I have a kid that is considering music and/or theater as options. He’s only a junior right now. However, he has been taking music since preschool years and has been doing theater since he is about 8-9. He started voice lessons at 12. He started guitar at 14. Anyway - point being we’re in a major metro with a really strong arts and music and theater scene and we know a lot of people working in that industry.
The question I really posed to my kid when he first started thinking about this route was is he willing to do things other than JUST perform to work in the arts. Is he willing to market himself, maintain websites, have business skills to help run a non profit, teach, direct, write, compose, work odd hours, etc. We know a large number of people living comfortable middle class lives working in the arts. They just tend to be highly motivated and jacks of many trades. I really don’t think it’s either you make it HUGE or you don’t make it at all. There are many people quietly making a living wage in that industry.
My other thought for my own kid is I am discouraging him away from a BFA in musical theater. That is almost like choosing to train to be a professional athlete. It’s a lot of physical training in many programs. I know programs can vary. My kid is also a very academic kid and dances in musical theater well enough to land some competitive roles. But he really has no interest in doing intense dance. I think he would be better served by pursuing a BA degree, possibly a BM in music and I’d love to see him at a competitive LAC but he likes the buzz of a larger campus in a large city so we’ll see. I also want him somewhere it would be easy enough to change majors. I can definitely see him changing his mind.