Folk Art

What Folk Art Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to folk art were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Folk Art Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

Skills for Folk Art Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to folk art:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Abilities for Folk Art Majors

As you progress with your folk art degree, there are several abilities you should pick up that will help you in whatever related career you choose. These abilities include:

• Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

What Can You Do With a Folk Art Major?

People with a folk art degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Art, Drama, and Music Professors	12.0%	$69,960
Artists and Related Workers	5.5%	$65,390
Craft Artists	4.8%	$34,240

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Folk Art

Some degrees associated with folk art may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for folk art careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	6.8%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	5.4%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	4.1%
Some College Courses	5.4%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	3.7%
Bachelor’s Degree	17.4%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	0.5%
Master’s Degree	35.0%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	1.1%
Doctoral Degree	21.0%

Online Folk Art Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	6	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	6	0
Bachelor’s Degree	1	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	2	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Folk Art

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to folk art.

Major	Number of Grads
Fine & Studio Arts	36,332
Design & Applied Arts	36,019
Music	26,167
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	18,531
Drama & Theater Arts	16,853
General Visual & Performing Arts	6,785
Arts & Media Management	4,722
Dance	3,233
Other Visual Art	1,026
Community/Environmental/Socially-Engaged Art	6

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By User:Gengiskanhg under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.