In the arts, students explore and communicate ideas as they connect thinking, imagination, senses, and feelings to create works and respond to the works of others.

Those with a talent and aptitude for the arts should understand how they can develop those skills into a career. All students should understand how the arts can continue to be a meaningful part of their lives, even if they do not go on to work in a professional capacity as an artist.

By building career-related activities into your curriculum area you are helping your students to develop the understandings, skills and attributes that they need to make positive career decisions throughout their lives.

• Display the Where to? posters for graphics, textiles and visual arts; and music and performing arts. (You can order these from Career Services.)
• If your classroom is often used for teaching an arts subject, create a display area about careers and training in the arts.
• During school production or exhibitions time, ask students to reflect on individual interests and skills, and share observations about career opportunities in the arts.
• Start a physical or electronic file of stories of people working in the arts. They could be from local newspapers or magazines. Get other teachers in your department and students to look out for stories to add to the file.
• Work with the arts co-ordinator in your school to arrange exhibitions and performances that students can take part in. This should help students build confidence and organisational skills.
• Use services such as Community Artists for Education (CAFE) to introduce students to performing and visual artists.
• Use the NZ Film Archive's On Disk service to access artist documentary and feature film DVDs.
• Allow students time to write in their learning and career plans about the skills they are learning in their subject.
• Plan a class visit to the school library. Ask the librarian to give a tour of the area in which artist biographies and artist magazines are found.
• Explore with students the interactive tools on this website, including Where to?, Subject Matcher, Skill Matcher and Jobs by Interest.
• Explore arts-related industries on this website.
• As an introduction to a drama unit, explore jobs and industries as portrayed through film.

• Encourage students to apply for mentoring programmes offered by people in the creative industries; for example, the Artists in Schools programme.
• Create opportunities for students to use business and entrepreneurial skills related to the arts by encouraging promotion of artistic events, such as art exhibitions or theatre sports competitions, in your classroom.
• Ask students to use a careers theme when writing a dramatic piece for radio, television, or stage, choreographing a dance, writing a musical score, or creating a visual art work.
• Allow your students to create online profiles and network with artist communities through websites such as The Big Idea and Pacific Starmap.
• Invite someone who works in an arts jobs to speak or perform at prize-giving or school assemblies, and/or to present the awards for achievements in the arts. Ask them to talk about how their school learning helped them progress into their chosen field.
• Start a physical or electronic file of stories of people working in the arts. They could be from local newspapers or magazines. Get other teachers in your department and students to look out for stories to add to the file.
• Provide time during the year for students to reflect on the skills they have learned in technology by using personal journals, diaries, or creative workbooks.
• Talk about your own tertiary study experiences with students to help familiarise them with tertiary pathways and what tertiary study is like.
• Allow students time to visit tertiary liaison officers so they can ask questions about preferred arts courses.
• Make available in your classroom tertiary prospectuses, or show students where similar resources can be found.
• Use this website to find out more about tertiary study in the arts.