







































 

VOL. 12 
2023–2024 

 

From Portfolio to Platform Career 
Navigating the Promise and Pitfalls of a Sustainable and 

Meaningful Life in the Performing Arts 

Mark Clague 

University of Michigan 

ABSTRACT: Written as a concise guide for students and working professionals, this article1 
 examines and critiques the “portfolio career” in arts professional development to offer an al-
ternative conceptual strategy to forge a sustainable life. Eight modes of arts work are explored 
(performing, teaching, creating, writing, healing, manufacturing, distributing, and administer-
ing). The “Platform Career” is proposed as an extension of and possible solution to the short-
comings of the portfolio career. In the platform model, one professional activity serves as a 
financial base for the artist’s panoply of creative work, providing health insurance and other 
employment benefits plus additional financial stability to reduce financial and emotional pre-
carity. KEYWORDS: portfolio career, arts career development, platform career. 
DOI: doi.org/10.34053/artivate.12.1.203 

Ask a performing artist how they earn a living, and they will likely give multiple answers. 

As a career path and survival strategy, artists often make money by doing not just one but 

several things. Even those famous for a single, high-profile achievement—such as the 

prize-winning playwright, composer, or performer—often did other types of work on 

their journey to success. Once there, they may continue to do a range of work—

 
1 This essay is based largely on lectures I have given annually to first-year music students at the Univer-

sity of Michigan since 2004 (see also Clague 2011). My understanding of the portfolio career is indebted 

to related conversations over the years with colleagues, including Angela Beeching, Susan Booth, Nee 

Chucherdwatanasak, David Cutler, Antonio Cuyler, Aaron Dworkin, Kelly Dylla, Linda Essig, Chris Genteel, 

Jonathan Kuuskoski, Jeffrey Nytch, Jeremy Peters, Rachel Roberts, Peter Witte, and Nathaniel Zeisler, 

among others. 



ARTIVATE 12 

2 

performing, teaching, creating, administering—in part to supplement their income or, just 

as importantly, to earn another kind of profit—meaning and purpose. Often in the arts, 

doing one thing is a job, while doing several things can forge a career. 

This essay is intended as a concise, accessible guide for students and working profes-

sionals in the performing arts who aspire to a multifaceted, meaningful career. Creators 

working in architecture, visual or digital arts, creative writing, and design may also find 

this article useful. It is meant to inspire thinking by suggesting a conceptual pathway from 

an experimental, start-up phase of career exploration (the portfolio career) to a still dy-

namic but sustainable structure for artistic work that is both financially viable and per-

sonally rewarding (the platform career).  

The strategy outlined in this article builds upon more than two decades of teaching 

and mentoring at a professional school of music, theater and dance. The main inspiration 

for sharing this approach is to suggest a framework that describes what many young art-

ists are doing, especially in the years immediately following graduation from a profes-

sional art school, while also permitting current students to explore a broader range of 

possibilities for earning a living in the arts. Much of professional study encourages an in-

creasingly narrow specialization. This essay nurtures a broad openness to possibility. 

The strategy described here is also grounded in historical and economic research. My 

home discipline as a scholar is history. I have long investigated the careers of influential 

artists, striving to consider the whole, three-dimensional range of their professional ac-

tivities and not just the one thing that made them famous. Arts economics is a secondary 

area of my research as financial structures are intimately intertwined with arts activity 

across time, and what people pay for can tell us a lot about what they value and care about. 

This article further depends on research done by colleagues in arts entrepreneurship, 

business, public policy, and the social sciences. These scholars use surveys, economic data, 

and other tools to trace professional trajectories in the arts. To keep the article brief, this 

related research is only mentioned briefly in the text. Readers looking to deepen their un-

derstanding are directed to the accompanying notes and citations for additional context, 

support, and criticism. There is much to learn from this ever-expanding field of arts career 

research.2 With this caveat and suggestion on the table, let us proceed. 

The Portfolio Career 
The “portfolio career” is nothing new. The term is credited to business management 

thinker Charles Handy (Handy 1989, 1994), but the idea has deep roots in history and 

practice. Composer Virgil Thomson discussed the approach in 1939 to explain “how com-

posers eat” (Thomson 1939), and others have argued that the approach can be found as 

far back as the 16th century (Weber 2004, Barker 2021). More recently, arts 

 
2 Podcasts, such as Creative PepTalk, Dance Careers: Unfiltered, Makin’ It Happen; A Career in the Perform-

ing Arts, Duet: The Music Teacher’s Partner, Great Music Teaching, and the DIY Musician Podcast, just to 

name a few examples, can also be a good source of information for working artists.  



