The art world is full of jobs you never even knew existed, but the path to finding them can often be as circuitous and thrilling as the jobs themselves. For alumnus Tomás Rivera (BA in Art History, 2016), the journey meant abandoning the idea of a linear path with the expected notes on a resume and choosing to build a career in the art world his own way. Now, he will embark on what seemed like only a dream during his undergraduate years: a graduate internship position with the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.
As an Art History and Italian double major at The University of Texas at Austin, Rivera knew that he wanted to work in the arts, but he also wanted to make a living. Facing this common dilemma, he sought out the help of the Fine Arts Career Services (FACS) team and former career services coordinator Ann Paterra while he was still a Junior at UT Austin. They gave him a wealth of information about arts careers—from art law to gallery research—opening up new possibilities that Rivera had never considered.
Armed with a plan, Rivera would work in a wide range of jobs, building skills and learning from each position. Working as a file clerk, he learned basic office tasks and the day-to-day of a law office. As an operations intern at Art on 5th gallery, he had his first taste of selling art and the behind-the-scenes of a gallery. At an unlikely client advisor position with Louis Vuitton, Rivera felt that he learned the true basics of professionalism and an understanding of the luxury goods market. It would be the Louis Vuitton position that would ultimately lead him into arts consulting at both Restoration Hardware and Eaton Fine Art.
Arts consulting felt like a natural fit for Rivera, allowing him to cultivate sales skills while staying in touch with trends in contemporary art. But there was still something missing. So he reconnected with the Art History program through Antiquities Action, an organization founded by Art History Professor Stephennie Mulder and dedicated to raising awareness about the destruction, looting and illicit trafficking of antiquities around the world. Through this group and its members, Rivera found himself applying and attending a 10-week ARCA Postgraduate Certificate Program in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection in Umbria, Italy. The program features leading experts in the field of art crime, from professors to forensic archaeologists to museum security. He learned the minutia of museum management and the responsibilities that come with working with cultural property, finding himself drawn to issues of restitution and provenance research. It was during this time that he met Sotheby's Institute of Art faculty member Gareth Fletcher who introduced him to the master’s degree program in Art Business at Sotheby's, where Rivera would complete his graduate studies.
At Sotheby's, Rivera would become immersed in the global arts scene and its players, the market behind museum work and issues of transferring art across international lines.
“I am truly grateful for my experience at The University of Texas at Austin,” said Rivera. “I did not realize how fully the Art History program prepared me for a career in this field until I graduated and started my master’s degree. The scope and depth of art historical knowledge I came away with, paired with a knowledge of methodology and analysis, was absolutely invaluable.”
Rivera completed his master’s thesis, “Magnificenza, or Bust!: A Market Analysis of Seventeenth-Century Roman Painting, 2000-2018,” in 2018, wrapping up writing at the same time as he was applying to law school and planning a wedding with his partner. After graduation from Sotheby's, he started working as an independent art advisor and research consultant, leaning on his skills in analysis from his undergraduate career and networked contacts from his graduate studies. This coming December, he will continue his work as an advisor while joining the team at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice as a postgraduate intern.
“I’m a study in what a first-generation student can do with an arts degree and the drive to succeed,” said Rivera. “It was not always easy, and it took more confidence than I often had, but what I ultimately learned was that I deserved to be there — wherever there was."