative. There's the desire to see them happy and fulfilled, encourage them to build a creative future and follow their dreams no matter what, even if that may not be financially rewarding; then there is the need to steer them towards a more practical avenue, look for ways to build a creative career that can also be financially rewarding.

As a teenager, I was discouraged from actively developing a career in arts, not because my parents did not understand my needs, but they were concerned about the need to survive, to put a roof over your head and pay the bills and to their mind, a creative career would not provide that security. They directed me towards a very practical direction based on my school results, but one that I hated. Needless to say I dropped out after 2 years, the creative soul in me was slowly dying from boredom and I could never see myself as an Accountant. Unfortunately, in dropping out I never really got my feet heading in the right direction until later in life.

This is something I want to avoid with my daughter. I want her to have the freedom to do what she loves, but as a parent, I now understand why mine made the choices they did. I want to her not just survive, but to thrive.

This has lead me to thinking about the kind of creative careers that are possible, careers that can be both stimulating and financially viable and rewarding in every way. Over the following weeks and months I am going to do a little research and share with my readers a series of posts all about creative careers and hopefully share a little bit of knowledge with you whilst guiding me on making the right decisions about where to encourage my daughter to focus her talents.

The series will focus on some of the most common creative jobs that provide the ability for a steady career progression, including Dressmaker or Fashion Designer; Photographer; Jeweller; Graphic Designer; Architect; Interior Designer, Animators/Illustrators, Writers and of course, Fine Artists. In reality these are
just the starting point really, there are so many more I could share, but these will cover many of main category of jobs out there for those who are more creative than practical.

The first article in the series will start with: Creative Jobs in the Community, Dressmaker or Fashion Designer!



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