ABSTRACT
For Kate Middleton, doing a degree in Art History may have been a stepping-stone to becoming a member of the royal family, but most graduates in the subject have to get a job. When considering what degree course to follow at university, students, and their parents, are naturally anxious about their career prospects. Contrary to popular mythology, Art History (as this book should already have made clear) is a rigorous academic route to a degree. It is not a ‘Mickey Mouse’ subject, as all those graduates who work in what are loosely termed the creative industries will testify. Moreover, a good degree in Art History does not preclude entering those professions for which a first degree in the humanities is a normal prerequisite (accountancy, the law, management, teaching). As Art History’s position in the ‘A’-level syllabus looks increasingly tenuous, it is more than ever important that those choosing university courses should understand what careers might be open to them. So this chapter comprises a series of personal accounts by women and men who graduated from Art History courses in universities across the UK and who have made careers in a variety of fields. Some but not all of them went on to a postgraduate degree. Their stories are inspiring as well as entertaining; examples of tenacity and determination, a refusal to be discouraged, a willingness to get work experience whenever and wherever it is on offer, and an ability to be enterprising and to make imaginative leaps abound. All were asked to describe how they reached the position they are now in, what that work entails, and how their Art History degree helped them or has been useful to them. I am immensely grateful to these contributors (whom I term ‘participants’, for that is what they are) for having been prepared to take time away from their busy lives to help those at the start of their student days to see what things are possible.
