• music and sound recording
• concert promoters
• songwriters
• record producers
• film
• TV
• radio
• live performing arts
• casting agents
• radio announcers
• actors
• visual arts and crafts
• sculptors
• wood workers
• art teachers
• heritage librarians
• historians
• arts administrators
• writing and publishing
• proofreaders
• translators
• poets

This industry includes the rapidly growing new media sector, which relies on many artistic occupations, and is defined as using digital technologies and a blend of words, graphics, photography, video, animation and sound to produce interactive content. Employers in this area typically build websites, create video games, develop software applications, produce educational CD-ROMs and online products and also publish magazines.

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Making it
Success in the arts and culture industry depends on a combination of talent, technical skill and self-motivation. Aspiring artists can begin developing these traits by starting a band, teaching themselves web design, creating a portfolio of drawings and paintings, writing short stories or plays, getting a job at a local library, taking a drama class or volunteering at a community television station, for example.

In the visual and performing arts, many artists earn modest incomes (averaging between $15,000 and $20,000 per year) and often have other jobs to help them pursue their projects. However, income potential is higher in many other arts and culture areas. In the writing disciplines, which employ journalists, editors and public relations professionals, the average estimated 1995 annual salary in BC was $39,000 for full-time workers. In the printing industry (using machinery to process text, photos and film) full-time workers earned an estimated annual salary of $34,100 in 1994.

Location matters
Due to the small Yukon population of 30,000, the territory's demand for professionals in the arts and culture industry is limited, attracting primarily self-employed, part-time workers. Many people with occupations in the performing arts, education and government arts administration work around Whitehorse and Dawson City, and musicians, singers and actors make up a majority of performing artists in this region.

The work of the Yukon's territorial art curator Ruth McCullough illustrates a career in the heritage sector, which includes museum and exhibit curators, park guides and historical storytellers in print, film and online media. Her job involves overseeing several art exhibits in Whitehorse, providing arts awareness programs and promoting arts development throughout the territory. "With the majority of people living in Whitehorse, it's important that those people living in the tiny communities have the opportunity to participate in or look at the arts," she says.

Although many Yukon artists leave the territory to get training, avenues do exist for nurturing local talent, McCullough says. "Artists get known here by attending craft fairs, staging small exhibitions in restaurants and businesses, and getting involved in various arts organizations."

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Pleasing your pallette
BC's larger population of over four million supports a wide array of formal post-secondary educational opportunities in most artistic disciplines through private schools, universities and community colleges. These institutions provide instruction and also allow artists to share ideas and display their work through frequent exhibits, concerts, readings and screenings.

A huge plus for BC's arts and culture industry has been the growth of the film industry, which is now the third largest in North America behind Los Angeles and New York. With 192 productions worth a combined production budget of over $1.8 billion in 2000, the demand for skilled actors, writers, producers, directors and many supporting occupations has never been greater.

Real-life success
Kat Montague is a talented BC artist who has created a career niche in the film industry. The University of British Columbia fine arts graduate in creative writing formed Write Shoot Edit Productions with husband Rob Wenzek in 1998. Their Vancouver-based business has evolved into a multidisciplinary production company, combining Montague's skills as a writer, script editor and production manager with Wenzek's film editing and directing expertise. Montague says volunteering can help people break into the film industry. "Volunteering is often the only way in," she says. "You start by volunteering, you discover what you are good at, and eventually people start paying you to do it."

With a little vision and imagination, you can carve out your own niche in the arts and culture industry and create a career masterpiece.

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