Dr Susan Jones is researcher and commentator specialising in the interrelationships between artists and the infrastructures for the contemporary visual arts. Briefings and sectoral evidence arising from her studies are provided to artists and artist-led initiatives and arts and cultural policymakers, sectoral bodies and networks in support of their advocacy.
Programmes of research
- Artists in arts policy (2015-2023)
Key words artists’ livelihoods, arts policy, cultural labour, contemporary visual arts, resilience, inequality
Outputs
Artists’ livelihoods: the artists in arts policy conundrum (2019)
Qualitative examination of artists’ livelihoods and arts policy interrelationships through analysis of the application and impacts on artists’ development prospects of Exhibition Payment Right, Year of the Artist and Percent for Art. Articulates through sequential artists’ interviews the original concept of ‘artists’ motility’ as the trio of qualities and factors enabling artists to build and sustain art practices over a life cycle. Supported by the North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership (NWCDTP) and a-n The Artists Information Company
https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/626357/
The chance to dream: why fund individual artists (2020)
Exploration of the contribution Arts Council England’s direct Grants for the Arts programme made in sustaining artists’ individual practices, as preface to discussing how a localised policy and application of direct funding could be supportive of the wider constituency of visual artists and diversity of art practices in future. Commissioned a-n The Artists Information Company.
https://www.a-n.co.uk/research/the-chance-to-dream-why-fund-individual-artists/
Artists’ work in 2016 (2017)
This analysis of the value of openly offered paid opportunities for visual artists indicates that these increased by 15% in 2016 when compared to 2013. However, this represents a 17% decline from pre-recession 2007 figures and in general the average value of residencies, awards and commissions has substantially decreased and 28% of opportunities advertised offered no financial reward for artists. Commissioned a-n The Artists Information Company.
https://www.a-n.co.uk/research/artists-work-2016/
Are the creative industries good for artists? (2016)
Since the early days of New Labour in 1997 it’s been government and arts policy to integrate and progress development of the visual arts through the creative industry umbrella and to embrace its economic imperatives. Provides analysis of whether these industries provide a conducive environment in which visual artists can make a living and develop their careers. Commissioned for Engage annual conference 2016.
https://padwickjonesarts.co.uk/are-the-creative-industries-good-for-artists
A new deal? (2024)
The neoliberal principles underpinning arts policy since the Millennium have consistently undermined artists’ livelihood prospects. Through examination of Labour’s ‘Creating growth’ 2024 election manifesto and Contemporary Visual Arts Network’s Reframed: A new policy agenda for the visual arts, this paper argues for revision of the concept of resilience within arts policy so that this rests on co-development rather than unsustainable, competitively ingrained growth. Commissioned and published by Art Monthly.
- Artists in the pandemic: a qualitative study of conditions for artists’ livelihoods during a time of great social and economic upheaval (2021-23)
Key words Artists’ livelihoods, Covid-19, arts policy, resilience, precarity, equity.
Outputs
Cracking up: the pandemic effect on visual artists’ livelihoods (2021)
Cultural Trends, 3.1, 2024 https://doi.org/10.1080/09548963.2022.2120382
Analysis of the plight of visual artists during Covid-19 illuminates the working conditions of a chronically under-examined sub-section of cultural labour. It demonstrates the severity of pandemic impacts on visual artists’ social and economic circumstances, including from inappropriate criteria for access to government and Arts Council England emergency measures. A central concern is consideration of how future arts policies and infrastructures might better account for the distinctive social contributions of this workforce element.
Commentary reveals a stark contrast between ambitions at national and local levels about what artists and the arts are for, and where and how arts policy should be made and implemented. It evidences an emerging grassroots appetite for a dramatic shift from current hierarchical patterns driven by national imperatives to nuanced, localised infrastructures that can ensure artists’ multiple talents and assets contribute fully to social and economic change for the better within communities.