ARTIVATE 12 

3 

entrepreneurship scholars and educators have explored the concept as part of a contem-

porary career strategy (Munnelly 2022, and Kuuskoski forthcoming) and often as part of 

complete books focused on career advice (Cutler 2009, Beeching 2010, 2019, Radbill 2013, 

Herstand 2017, Rabideau 2018, Nytch 2018b). 

The “portfolio” notion in the portfolio career refers to a collection of different work 

activities meant to increase opportunity, income, resilience, and fulfillment. Multiple ac-

tivity streams and their associated earnings (both monetary and personal) are merged 

into one larger solution. Perhaps most importantly, a portfolio approach requires the art-

ist to stretch their professional comfort zone. They must experiment with a range of work 

possibilities and thus discover a personal mixture of activities and their related skills, in-

terests, motivations, and passions to forge their career path.  

The types of work included in the portfolio career concept are often quite traditional 

and conventional, even as they respond to new technologies and social needs. An arts 

portfolio can combine entrepreneurial ventures, gig-based freelancing, and traditional 

salaried work. History is filled with artists, both famous and not-so-famous, who have 

combined different activities into a successful and influential career. Iconic examples in-

clude dancer-choreographer George Balanchine (Homans 2022), musician and composer 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Dworkin 2019), and actor-playwright William Shakespeare 

(Dworkin 2019). More recent examples include tap dancer Savion Glover (Glover 2000, 

Hasday 2006), musician Caroline Shaw (Wilhoite 2015), and theater artist Robin Frohardt 

(robinfrohardt.com). You need not be a famous star to make this strategy work for you 

(Essig 2022).  

The portfolio career strategy may be common, but it is not easy (Latukefu 2022, West-

garth 2023). It is also not for everyone. A portfolio career requires relentless hustle and 

renewal, courage, patience, and resilience. It is a practical strategy for making a life in the 

arts. Yet, the portfolio career’s characteristics of flexibility, adaptation, and opportunity 

creation are not only its strength but the root of its main disadvantage—financial precar-

ity (Menger 1999, Alper 2006, Lingo & Tepper 2013, Moore 2016).  

This guide begins by reviewing eight modes or types of professional arts activity in 

which music, dance, and theater professionals typically work. Next, it explores how a port-

folio of several of these activities can help artists discover a recipe for economic and per-

sonal success that adapts to changing circumstances and needs. Nevertheless, it is vital to 

understand that the portfolio career strategy has both positive and negative aspects. Its 

promise and pitfalls are also explored, and I propose a potential solution—the Platform 

Career.3  

While its name may suggest making money as a social media influencer or by using a 

website to find gig work or recruit donors, the word “platform” here does not refer to a 

technology application, even as some artists have used social media or crowdfunding 

 
3 To our knowledge, this understanding of the “Platform Career” was first articulated publicly by myself 

and Jonathan Kuuskoski in Miami as part of a joint presentation to New World Symphony fellows in April 

2017. 



ARTIVATE 12 

4 

platforms to professional advantage (Tosatto 2019, Blaising 2021, Handke 2022). The 

word platform is here used literally as a base to stand upon. This platform supports you 

and your artistic work. In essence, the platform career is a variation on the portfolio 

model. One professional activity develops over time into a stable “platform” of more de-

pendable income that includes benefits such as health insurance (Clague & Kuuskoski 

2017). Standing more securely on this platform, the artist may continue to explore addi-

tional professional possibilities and passions. As the artist’s goals and opportunities shift, 

new activities can be nurtured and a new platform created. Experimentation, growth, and 

change are core components of the portfolio-to-platform strategy.  

The Eight Economic Modes of the Performing Arts, Plus One 
Performing artists typically work within eight modes or types of economic activity (Craw-

ford 2001, 149; Clague 2011; Witte 2023).4 Knowing these modes and using them strategi-

cally can help the artist develop a personalized professional vision, revealing how their 

talents, passions, interests, and training might help forge a viable career. These eight 

modes are as follows.  

1. Performing 

Not surprisingly, performing is the most typical and visible economic mode in the per-

forming arts. Over 80% of portfolio artists include performance work in their activity mix 

(Davidson 2022, Munnelly 2022). The artist traditionally earns a wage for singing, acting, 

dancing, etc., in a venue for a live audience. Performers are usually paid a fee for each 

“service,” say a staged event or concert, plus a similar per-service wage for preliminary 

rehearsals. This work can be paid under an ongoing contract with an ensemble or com-

pany, or it can be done as freelance “gig” work in which performances are contracted one 

at a time. Income in this area is typically immediate and direct. The problem with gig work 

is that it can be sporadic.  

