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Demo­graph­ics and eco­nom­ics of artists

Pol­i­cy and many of the pro­grammes intend­ed to be sup­port­ive of artists’ devel­op­ment and careers may lack insight into the nuance of artists’ lives and how they pur­sue art prac­tices. By col­lat­ing data from a range of author­i­ta­tive sources, this new inde­pen­dent­ly pro­duced resource pro­vides a demo­graph­ic and eco­nom­ic pro­file of artists as an aid to those com­mit­ted to aid­ing artists’ to sur­vive and (maybe even) to thrive, a bit. 

Read “Demographics and economics of artists” in full


Grass­roots call for rad­i­cal change

An inde­pen­dent review demon­strat­ing the severe impacts of the pan­dem­ic on the social and eco­nom­ic cir­cum­stances of visu­al artists reveals the diver­gent per­spec­tives at nation­al and local lev­els in Eng­land about what artists and the arts are for, and on how and where future arts pol­i­cy should be made and implemented.

Read “Grassroots call for radical change” in full


Crack­ing up: the pan­dem­ic effect on visu­al artists’ livelihoods

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 access­ing gov­ern­ment and Arts Coun­cil Eng­land emer­gency mea­sures. A cen­tral con­cern is con­sid­er­a­tion of how arts poli­cies might bet­ter acknowl­edge and account in future arts infra­struc­tures for the dis­tinc­tive, diverse social con­tri­bu­tions of this work­force ele­ment. The 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.

Read “Cracking up: the pandemic effect on visual artists’ livelihoods” in full


Roles and rea­sons: the scope and val­ue of artist-led organisations

The term artist-led organ­i­sa­tion encom­pass­es a diverse and com­plex range of artists’ activ­i­ties and philo­soph­i­cal stances, includ­ing stu­dio groups of all sizes, gallery spaces, groups con­cerned with com­mu­ni­ty action, oth­ers focused on cre­at­ing net­works or increas­ing mar­kets for their work, cam­paign­ing asso­ci­a­tions and prac­tice-led artists’ col­lec­tives that gen­er­ate col­lab­o­ra­tive art in pub­lic places.

Read “Roles and reasons: the scope and value of artist-led organisations” in full


Telling tales: artists’ pan­dem­ic stories

A new qual­i­ta­tive, lon­gi­tu­di­nal study sur­pris­ing­ly demon­strates how the lives and artis­tic prospects of many visu­al artists improved in pan­dem­ic con­di­tions and by doing so, pro­vides clues to the infra­struc­tur­al shifts need­ed to hon­our and sus­tain the tal­ents and vibran­cy of this diverse con­stituen­cy in future.

Read “Telling tales: artists' pandemic stories” in full


Artists’ pre­car­i­ty not just about pay

In the pan­dem­ic, gov­ern­ment and Arts Coun­cil Eng­land built a defen­sive hedge around the most vis­i­ble aspects of the arts infra­struc­ture. Staffers in insti­tu­tions got time, space and mon­ey to address frag­ile busi­ness mod­els and secure their futures. How­ev­er, the emer­gency arts fund­ing schemes for free­lance artists failed to address their artis­tic, emo­tion­al and liveli­hood needs. 

Read “Artists’ precarity not just about pay” in full


A flour­ish­ing life

A pub­lic con­ver­sa­tion in Novem­ber 2021 com­mis­sioned by Pro­for­ma for Desire Lines and facil­i­tat­ed by Chris Bailkos­ki brought togeth­er Jack Ky Tan and Susan Jones. Read extracts from this dis­cus­sion that explored how mis­con­cep­tions and imbal­ances in the arts ecol­o­gy lim­it artists’ sta­tus, pay and liveli­hood chances and what needs to hap­pen to ensure artists can live a flour­ish­ing life through art prac­tices over a life cycle. 

Read “A flourishing life” in full


Artists’ pan­dem­ic stories

The exclu­sive and short-term emer­gency arts fund­ing schemes from gov­ern­ment and Arts Coun­cil Eng­land to free­lance artists failed to address their liveli­hood needs, with the major­i­ty allowed to fall through the cracks. Ear­ly evi­dence from a lon­gi­tu­di­nal study sur­pris­ing­ly demon­strates that the lives and artis­tic prospects of many artists pos­i­tive­ly improved in pan­dem­ic con­di­tions. This offers clues to the sub­stan­tial shifts in arts infra­struc­tures nec­es­sary to hon­our and sus­tain the tal­ents and vibran­cy of the diverse artists’ con­stituen­cy in future.

Read “Artists' pandemic stories” in full


Sup­port for artists’ liveli­hoods in a Covid-19 world

This sub­mis­sion was made in June 2020 to the DCMS Com­mit­tee con­sid­er­ing the impact of Covid-19 on any sec­tors under the Depart­ment for Dig­i­tal, Cul­ture, Media and Sport’s remit. It con­tex­tu­alis­es artists’ liveli­hood frame­works and sec­toral artis­tic and eco­nom­ic oppor­tu­ni­ty, high­light­ing key chal­lenges and bar­ri­ers faced by this par­tic­u­lar sub-sec­tion of the cre­ative indus­tries. It evi­dences the dis­tinc­tive lim­i­ta­tions of short-term emer­gency mea­sures from Gov­ern­ment and the Arts Coun­cil to alle­vi­ate imme­di­ate Covid19 cir­cum­stances. Although arts pol­i­cy mar­gin­alised sup­port for artists’ liveli­hoods after the 2008 reces­sion, the exam­ples of artists’ indi­vid­u­alised resilience strate­gies illus­trate the scope and val­ue of sup­port­ive inter­ven­tions by pol­i­cy rel­e­vant to fore­cast­ing new strate­gies for ame­lio­rat­ing the medi­um and longer-term effects of the pan­dem­ic on this vital, dis­tinc­tive cre­ative indus­tries sub-sec­tion. The ratio­nale for struc­tur­al changes in imple­men­ta­tion of arts pol­i­cy and fund­ing is to remove known bar­ri­ers and bet­ter in future cap­ture and ampli­fy the assets that artists cre­ate for their own resilience and bring to social well-being over a life-cycle. 

Read “Support for artists' livelihoods in a Covid-19 world” in full