The Art of Advising Creative Arts Students

While every population of international students has its own needs, students in the creative and performing arts confront a unique group of challenges—and offer contributions to campus life. In addition to the same issues that all international students face, like government regulations, cultural differences, and language barriers, among others, international art students present advisers with additional obstacles as well.

“I think we’re facing some of the same challenges that all schools face,” says Clare Lake, director of international student and scholar services at Columbia College Chicago, a private arts college where she works with 250–300 nonimmigrant students from 50 different countries pursuing creative degrees. Balancing those challenges, however, represents the commitment to art and creativity that makes working with art students gratifying for many advisers.

Acclimating to a New Environment

International students in creative and performing arts programs differ from other students in several ways that advisers should consider, including credential equivalents, challenges related to their specific areas of study, and differences in academic culture.

Before they even arrive on campus, academic credentials can be a factor for international arts students in the United States, as their academic credentials don’t always align neatly. “We sometimes have a bit of a mismatch in terms of academic levels,” explains Sarah Craver, director of education abroad at The City University of New York-Hunter College. “[France]  has a three-year bachelor’s degree, and here we have a four-year bachelor’s degree. Students come in [after] finishing three years, and for us they are still undergraduates.”

The nature of their coursework is also different from other international students. “For art and design students, their major is an extension of themselves in a way that someone pursuing a degree in accounting is not,” says Jessica Wolfe, director of international student affairs at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. “So much of their work is identity-based.” Wolfe estimates that about 30 percent of her institution’s student body are international students.

“For art and design students, their major is an extension of themselves in a way that someone pursuing a degree in accounting is not. So much of their work is identity-based.” —Jessica Wolfe

The transition to an arts program in the United States can be head-spinning for international students used to a different style of learning. “The professor-student relationships [can be] much more relaxed here than in some cultures,” says Erica Puccio O'Brien, director of the International Education Center at the Massachusetts School of Arts and Design (MassArt). “This can be really jarring for our international students and hard for them to adjust to at first.” MassArt, the only public arts and design institution in the country, has about 150 undergraduate international students out of a student body of 1,700 undergraduates, as well as 85 graduate students.

It’s not just the relationship with professors that international students must acclimate to, it’s also the methodology for teaching, such as art critiques. “Sometimes, international students are not used to critiquing each other’s work [amongst] their peers,” says Wolfe. “That can sometimes be a struggle for our students, especially if their grade involves classroom participation. A student may be very proficient in writing English, but sometimes an interaction in a language that is not their first language and that requires a lot of back [and forth that] can be difficult.”

Alison Cho, an international student adviser at an arts and music institution in the Northeast, stresses that it’s not just critiquing alone that can be challenging for students. Cultural differences in understanding art can also be at play.

“The critique is already [creating] such a vulnerable space without students feeling additional challenges in how to participate without feeling invisible or that their work is being interpreted in an unfair way.” —Alison Cho

“Critiquing can often be the place where a student identity [that has] not been [seen] or supported in an inclusive environment comes to light,” she says. “The critique is already [creating] such a vulnerable space without students feeling additional challenges in how to participate without feeling invisible or that their work is being interpreted in an unfair way.”

These pressures can take a toll on students—“not only because they are becoming college students,” says Cho, “but also [because they are] emerging artists who are navigating the boundary between their personal identity and their professional work.”

This, combined with often long studio hours and multiple assignments, may make international arts students feel the need for mental health support. Cho recalls that at her previous workplace, where 50 percent of the students were international, the institution had therapists who spoke most of the languages of the student population to better address their needs.

Regulations and Restrictions

Aside from adjusting to campus culture and their programs, perhaps the biggest challenge international students in creative and performing arts programs face is adapting to government work regulations. Curricular Practical Training (CPT) encompasses internships, work/study, or any practicum deemed “integral” to a student’s education. Optional Practical Training (OPT) is temporary employment that is directly related to an F-1 student’s major area of study.

“I think the universal challenge for creative students who are pursuing a degree is that, if you are a [U.S.] citizen, you can go out and practice your art at any time and in any place,” says Lake. “You can go play [music] on the street, audition for an acting gig, or work on a film set for a week [without worrying] about work authorization. Generally speaking, our international students can’t work off campus without CPT or OPT. [This] makes it difficult for them to practice their art while they are going to school.”

Students can often find the regulations to be confusing, with good reason. “If they want to publish music that they wrote in a course, from a student’s perspective, that’s something they did for the course,” explains Cho. “But since the purpose was not to publish it, the act of publishing it could be seen as unauthorized employment.”