2. Teaching 

Here, the artist is paid to provide instruction to others in their craft. Such teaching can be 

one-to-one or for small groups or classes. Pupils include youth, other aspiring 

 
4 The eight modes of economic activity in the performing arts are expanded and adapted from musicolo-

gist Richard Crawford’s book America’s Musical Life: A History (W.W. Norton, 2001), where six “lines of 

work” are proposed: “composing, performing, teaching, distributing (or publishing), writing about music, 

and manufacturing musical instruments and other goods” (149). I first wrote about them in Clague 2011, 

172. In addition, arts administrator Peter Witte suggested the category of healing to me. Note that the cat-

egories are flexible. Specific activities such as repairing, marketing, or legal work can overlap categories 

and could even be considered separate modes. The list here is meant to be comprehensive but general-

ized and can be adapted to better fit specific industries. A 2013 Future of Music Coalition report, for ex-

ample, analyzed forty different income streams specifically for musicians (DiCola 2013, 12). 



ARTIVATE 12 

5 

professionals, or adults looking to explore an art form. Teachers may receive a salary from 

an institution, such as a music store, non-profit cultural center, dance studio, public school, 

or university. They might also teach as a solo “independent contractor,” compensated di-

rectly by each student per lesson (Boyle 2020). Public school teachers and university pro-

fessors are professionally credentialed; private lesson teachers often are not but rest on 

their reputation of success. Some artists may work under supervision in schools as “teach-

ing artists” on behalf of a cultural organization. Historically speaking, teaching is the per-

forming artist’s second most common economic pathway next to performing itself. Even 

Mozart taught lessons. Some 68% of respondents to a 2022 survey reported that teaching 

was part of their portfolio career (Munnelly 2022). Income in this area is often immediate 

and relatively regular. 

3. Creating—Composing, Choreographing, and Playwriting  

Performing arts creators invent art in the form of repeatable templates for performance—

such as scripts, choreographies, or musical scores. Playwrights imagine narrative dialogue 

for plays, movies, and television shows. Choreographers create patterns of movement. 

Composers create symphonies, pop songs, and jazz standards, movie scores, or commer-

cial jingles (Collinson Scott 2017). When a creator has a salaried position or commission, 

income can be immediate and direct. If not, creative work is often speculative—done in 

hopes that it can be sold, published, and licensed later. In this way, creative work can pro-

vide an ongoing revenue stream through royalties and performance fees. Owning and 

managing one’s intellectual property, such as copyrights, is thus vital to this pathway 

(Frith 2004, DiCola 2013). Such royalty or licensing income may take time to develop. His-

torically, artists who retain their copyrights have better potential for long-term economic 

success (Frith 2004, DiCola 2013). 

4. Writing and Researching 

Artists know their fields of practice as insiders and thus can bring significant insight to 

work as scholars and critics. They can uncover their art forms’ history, aesthetics, and so-

cial dynamics and share this knowledge with other specialists, students, or a broad public. 

Writing and researching generate money through publishing, research grants, or teaching 

or librarianship. Income can be slow to develop and sporadic, but grants and institutional 

wages as an archivist, program annotator, journalist, or professor can make this work fi-

nancially viable and sustainable. A terminal degree (such as a Ph.D. or MFA) is generally 

required to become a university professor in this area. 

5. Healing 

Arts therapies are a growing area of professional arts activity and often require special-

ized training in an accredited program, such as in music therapy (Hogan 2001, Junge 2019, 



ARTIVATE 12 

6 

arttherapy.org). Artists without health credentials can sometimes perform healing work 

under supervision, say within a retirement community or clinic environment. An example 

would be “comfort care” musicians who play an instrument to help patients fall asleep or 

manage stress in a hospital setting (Hoover 2021). Such work is generally “gig” work but 

may be done under an ongoing contract and with an hourly wage. A second type of healing 

work serves performing artists directly. For example, wellness and medical providers, 

such as physicians, physical therapists, and emotional counselors, might focus their work 

on supporting the physical and mental health needs of other performers. Often, these art-

ist-serving medical professionals have a performing arts background themselves. This 

work requires additional professional training, such as a physical therapy or medical de-

gree, that can result in salaried positions. 

6. Manufacturing/Making Things 

Those trained in the arts are often well-positioned to design and manufacture arts-related 

products. Such goods include audio or video recordings, sheet music or published scripts, 

signal effects pedals, clothing, instrumental reeds and accessories, pianos or saxophones, 

costumes, and stage sets. A subset of manufacturing is maintenance and repair, and such 

work ranges from managing an arts-related information technology infrastructure to fix-

ing trumpets or tuning pianos. Income can be per job or salaried. Salaried work typically 

involves joining a pre-existing firm as an employee. If you invent or make your own prod-

ucts and can afford to grow this income stream more slowly, you may wish to create your 

own manufacturing company.  

