Harnessing the power of an arts degree
The VCUarts Career Hub helps you turn your talent, skills and creativity into a career. At VCUarts, your career doesn’t start after graduation. It begins on stage, in the studio, during critique, and in rehearsal. Each time you create something and share it with the world, that’s where it begins.
The Career Hub bridges your classes, internships, research experiences, and creative practices with the real world. It gets you ready for a leadership role you didn’t know you were training for and prepares you for a job title you haven’t yet imagined.
A painting major becomes an engineer. A dancer becomes a nurse. A sculptor leads teams they were never trained to lead. None of it reads as a detour. You’ll improvise, revise, and do it again—and find the breakthrough in the doing. That’s the work.
Here, you’ll find the structure, connections, calendar, funding, alumni network, and a roadmap. These resources will help you build a career as unique as your art and practice.
Every connection you make here is a thread back to the work.
Gain experience: Learn by doing
Internships, volunteer work, student clubs, study abroad, funded research, creative practice and leadership roles all translate what you’ve learned into what you can do. And every one of them adds to the body of work that becomes your career and who you become.
Learning happens in the classroom. Experience happens everywhere else.
Job search strategies
-
When you do an internship, you gain insights beyond just the industry. You also discover more about yourself. Gaining these experiences while you earn your degree helps you fine-tune your career plans. Learn about paid internships and for-credit opportunities. -
The Anderson is the VCUarts teaching gallery, where you’ll learn how to present your work and research to a public audience. The gallery can connect you to internships, jobs and training to learn all aspects of exhibition-making—from planning and design to installation. -
Applying for research grants is a good way to engage in cross-disciplinary collaboration and to find a faculty mentor. You can work alongside a faculty member on interdisciplinary research or creative work to deepen your learning and build teamwork skills.
Get Started
It’s never too early to start planning your career. Whether you’re a first-year picking a major or a senior wrapping up your capstone, the Career Hub is here for you. The good news is you don’t have to figure this out alone, or wait until senior year. The time is now.
Explore these helpful resources developed especially for arts and design students:
Work with our Career Advisor
Make an appointment in Handshake to meet with Tanvi Dev, Career Advisor whose focus is students in the arts and design.
Internship grants and opportunities
Learn how to plan for your internship and the steps to get started. Explore funding for internships and research opportunities . You can receive up to $5,000. Plan ahead and get started early!
Find Jobs
Explore recent job opportunities in your field from Handshake.
VCU Career Services
At the university’s Career Services office, you’ll find a wide range of free services and guidance, from finding an internship, preparing for a job interview, landing your first job and researching graduate schools.
Lamp Post
The Lamp Post is the official student blog for the School of the Arts. Sign up to receive a weekly digest of curated jobs, internships, events and campus opportunities—specifically for VCUarts students—delivered right to your inbox.
Handshake: A job and internship platform
Explore career opportunities
All VCU students have access to Handshake, a powerful online job search tool that connects students and alumni with employers. You can browse thousands of internship, research and career opportunities. You’ll find jobs, as well as career advisors, events and workshops. Handshake offers extensive career opportunities for students and recent graduates across a wide range of disciplines.
Visit VCU’s Career Services website to learn how Handshake can help you get the job or experience you need.
Build Your Career Path
There’s no single path through the School of the Arts, so there shouldn’t be a single map for your career.
Start by checking your unique Major Map. It offers a term-by-term view of your degree and highlights career-readiness milestones. You can create an individualized success plan so you reach your professional and academic goals before graduation.
Major maps connect you to the people, resources and activities to help you maximize your VCU experience. You’ll be in a good position to be a competitive, working professional on day one of your job.
Alumni Voices
“ You weren’t just learning in a bubble. You were gigging around Richmond, getting real-time feedback and learning from musicians who were both teachers and performers. ”
Gordy Haab (B.M. ’00)
Grammy Award-winning composer (Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games, “Star Wars Jedi: Survivor,” 2024)
Employers: Hire a VCUarts student or alum
We'd love to hear from you
VCUarts is currently seeking paid full- and part-time employment opportunities as well as internships for our current students and alumni. Internships must meet all seven benchmarks as outlined by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) for us to consider an opportunity.
Note: We are not accepting unpaid jobs or “exposure-based opportunities” in which our students would be asked to provide their services for free in exchange for public visibility, marketing, or access to a new audience on this form.
Please submit your opportunity via our online Talent Form.
