Career models in the cultural or creative economy are rarely one-dimensional or linear. This is a discovery that increasingly applies to almost all sectors. Statistics show that launching a career in arts and design takes longer than in other areas. However, after about five years graduates have caught up with those from other disciplines.
Naturally, we train our students for existing markets and prepare them to earn their living in a very diverse real professional world. Over recent years, ZHdK has made considerable efforts to understand how the markets that are relevant to its students operate and what the requirements for them are. It has been responsible for studies on the cultural and creative economy in Switzerland and, especially, in Zurich. It published the first results of its research in 2010 in the form of a handbook for surviving in the cultural and creative economy, called "Freischaffen und Freelancen in der Schweiz" [Being a freelance in Switzerland]. A project called "Cultural Entrepreneurship" ran at ZHdK from 2010 to 2012. The term is used to mean business activity in the cultural economy. The aim of the project was to incorporate more interdisciplinary subjects, on a sound scientific basis, into our fundamental teaching and continuing education courses. In addition to Cultural Entrepreneurship, subjects such as fundraising, cultural marketing and self-management also form part of the teaching at ZHdK.