7. Distributing/Selling Things 

Distributing is selling art products to consumers, such as running a brick-and-mortar rec-

ord store, guitar shop, etc., or operating an online store to sell sheet music, scripts, cos-

tumes, or dance shoes. As an artist, you can use your knowledge to help others find the 

right tools and gear. Selling can be paired with manufacturing the goods to be sold. Gaining 

experience as an employee can be a useful place to start if you want to run your own busi-

ness eventually. If you work for others, income can be relatively immediate; if you create 

your own sales channels from scratch, income may take time to develop. A subset of dis-

tributing is legal representation in the arts, such as protecting and leveraging copyrights 

and trademarks, which may require a law degree. 

8. Administering  

Arts administration is the management and strategic support of arts activity (Cuyler 2020, 

Stein 2022). Typically, the arts administrator works within an organizational environ-

ment, such as a non-profit orchestra, theater or dance company, a school, or a for-profit 

business, as a salaried or hourly employee. Some administrators create their own 



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7 

organizations. Roles range from executive director or president to jobs in marketing, fund-

raising, production, artistic affairs, diversity and inclusion, admissions, licensing, product 

development, and other roles. Representation for individual artists is another related 

area. In this case, the services of the performing artist—say a conductor, dancer, actor, or 

ensemble—is the product to be sold. Work as an agent is often paid as a commission on 

work secured for the artist. 

9. The Non-Arts Job 

Non-arts employment is a ninth bonus category that often complements performing arts 

work (Herstand 2017). Non-arts work can supplement arts-related income and can be 

very creative and personally satisfying as well. Artists have specific skills that can be 

transferred to other fields and professions where they are highly valued (Bertrand 2020, 

Peters 2024). These transferrable skills include flexibility and creativity, problem-solving, 

the ability to work independently, staying focused to perfect a task, teamwork and other 

interpersonal skills, an openness to constructive feedback, planning and project manage-

ment, public speaking, writing and communication, event management, and more. Non-

arts jobs that work well for artists have traditionally included hourly office and restaurant 

work. Many artists have used non-arts jobs to advantage. The composer Charles Ives, for 

example, made a living in business that allowed him to ignore the commercial marketplace 

and thus write experimental music that did not “sell.” His compositions later earned him 

a Pulitzer Prize (Burkholder et al.). It is a strategy and not a sign of failure to combine 

artistic work with non-arts work (Throsby 2011). In fact, a 2022 survey concluded that 

38% of portfolio artists earned some income from non-arts work (Haapakorpi 2022, Mun-

nelly 2022). 

The appendix to this article provides a worksheet to help artists explore these modes 

of artistic and non-arts work. This Personal Arts Activity Inventory invites the artist to 

catalog their work history and interests to nurture a broader conception of professional 

activity that might provide both monetary income and personal satisfaction. Worksheet 

results will identify possibilities for the portfolio career or exploratory start-up phase of 

an artist’s career. Mentors can use the sheet in a workshop setting, while individual artists 

can use it as a self-management tool. 

The Portfolio Career: Promise and Perils 
The portfolio career combines two or more modes of work into a full-time living (see Fig-

ure 1), and research with working artists affirms the practice of doing more than one thing 

and creating one’s own opportunities. A 2011 survey of some 5000 musicians by the Fu-

ture of Music Coalition, for example, notes that 89% of musical artists earned income from 

at least two activities and that 39% earned from four or more. The activities combined 

most commonly were performing and teaching (DiCola 2013, 12, 23; Munnelly 2022). Pre-

vious research has suggested that 70% of musicians juggled multiple roles (Thomson 



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8 

2013). Maybe most compellingly, a long-term survey of alumni from collegiate profes-

sional arts programs indicates that 77% of graduates report having been self-employed at 

some point in their career (SNAAP 2017). This is supported by freelance worker data for 

artists in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey from 2003 to 2015 (Woron-

kowicz 2019). The NEA similarly concludes that artists frequently work as independent 

contractors, indicating that self-employed work is 3.6 times more likely in artistic careers 

than for those in non-arts professions (NEA 2019). Such studies show that artistic careers 

are quite often portfolio careers. 

