Career Explorer Education
Changing shape
Art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary
Teach courses in drama, music, and the arts including fine and applied art, such as painting and sculpture, or design and crafts. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 20% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is very high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it very high), and US jobs are projected to change by +2.2% by 2035, slower than average. The work leans on creative vision and emotional intelligence.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $78,620
- Job growth to 2035
- +2.2%
- Openings a year
- 8,000
- People doing it (2025)
- 117,000
- Usual route in
- Master's degree
Where people already use AI for this work
- Teach academic or vocational subjects
- Advise others on educational or vocational matters
- Maintain current knowledge in area of expertise
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Assess student capabilities, needs, or performance
- Maintain operational records
- Develop educational programs, plans, or procedures
What the work looks like
- Explain and demonstrate artistic techniques.
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, performances, projects, assignments, and papers.
- Prepare students for performances, exams, or assessments.
- Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
- Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as acting techniques, fundamentals of music, and art history.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Farm and home management educatorsChanging shape, Index 23, -3.2%
- Anthropology and archeology teachers, postsecondaryChanging shape, Index 21, +2.6%
- Architecture teachers, postsecondaryChanging shape, Index 34, +2.6%
- Special education teachers, preschoolChanging shape, Index 45, +2.4%
Also known as: Art Professor, Music Professor, Professor, Theater Professor, Art History Professor, Art Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.