C.A. Long, MFA joins The New School as Director of Digital Learning

“This is a great opportunity to support fellow creatives who have a similar entrepreneurial energy to my own.” - C.A.

Something that excites me about this stage of my career is the thrill in seeing all my creative projects start to intertwine. For most of my time in NYC, I became accustomed to living a double life. Spending the weekdays supporting conservative institutions like Columbia Business School and Sotheby’s, while spending my evenings launching start-ups that empower marginalized communities through tech, and also diving into my passion for documenting underground music.

It’s something many artists have had to navigate since graduating with BFA or MFA degrees. Can we ever make a living solely on our creative passions? Having gone to business school for undergrad, I had long been convinced that the skills we learned in our MFA programs had just as much value as those MBA programs. (The trouble is getting companies to recognize it.)

Artists are able to innovate on little to no budget + get comfortable with constant uncertainty + get used to TONS of rejection = Sound familiar? Overcoming these hurdles develop our skills in entrepreneurship, leadership and innovation.

Over time my dual careers paths flourished, and now I see there is an opportunity to leverage what I’ve learned from each area and bring them together to build more meaningful experiences for online learners of all ages. At this point in my career I’m able to mention my work in indie publishing, live music, and global digital learning all together in the same breath— and explain why these activities influence each other to ensure better products, better customer service, and higher levels of business success.

More to come, watch this space.

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P.S. Check out this Atlantic article by Deresiewicz in 2015 titled, “The Death of the Artist and the Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur.”