Trombonist Ingram Lee, for example, launched his musical career by working in three 

modes: performing, teaching, and distributing. He performed regularly with several or-

chestras and chamber groups; taught both as an independent contractor in several middle 

and high schools and also as the trombone studio instructor at a regional college; and, 

finally, he distributed trombones and mouthpieces as the sales representative for a cus-

tom instrument maker. He worked long hours and purchased health insurance through 

the local musicians union. During this period, he also put as much as 30,000 miles on his 

car annually, driving from gig to gig, but his creative life was rich and varied. He loved 

teaching and had the satisfaction of performing as well as helping others improve as mu-

sicians. The skills he developed as a sales representative further enhanced his teaching 

and performing work. He helped students and colleagues find an instrument that pro-

pelled their growth, and he also learned to customize his own trombone to optimize his 

playing (Lee 2021).  

Portfolio careers have both advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, they are 

flexible, adaptive, self-directed, and individual. They are characterized by variety and 

Figure 1. The Portfolio Career, an exploratory, professional strategy for the performing artist 



ARTIVATE 12 

9 

permit the artist to pursue their own unique interests. They eschew routine. Such careers 

are also resilient. If one mode of activity falters, other modes can be added or increased. 

For example, if a symphony goes on strike and performance income dries up, the instru-

mentalist who also teaches can recruit more students to make up for lost income. A 2022 

study concluded that there were three primary motivations for pursuing a portfolio ca-

reer: artistic fulfillment (92%), time commitment and schedule/flexibility (85%), and pay-

ment/ability to earn a living (82%) (Munnelly 2022). 

Both a plus and a minus of the portfolio lifestyle is the hustle (Pippen 2019, 424–44). 

Portfolio artists must continually seek new opportunities—more performances, more stu-

dents, more sales, more gigs. This hustle is both a blessing and a curse. For some, the hustle 

is fun and rewarding, generating a higher income or new possibilities. The portfolio artist 

need not wait for a job opening but can generate their own opportunities. However, op-

portunity creation requires almost continuous effort and energy. Not everyone finds joy 

in the hustle. Such a life also includes regular disappointment. For every new opportunity 

realized, there are likely dozens of inquiries that go unanswered or promising leads that 

consume time but prove fruitless. Relentless optimism, skilled personal and professional 

networking, and emotional resilience are characteristics vital to the hustle. The skills 

needed can be developed in work and internship experiences. Research has likewise 

shown that internships can nurture long-term success (Frenette 2020). 

One’s personal identity is typically an artistic strength and a source of expressive in-

spiration. Your story can help audiences understand your art. It is nevertheless important 

to note that the portfolio career exists within the too often antagonistic context of society 

at large, both its explicit prejudices and hidden biases. People who are regularly con-

fronted by racism and other forms of discrimination—for example, women, people of 

color, trans people, immigrants, and the undocumented—may well face these same per-

nicious hurdles as a portfolio artist (Peterson 1985, Topaz 2022). On one hand, the ability 

to generate opportunity gives the portfolio artist unusual agency to circumnavigate bias. 

The entrepreneur who confronts a closed door is taught to create a new door. Yet others 

may nevertheless try to prevent any door you create from opening. Instead, embrace those 

allies who will celebrate your work and help you to open those doors. Seek out those au-

diences and opportunities for which what makes you special is a strength. 

Several scholars have criticized the portfolio career model as anti-worker and a ne-

oliberal trap that devalues the artist (Moore 2016, Nytch 2018a, Ritchey 2019, Deresiewicz 

2015 & 2020, Chucherdwatanasak 2022, Enriquez 2022). Employers can readily take ad-

vantage of arts workers. Pay for gig work, for example, is sometimes poor, below a living 

wage, and often does not include compensation for practice and preparation. Union pro-

tections rarely apply to freelance or gig workers, so the portfolio artist assumes employ-

ment risks personally (Manchester 2009). There is no paid sick leave or vacation time. A 

teacher loses income, for example, if they fall ill and cannot teach. Performances can be 

postponed or canceled without compensation. Health insurance, retirement savings plans, 

and family leave are the responsibility of the self-employed (Kristal 2007; Woronkowicz 



ARTIVATE 12 

10 

et al. 2020). Even worse, artists can internalize this insecure life as normative, as if the 

starving artist trope is not only to be expected but something to which a real artist aspires 

(Bartlett 2019, Opara 2019). Love of the work should never be a rationalization for low 

pay and insecurity (Scolere 2019). 

Professional arts educational programs and their faculties can also be criticized for 

training too many artists relative to opportunity demand in the overall economy. A win-

ner-take-all culture is typical. Schools celebrate their superstar alumni but often fail to 

keep track of the many others who do not find a living in the arts. The portfolio career 

itself can be a tool for this manipulation. Less ethical institutions may use a too-optimistic 

rhetoric of freedom, innovation, and self-sufficiency to convince prospective students and 

their parents of the promise of the entrepreneurial arts career while minimizing its inher-

ent challenges and risks (Chucherdwatanasak 2022). Any claims that the portfolio career 

strategy is a failsafe plan are simply false.  

