Is COVID-19 going to sink music schools? I hope not, but I worry.
I honestly don’t have any answers and I don’t want this to happen. But, I worry about this for a few reasons:
The arts sector is continually underfunded. Jobs in the arts are often grant-based, and highly influenced by economic downturns. In addition, the arts do not necessarily benefit in times of boom, because funding does not necessarily increase when the economy gets better due to the variability of the political ideologies of those who are in power during a boom.
Higher education heavily relies on adjunct faculty and graduate assistants. Many of my friends who are adjuncts are experiencing difficulty applying for unemployment because their incomes are mostly self-employed (i.e. their adjunct status means they are either contractual, or it doesn’t pay nearly any of the bills). The unemployment application does not account easily for self-employment and there is therefore an even steeper mountain than normal which they must climb to gain their well-deserved benefits.
Graduate students live off of loans or meager stipends, with the hopes that they can pay their grad or undergrad loans back by being a performer, researcher, or professor. Grad students will have a hard time finding jobs in the arts. It was already bad to begin with: an oversaturated population of professor-eligible candidates graduating in droves from prestigious conservatories, and very few jobs. In fact, that is the reason I chose not to be a professor–I didn’t foresee myself able to compete for a job in the market. Additionally, not many families and students will be able to secure loans or want to secure loans with fewer overall jobs on the market. Educational institutions will be hit hard, and higher ed will see layoffs in droves.
To solve enrollment crises, many colleges and universities are converting to online classes. This presents a huge problem for music schools: “Skype lessons” are frowned upon because judging tone and technique, among other things, is difficult to do remotely (not impossible, just difficult). In addition, large ensemble work is extremely hard to pull off. Lastly, who would be willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to have a lesson remotely with no other resources or students around, when this technology alone that facilitates it comes to us free? I can understand community arts schools gaining income on this platform, but making up the difference between college tuition and remote income will be hard, if that is the path that is chosen by some music schools.
Lastly, international enrollment is likely going to plummet for all colleges and universities for 2020-2021. Students will be restricted from leaving their home countries, visa issues will likely abound, and the growing anti-immigrant sentiment is further inflamed by hateful, erroneous, bigoted rhetoric that this is somehow a “Chinese virus” (what a load of racist baloney). This will hit all colleges and universities very hard, and will impact conservatories and music schools too.
I really don’t want to see all of this happen. Doom and gloom are my least favorite places to be. But, I was already worried about the viability of music and the arts in a world geared towards STEM and finance. Don’t get me wrong, I love STEM and finance (I mean, I enjoy math and web coding and I work in finance by day). I just never believed that music and the arts were given a fair seat at the table to begin with, no matter the economic times or the administration in power. We were running out of time and money to begin with, before COVID-19.
So, what can be done to fix this?
I honestly think we need to stop saying we need to have a conversation. The time for a conversation is over.
We already know our priorities as a nation: we don’t value the arts. If we really value the arts, the arts won’t be sunk by these economic times. If we really value the arts, then our arts sector won’t be reliant on day-to-day funding to support their missions. If we really value the arts, then we would be supporting artistic initiatives as heavily as STEM and finance ones.
But we don’t. And if we want to value the arts, now may be the last chance for many students to get an amazing education at one of our many great music schools. I’m not sure when this might come to fruition, but I am really worried.
Dan
More on music schools: https://composerstoolbox.com/2012/04/18/is-music-school-worth-it/
More on higher ed and the precipice many private colleges were on before COVID:
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2019/04/01/many-private-colleges-remain-danger-opinion
https://www.npr.org/2019/12/16/787909495/fewer-students-are-going-to-college-heres-why-that-matters
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomvanderark/2019/06/17/12-trends-killing-college/#6445dd046609
https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2019-03-22/college-closings-signal-start-of-a-crisis-in-higher-education
