I’m interested in maybe minoring in art history in college. I’ve always been interested in art history, I’m not very talented with painting or drawing myself but I’ve always thought I would be good at and enjoy being a museum tour guide. Could I get a job like that with a minor in art history? I’ll probably be majoring in theater if that makes any difference. If I can’t do that is there anything else I can do job-wise with a minor like that?
2 Comments Received
May 16th, 2010 @6:06 pm
I’m an art historian, and I’ll be blunt with you: a minor in Art History will not get you a job. Most museum tour guides are just volunteers — they go through training at the museum, but they are not paid.
If you are interested in a career involving the History of Art and museum work, you will have to earn a graduate degree — at minimum, a Master’s in Art History or a Master’s in Museum Studies/Education. You could apply to a program in these fields having done a minor in Art History.
I hold a PhD in Art History, and I majored in the subject as an undergraduate. If you want a top-level career in the art museum field — as a curator or director — then you’ll not only need a Master’s, you’ll probably have to do at least some PhD-level work and preferably earn the doctorate.
And aspiring professors of Art History at colleges and universities MUST earn a doctorate.
May 19th, 2010 @10:11 pm
I’ll take a stab at this question. I’m also an art historian: i understand that you are wanting to translate your degree directly into a job, but perhaps you should be thinking a bit more broadly about what you want to get out of college. In other words, you are going there to gain an education, and not necessarily to train for a very specific, predetermined ‘career.’ or perhaps you are: either way, you can have both. If you have a passion for art history, now is the time to pursue it while you still can. You can always get a good paying, rewarding job that has nothing to do with art history, and you can even major in marketing/business or something “useful” to get you to this job. But a minor in art history will educate your mind and reward your intellectual curiosity that you have for the subject. For the rest of your life, you will be able to walk into museums and know something about what you see and why it matters. It will connect you to the history of art, which is a history of shared humanity and shared responsibility. I would go for it while you can. That is what college is for….in my opinion.
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