Further, arts entrepreneurship is often overly glorified. Failure is celebrated as a 

purely learning opportunity, and its emotional toll on the individual is shunted aside (Mor-

gan 2012). If an artist is unable to secure a professional living, their shortfall is too often 

blamed entirely on the individual—as a failure of talent, artistry, or effort rather than as a 

deficiency of the arts economy itself. The arts profession in the United States is far from 

perfect. It can be unfair and also can be criticized for providing poor wages, limited job 

security, and unequal access to opportunity (Opara 2019, Morningstar 2022). Success is 

due to many factors outside of sheer ability and effort, such as family money, supportive 

mentors, timely grant programs, scholarship opportunities, and more than a bit of luck. 

Merit is only one factor. 

The performing arts could do better. Artists are motivated by passion, but passion 

cannot pay the rent or provide for retirement. Compensation for artists must facilitate not 

only an event but the community arts ecosystem. Artist collectives, cooperative publish-

ing, and artist-led ensembles or companies could be built from the start as more just and 

equitable business models (Bain 2012). Yet, portfolio artists necessarily confront their 

personal economic needs urgently as individuals. They need to pay rent each month. De-

veloping multiple income streams is thus a valuable tactic to address immediate financial 

needs within the context of an extant capitalist system. 

The central and most critical problem with the portfolio career is financial precarity 

(Jeffri 2003, Bain 2012, Van Assche 2020).  

Too often, the hustle can be an act of survival. It is expensive to make rent, cover stu-

dent loan payments and insurance premiums for instruments and gear, pay for profes-

sional clothing or coaching, access rehearsal spaces, and afford transportation to the next 

audition, not to mention providing for other basic needs such as food and healthcare.  

Even as it provides opportunities to adapt, the portfolio career is inherently unstable. 

This is in part because U.S. labor law does not require employers to pay benefits to part-

time employees. State laws differ, but federal regulations in the Affordable Care Act re-

quire that employers offer health insurance only to those working 30 hours or more per 



ARTIVATE 12 

11 

week (healthcare.gov). As a result, combining multiple part-time jobs into a full-time liv-

ing often fails to provide benefits such as health insurance or a retirement plan (Brustein 

2005). The self-employed portfolio artist must instead purchase health insurance on their 

own. They also need an emergency savings account for when work dries up and must like-

wise provide for their own retirement, say by opening a personal Roth IRA savings ac-

count. Such a self-constructed financial safety net requires disciplined financial manage-

ment. In practice, however, saving for the future may be all but impossible when today’s 

expenses consume limited earnings.  

The Platform Career: One Solution to Reduce Precarity 
Transitioning to a platform career can reduce the precarity of the portfolio model. In a 

platform career, the artist extends one mode of activity into a primary income source (typ-

ically at least half-time or three-quarter time, depending on state law or employer policy) 

that serves as a reliable economic base and provides basic benefits such as health care and 

retirement savings (see figure 2). Such platforms are often found through a cultural or-

ganization, business entity, or educational institution.  

As a gigging bassoonist in 

Chicago, for example, this au-

thor made money performing 

with orchestras and in com-

mercial studios, as well as from 

teaching private lessons, oper-

ating a mail-order music sup-

ply company, and managing a 

youth chamber music program. 

During this same time, how-

ever, I completed a Ph.D. in mu-

sicology, which later allowed 

me to become a full-time uni-

versity professor. The univer-

sity job now serves as my pro-

fessional platform. It provides 

the benefits and base income that allow me to pursue additional entrepreneurial projects. 

In my career, I have worked in all nine modes described above. Even now as a university 

professor (which involves teaching, research, and administrative service), I have worked 

outside the university: performing on my instrument, writing books and liner notes, giv-

ing pre-concert talks, and serving on non-profit boards. Some of these activities provide 

additional income; others do not. All these activities, however, also allow me to explore 

new interests, develop new skills, make new contacts, and find purpose by giving back to 

my community. 

By providing financial stability, platforms further provide a base from which to 

Figure 2. The Platform Career, a more stable configuration of 
the portfolio model. 



ARTIVATE 12 

12 

explore new portfolio opportunities. A stage designer, for example, might have a 75% po-

sition with benefits at a local college but also design sets for a regional playhouse or work 

with an entertainment venue to create decorations for weddings or commercial photo 

shoots. These additional opportunities might offer more income, more creative satisfac-

tion, or both. Note that the designer continues to work at the college, earning regular in-

come and benefits, even as they explore outside opportunities. The platform thus does not 

replace the portfolio. Instead, the platform structure supports the artist, allowing them to 

pursue a portfolio of activities. It is a more stable configuration of the portfolio career 

model. One mode of work provides a financial and emotional base for a range of creative 

expression. Having a reliable platform shifts the portfolio approach away from a survival 

strategy and towards a sustainable career model. 

