Paradoxically, recessions bring out people’s dreams. Forced out of jobs, they seek fulfillment. This time around, according to the International Herald Tribune, it would appear that a lot of folks want to work in the art market:

“During times of economic downturn people review their lives and turn to education,” said Jos Hackforth-Jones, the recently appointed director of Sotheby’s Institute, established in 1969 as the education arm of Sotheby’s, which runs courses in London, New York and Singapore.

The institute has been independent of the auction house since Sotheby’s sold it in 2005 to Cambridge Information Group, a management and investment firm based in Bethesda, Maryland. But it continues to teach practical, object-based courses and to maintain direct links to the market, with Sotheby’s auction house experts sitting on its advisory board and giving guest lectures. In the main London branch of the school, applications are up 40 percent compared with a year ago, Hackforth-Jones said. The school has recently added a new master’s course in contemporary design, accredited, like its five existing master’s, by the University of  Manchester.

At Drouot Formation, the education arm of the Paris auction venue Hôtel Drouot, the school’s director Frédéric Elkaim reported a more than threefold rise in demand for professional training. This has more than made up for a 50 percent fall in enrollment to introductory classes for would-be collectors – hit by the credit crunch – he said.

Art Studies Rise Even As Market Falls (International Herald Tribune)