“We all know the trope of the starving artist,” said researcher Gwendolyn Rugg, “But there’s actually surprisingly little reliable data out there to back this up.”
Rugg, a senior research scientist for NORC at The University of Chicago, a nonpartisan research organization, is the lead author of a new report on artists’ lives and their livelihoods. Researchers surveyed more than 2,600 artists nationwide from across disciplines and working arrangements. They were asked a range of questions on everything from housing, the hours they work and health benefits to how they make money. The study was funded by the Mellon Foundation.
Among the key findings:
- 57% of artists reported being “somewhat or very worried” about being able to afford “food, housing, medical care, or utilities”;
- 37% received income from public assistance sources, including Social Security and state or local welfare;
- 34% of artists are self-employed, 11% “juggled three or more jobs”;
- 28% “provide unpaid assistance to a family member or friend due to a health condition or disability.”
The NORC study released Wednesday isn’t the first to confirm that most artists aren’t in it for the money and that the systems that support them in the United States are fragile. Museums are struggling this year. Government and foundation grants can be precarious. During the pandemic, concert venues and theaters were among the first to close and the last to reopen.
But Rugg said this is the first study to “paint a more comprehensive and nuanced portrait of working artists today.”