Dancer Demi Shields created a professional portfolio as a dancer in New York City, 

combining a recurring seasonal position with the Radio City Rockettes with choreography 

and commercial dancing for parties, cruises, and social events as a crowd enhancer. To 

this performance work, he added everything from teaching to part-time work in arts ad-

ministration, fundraising, tech startup offices, bartending, and restaurants, as well as writ-

ing for a dance magazine and short-term gigs as a film extra, all while chasing auditions 

for Broadway. He subsequently moved to Detroit and developed a platform career, work-

ing in arts education and outreach for a university while continuing to dance as a freelance 

choreographer, performer, and teacher. Combined atop an arts administration platform, 

his career provides more financial security but still “fulfills a personal mission” (Shields 

2023). 

Professional platforms can also be created from scratch. Clarinetist Kari Landry, for 

example, is a full-time employee of the Akropolis Reed Quintet, an ensemble she co-

founded as a music student. After ten years of playing concerts and winning competitions 

with the ensemble, Kari was able to leave a half-time arts marketing position to work for 

her ensemble full-time. She now serves the ensemble as both a performer and an admin-

istrator, bringing the marketing savvy she learned in her previous job to her multifaceted 

role in the quintet as a musician, publicist, and fundraiser. The quintet is now a 501(c3) 

non-profit entity that provides her with health and retirement benefits as well as income. 

Her administrative work began with an internship, and now she also teaches a class in 

non-profit creation and management at a university. She owns a home and has started a 

family (Landry 2023).  

Vocalist Sam Williams created the one-woman show “American Patriots” exploring 

political division as a capstone project while completing her graduate degree. During 

school and immediately after, she pursued a series of arts administration jobs to learn 

skills in marketing and fundraising, enlisting her supervisors as mentors. All the while, 

she grew her show into a full-length evening with collaborating artists. She soon founded 

her own socially-driven production company—Art Impacts, LLC—and after securing 

grant and donor funds, alongside invitations to workshop and perform her show, she 

gradually cut back on her work for others from full-time to part time and finally to work 



ARTIVATE 12 

13 

solely for herself. Combining her work as an arts leader, singer, and producer, she plans 

to launch a series of socially engaged multimedia works (Williams 2024). 

Platforms, even if they are relatively stable, are not necessarily permanent. A current 

platform cannot be taken for granted. Its maintenance requires excellence, dedication, and 

flexibility. In this sense, the platform career is not exceptional but is like all employment. 

For this reason, maintaining a portfolio of activity atop a platform keeps other possibilities 

alive. If needed or desired, one of these supplemental activities can become a new plat-

form. The portfolio also serves to counteract the sometimes routine nature of platform 

work by providing new outlets for creativity and additional rewards, whether financial or 

personal.  

The portfolio-to-platform strategy allows the individual to explore not only making 

money but making a difference, finding meaning in the work. As of 2024, trombonist In-

gram Lee, for example, moved to a new town and initially found work in a full-time posi-

tion working in sales for a musical instrument company. Finding little joy in customer ser-

vice work, he resigned and returned to portfolio work including teaching. Having 

experience in self-managed portfolio work allowed him the flexibility to consider not just 

financial but personal satisfaction among his career requirements (Lee 2024).  

As arts professionals, it is all too easy to forget the joy and pleasure that originally 

motivated us to dedicate our lives to the arts. It is thus important to remember that the 

profits gained through arts work have the potential to include both economic and personal 

rewards—both the money needed to sustain one’s life and the personal satisfaction 

needed to make one happy, however you define that for yourself (e.g., financial security, 

time for family or personal wellness, meaning and mission). Your goal should not be just 

one or the other. This may be the reason that most portfolio artists (despite the risk and 

effort involved) report that they prefer their varied career lifestyle. They embrace the 

portfolio career as both a necessity and a choice (Munnelly 2022).  

Art and money need not be in opposition. In recent writings by arts entrepreneurship 

theorist Linda Essig, she uses the ancient figure of the ouroboros (a snake eating its own 

tail) to suggest that art (the head) can thrive on money (the tail) if innovation and entre-

preneurship (the body) are fueled by the artist’s personal mission (Essig 2015 & 2022). 

Identifying your personal mission can transform your career and transform the world. 

Similarly, arts sociologist Megan Jordan suggests that such mission-driven artistry may be 

found in a growing social activism that itself may be a new form of arts entrepreneurship 

(Jordan 2023).  

