By Jessica Ryanczak, Contributing Writer

The hallway outside the practice room hums with piano chords and half-finished melodies as sophomore music major Riley Gardiner pushes open a heavy door inside the Warner Imig building. Outside, students hurry toward the recreation center and plan weekend study sessions, but inside the studio, time slows to the rhythm of vocal warm-ups and acting exercises. 

“I kind of always knew that I wanted to pursue this,” Gardiner said. “I just didn’t expect it to be so difficult.”  

While the arts may seem less challenging and time-consuming to students in other colleges, Gardiner finds that her classes require just as much homework as students in the business program. 

“My classes are short, but we have a lot of homework outside of class, a lot of it’s music theory,” Gardiner said. “I’m required to be in one show a semester, so that’s kind of the part of it that’s so time consuming.” 

 At the University of Colorado Boulder, a school often recognized for its engineering labs and business programs, art students often work outside the spotlight. Among CU Boulder’s 37,000 undergraduates, 1,000 students study within the art programs, making creative majors a much smaller part of campus life. 

Annie High is a ceramics major at CU Boulder. She says that the smaller space the studios offer is where long hours, hands-on work, and personal expression come into focus.  

“Most students are there at late hours and it’s always really friendly,” High said. “All the art students are kind of in the same boat.”  

Students in the arts at CU often feel disconnected from the more common studies on campus. While some students share internship offers in technology or finance, High sculpts expressively as she prepares for critique sessions with her professors. 

 “People are just kind of like, what are you doing with your major or what’s the point of it,” High said.   

Federal education policy discussions have raised concerns that arts and humanities programs could face funding cuts if they are not seen as leading directly to high paying careers. Nationally, humanities degrees have declined by more than 25% over the past decade. For art students at CU, those national funding trends add uncertainty to an already competitive path after graduation.  

“Art and music is what keeps us going, especially in times like this,” Gardiner said. 

Universities are facing increasing pressure from state funding priorities to invest in programs that show higher placement rates and starting salaries for graduates. As enrollment grows in STEM and business fields, universities are shifting resources toward majors that are tied more to the workforce’s demand.  

“Arts programs have always been underfunded. The world, especially in this day and age, needs more creatives,” High said. “It’s very overlooked that,  in a capitalist society, if you’re not making as much money as you possibly can and you’re pursuing, a creative career, then I guess it’s not worthwhile.”  

Creative majors often face more uncertainty after graduation because their career paths are less direct than those with studies tied to specific industries. jobs in the arts depend on building portfolios and attending auditions rather than filling out applications and going to interviews. This makes competition especially strong. 

“Getting a degree in it obviously doesn’t mean you’re going to get a job especially right away. It might take a second because instead of interviews, we have auditions,” Gardiner shared.  

Students outside the arts are noticing the value of creative coursework. Audrey Gamel, a sophomore majoring in business, recently enrolled in a fine arts theater class. Instead of focusing solely on mathematical formulas and deadlines, the class required a willingness to accept mistakes in her creative process. 

“The class was actually super challenging and wasn’t like anything I have ever done for school,” Gamel said. “I gained a lot of perspective and even respect for art majors.”   

Those extra hours are a normal part of the day, for students who are in the arts programs. Studio work and rehearsals often continue long after lectures end across the rest of campus. While business majors study for exams, music and art students often spend their evenings refining skills that cannot be measured by one final answer.  

As national conversations  around funding and the future of arts education continue, students in CU’s creative programs continue to show up. At a university known for science and business, these students continue to build a place where creativity still has room to grow.  

“You need art and music to survive, like your soul needs it to survive,” Gardiner said.