Is artists’ exploitation inevitable? (2023)
Aberdeen mini summit with presentations by Jon Blackwood, Donald Butler, Ben Callaghan, Susan Jones, Simon Poulter and Lindsay Seers and summation by John Wright to consider what equitable working environments would look and feel like for artists, attitudes and measures to ensure lasting improvement in artists’ social and economic status and counter impediments to their achievement. Event supported by Gray’s School of Art, Robert Gordon University and the subsequent publication by Axis.
Telling tales: artists’ pandemic stories (2022)
Government and Arts Council England’s emergency arts funding schemes for freelancers failed to address visual artists’ livelihood needs and the majority fell through the cracks. Based on in-depth interviews with artists in two English regions, this study demonstrates how the lives and artistic prospects of many artists were improved in pandemic conditions, offering clues to policymakers about infrastructural shifts that would sustain the talents and vibrancy of the diverse artists’ constituency in the future. Commissioned by CAMP. https://www.camp-membership.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/TellingTalesArtistsPandemicStories.pdf
Artists’ precarity is not just about pay (2022)
In the pandemic, government and ACE built a defensive hedge around the most visible aspects of the arts infrastructure. Evidence from an in-depth study demonstrates that the lives and artistic prospects of many artists positively improved in pandemic conditions and provides insight for how policy could better sustain the artists’ constituency in future. Published by Arts Professional 2022.
https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/article/artists-precarity-not-just-about-pay
Fair enough? Artists in a post-pandemic world (2022)
The pandemic’s harsh impact on artists’ livelihoods is due to arts policy’s preference for neo-liberalist business models which when combined with application of lottery capital funding has created the array of sparkling new arts buildings now unaffordable due to Covid-19. Published by Art Monthly, 461, 2022
https://www.artmonthly.co.uk/magazine/site/issue/november-2022
Let artists flourish, for equality’s sake (2021)
As the Contemporary Visual Arts Network’s 2020 report confirmed, the divergent social realities and artistic ambitions of visual artists are under-supported by contemporary visual arts organisations whose resilience is over-dependent on sustained public funding. In this hostile climate, artists are subject to multiple precarities which affect their artistic freedom and autonomy and their ability to sustain practices over a life cycle. Published by Double Negative, 2021
Reset or rewild: perspectives on future arts infrastructures (2021)
Pandemic conditions which shook the foundations and functions of the arts infrastructure illustrated the baked-in flaws while exposing polar perspectives on the conditions for a healthy, productive arts ecology. Artists were hit by a dual economic and emotional tsunami. While equality in the workforce is a beacon principle for the funded arts, compounding the precarity of freelance artists was acceptable to funders and arts funded institutions. Published by Corridor 8, 2021
https://corridor8.co.uk/article/reset-or-rewild-perspectives-on-future-arts-infrastructures/
Getting ahead: strategies for artists’ livelihoods
Artists’ lack of economic, emotional and structural status within the contemporary visual arts combine to form a ‘trio of precarities’ – these ae economic, emotional and structural - which undermine their livelihoods and social status. Presentation for CVAN (Contemporary Visual Arts Network) Equity Group, 2021
Could do better: the exceptional impact of COVID19 emergency measures on visual artists with chronic conditions
Presentation with Vishalakshi Roy for Another Artworld is possible international conference, Belgrade, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm8VACNBPIY&list=PLhF-guIWLN0gy0Ju8EnBD1kpzD2-WuXLA&index=7
- Artists’ lives: ecologies of resilience (2024-25)
Qualitative and longitudinal exploration through in-depth interviews with individual artists in three English regions of how their personal circumstances including social background, location, family responsibilities and life contexts impact on their everyday decisions, artistic ambitions and career prospects. In a post Covid world with ambitions for net zero, this study offers insight into identifying new structural interventions supportive of well-being and resilience for many creative individuals over the long term. Research supported by Creative Land Trust, CAMP and Axis.
Key words Artists’ livelihoods, arts policy, resilience, precarity, equity