“If you are a [U.S.] citizen, you can go out and practice your art at any time and in any place. ... Generally speaking, our international students can’t work off campus without CPT or OPT. [This] makes it difficult for them to practice their art while they are going to school.” —Clare Lake

However, as creative thinkers, the students themselves often consider ways to make CPT and OPT work. “The creative ideas that people [often] come up with to get what they want really astound me,” shares Wolfe. “Sometimes we are able to come to a solution together that works.”

However, it doesn’t always work. Richard McGovern, director of student life and international student affairs at the Curtis Institute of Music (Curtis), recalls a student who wanted to work as a singing waitress for CPT. “We had to say no,” he says, because the job was primarily waiting on tables, not singing. “But it was a legitimate question.”

The complexity of CPT varies depending on the student’s area of focus. For musicians, it can be a daunting process.

“In many cases, the performance opportunities for students are last minute,” says McGovern. “An orchestra will call up and need someone to cover. You’re dealing with a system that is constructed for a model that doesn’t exactly fit. We want to empower these students to have every performance opportunity they can have. It’s a difficult balancing act without saying no to big opportunities.” 

Moreover, says McGovern, Curtis international students—which make up half of its student population of 165—are more likely to travel for CPT opportunities. “Because of this performance structure, our student[s] travel domestically and internationally much more frequently than [on] average,” he relays. “If you run into Customs [and Border Patrol], they want to know why you are enrolled in a college program and travelling for a few weeks in the middle of the semester. We have to supply students with documentation because they are traveling so much.”

“We want to empower these students to have every performance opportunity they can have. It’s a difficult balancing act without saying no to big opportunities.” —Richard McGovern

By comparison, says Wolfe, “CPT is a pretty straightforward process at our institution. It’s structured as a core credit experience through our career center, unless it’s written into your program, such as art education and art therapy.” However, she adds, getting the process to work smoothly “involved a lot of meetings and buy-ins and building relationships with the career center.”

Lake agrees that “it is important to create policies and procedures within the framework of the regulations that offer robust internships and CPT authorizations for shorter projects via their academic department and class curriculum.”

Post-Graduation Work Opportunities

Post-graduation pathways require more creative thinking. Many schools bring in an immigration attorney to talk to students about opportunities, such as O visas. “That’s always helpful because students want to know what their options are,” says O’Brien. 

For many students, the option includes looking at OPT, which presents a different set of challenges than CPT. “The laws for OPT are written in such a way that it presumes the student is going to get a position with a firm,” explains McGovern. “Artists might be playing with an orchestra, or they might also be giving lessons or performing in churches. They are functionally self-employed.”

“With OPT you have to be a little bit more creative,” says Wolfe. “Students really go into a vast number of fields in which they take the [transferable] skills they learned as an art design student but may not work in an art design area.”

Lake agrees. For example, he shares, he had a film student struggling to find work. “I could connect him with a local film festival, where he could work as a coordinator,” he says. “You have to think outside the box,” he stresses. “Our students can’t go out and work as waiter[s] while they are trying to get jobs in their field.”

“You have to think outside the box. Our students can’t go out and work as waiter[s] while they are trying to get jobs in their field.” —Clare Lake

However, Wolfe says that she also encourages students to consider their options outside the United States. “The world for artists is a big place,” she points out.

Cho knows first-hand what OPT is like. A former international arts student herself, she applied twice for OPT—and agrees that advisers can help students think creatively about OPT opportunities. “It takes a lot of unpacking, but I tell students you do have control over what you are doing and how you are reporting it. Don’t let a government regulation make you feel you can’t do certain things and prevent you from doing anything at all.”

MassArt has gone so far as to create a handbook for perspective employers to help remove any hesitation they may have about hiring an international student. Because the school sponsors students through OPT and CPT, the handbook reassures them that “the responsibility relies with the sponsoring institution,” says O’Brien. “We’re trying to cut off the noes.”

Supporting the Creative Mind

Despite all the intricacies of managing the regulations as well as cultural and academic differences, advisers agree that the effort is satisfying. “I love working [with] them,” Wolfe says of the art and design students. “They really had to make a journey to convince their family to be onboard with them going to art and design school, and they appreciate the experience of creating their own work. [These students] represent the best about humanity and the world.”

Lake feels similarly: “I’m amazed at the art that they are able to do with limited resources,” she says. “I pursued the arts in my own education, and I enjoy the creative mind. I’m living vicariously through the students.”  •