Portfolio Careers Among Arts and Design Alumni

SNAAP Pulse is an invitation-only survey of arts and design alumni offering a unique opportunity to amplify the voices of creative communities.

Arts and design alumni across the United States report a wide range of work arrangements, occupations, and income preferences, according to results from the 2026 SNAAP Pulse survey on how alumni manage ​“portfolio careers” — or careers made up of multiple jobs, varied occupational roles, and a mix of employment and self-employment.

This national SNAAPShot draws on responses from over 2,000 arts alumni representing more than 100 colleges and universities, offering insights into how creative professionals combine jobs. The alumni respondents were evenly spread among graduation year, with the most alumni graduating between 2018 – 2022 (17.1%) or 1987 and before (18.1%). Additionally, most respondents lived in either the Northeast (33.3%) or Midwest (28.3%) of the United States. Finally, over half (55.2%) of respondents currently worked in some kinds of arts-related occupation.

The SNAAP Portfolio Careers survey asked alumni about their current work, additional jobs or paid activities, the relationship between their education and employment, and their preferred income structure. The following figures provide an overview of how arts and design alumni describe the shape of their working lives.

Figure 1 shows the number of jobs or paid activities reported by respondents. While 46% of respondents reported one job, nearly half reported more than one job. About 35% reported two jobs, 10% reported three jobs, 2% reported four jobs, and 1% reported five jobs. Only 7% reported having no job.

These results suggest that multiple-job holding is a common part of arts and design alumni careers. Concurrently, 60% of respondents said they felt they were informed during their education about the likelihood of having multiple jobs. This points to an important connection between arts education and career preparation, especially for graduates whose professional lives may involve managing several jobs simultaneously.

Figure 2 shows the most frequently reported additional jobs among respondents whose primary job was in the arts. Education was the most commonly reported additional occupation, with 8% of respondents naming it as their first, second, or third additional job. Other frequently reported jobs were in areas including music performance, fine and media arts, design, writing, sales, and arts administration or management.

The figure highlights the breadth of work that can make up an arts or design career. For many alumni, portfolio careers do not simply mean holding unrelated jobs. Instead, additional jobs often remain connected to creative, educational, administrative, or cultural work. Education’s prominence also suggests that teaching, training, and mentoring are central parts of many arts alumni’s professional lives.

Figure 3 shows the extent to which respondents said their jobs draw upon skills and abilities developed during their education. Across job types, most respondents reported that their work draws at least somewhat on their education. Among respondents with a primary job, 78% said that job draws very much or somewhat on skills and abilities developed during their education. Similar patterns appear across additional jobs: 75% for the first additional job, 74% for the second additional job, and 71% for the third additional job.

These findings suggest that arts and design education remains relevant across multiple forms of employment. Even when alumni hold more than one job or paid activity, they often continue to use skills connected to their education. This may include creative, technical, communication, teaching, entrepreneurial, collaborative, or problem-solving skills developed through their arts and design training.

Figure 4 shows respondents’ ideal income structure for jobs and paid activities. Nearly half of respondents, 46%, said their ideal income structure would be a mix of self-employment and working for someone else. Another 30% said they would prefer only working for someone else, while 20% said they would prefer only being self-employed. A small share, 3%, selected none of the above.

These results indicate that many arts and design alumni do not view employment and self-employment as opposing career paths. Instead, the most common preference is a blended income structure. This reflects the realities of creative work, where alumni may combine salaried or wage-based employment with freelance, contract, entrepreneurial, teaching, consulting, or project-based work.

Technical Notes

1. All data are weighted using the procedures outlined in the SNAAP Pulse Technical Documentation.

2. Each respondent was asked if they worked in the past year. Only respondents who reported having a job were asked about additional jobs, and only those who reported additional jobs were asked about more additional jobs. The number of jobs was determined by counting the number of jobs respondents said yes to (primary job, additional job 1, additional job 2, additional job 3).