My own research into the arts business strategies of composer George Gershwin of-

fers a historical example. For Gershwin, there was no conflict between art and money, be-

tween writing music that was both popular and excellent. Excellence meant sophisticated, 

modern, and emotionally compelling music. To accomplish this, Gershwin explored the 

latest compositional models from composers such as Claude Debussy and Alban Berg. For 

Gershwin, excellent music would also necessarily be popular and thus profitable. Gersh-

win used these profits—from his first hit song, “Swanee,” and his iconic piano concerto 



ARTIVATE 12 

14 

Rhapsody in Blue, for example—to finance more speculative endeavors from the tone 

poem An American in Paris to his folk opera Porgy and Bess (Clague 2020). 

Money is the fuel of the portfolio-to-platform strategy. Think of yourself as a business 

and use your money wisely as capital to be invested in yourself and your career.  

Be aware that portfolio careers demand careful financial record-keeping. Success as 

an entrepreneurial artist requires using tax law correctly and to advantage (Riley 2016, 

Milam 2019). It is vital to deduct all legitimate expenses from your taxable personal in-

come and thus reduce your tax payment to maximize your resources. As a portfolio-to-

platform artist, you are a business entity. You are your own agent, manager, producer, 

publicist, photographer, videographer, and social media guru. To that list, also add ac-

countant and tax professional. 

One hurdle to establishing a multifaceted arts career is emotional. It can be intimidat-

ing or even frightening to experiment with new career possibilities. By definition, explor-

ing the new puts one outside of their comfort zone. As artists, we hold ourselves to ex-

tremely high standards of skill honed over many years of intensive study. We tend to 

perfectionism. Insecurity, if not imposter syndrome, is rarely far away, even for estab-

lished professionals. Exploring a new mode of work, however, necessarily makes one a 

beginner. Give yourself permission to try. Expect that you will be on a learning curve and 

know that it is okay to be uncomfortable. Discomfort is a normal part of the learning pro-

cess. Being aware of your emotional journey will not only assist your personal develop-

ment but will make you more empathetic to students and collaborators. One study showed 

not only the importance of mental health and well-being for arts careers but demonstrated 

that physical exercise was positively associated with artists’ well-being (Shaughnessy 

2023).  

As a portfolio-to-platform artist, your biggest assets are your energy, commitment, 

and passion. For many artists, the drive to make art is a calling not to be denied. The ques-

tion is not whether to be an artist but rather how to make being an artist possible. If this 

describes you, the portfolio-to-platform strategy can help you to develop and organize 

your potential into a viable living. It can allow you to support yourself while gaining expe-

rience and skills. It can sustain your work financially as you discover your purpose and 

maximize joy. At its best, the portfolio-to-platform career strategy is an ongoing journey 

that encompasses personal growth, economic reward, and the opportunity to pursue a 

meaningful artistic life. This type of career is a choice. It is not easy. It is never guaranteed. 

But for those in the arts who fully understand its opportunities and challenges, the port-

folio-to-platform career strategy can make a life’s work possible.  



ARTIVATE 12 

15 

Appendix: Personal Arts Activity Inventory 

 

Name: ______________________________________________                    Date: ________________ 

 

1. Have you ever earned money for an arts-related activity? Yes No Uncertain 
 

2. Have you found joy and meaning in an arts-related activity? Yes No Uncertain 
 

 
3. In which of the following modes of arts economic activity have you already been en-

gaged and how? Check the box for any work you are doing, have done, or hope to do. 
Describe your work briefly and indicate if you earned money or joy from each. Add 
activities that you would like to try. Put a star next to three things you’d like to pri-
oritize. 
 

PERFORMING (earned $$ joy)—describe: 

TEACHING ($$ joy)—describe: 

CREATING ($$ joy)—describe: 

WRITING ($$ joy)—describe: 

HEALING ($$ joy)—describe: 

MANUFACTURING ($$ joy)—describe: 

DISTRIBUTING ($$ joy)—describe: 

ADMINISTERING ($$ joy)—describe: 

4. Do you find that non-arts work benefits your creative activity? Yes No Unsure 
Why? 

 

 

 



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16 

5. In which environments do you thrive? (check all that apply) 
 
Working Alone 

Working with Others 

Being Paid 

Volunteering 

Having Direction 

Creating my own Agenda 

Having a supervisor 

Other: ______________ 

Other: ______________ 

 
6. In which activities do you feel at your best?   |  Which activities might be a future 

platform? 
  

  

7. What next step might you take to explore a professional activity more deeply? Could 
your network or an internship help?  



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17 

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Cover image: photo by SurfaceWarriors, 

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