Author: Alper, Neil O. and Wassall, Gregory H.; Sprouse Herbert W.; and Cleary, Paul F.

Publication Year: 1980

Media Type: Report

Summary:

Sponsored by the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities and the New England Foundation for the Arts. They cannot make a living working as artists. They find it necessary to work in other occupations, which often do not enable them to use their artistic talents, and they often rely on income from spouses or other family members in order to support their art.

Abstract:

Sponsored by the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities and the New England Foundation for the Arts. They cannot make a living working as artists. They find it necessary to work in other occupations, which often do not enable them to use their artistic talents, and they often rely on income from spouses or other family members in order to support their art. Steady employment and income in their artistic field is rare. Selling themselves and marketing their art is difficult and unrewarding for all but the most established artists. Yet the majority insist that being an artist is their profession, and they continue to work as artists, despite little financial incentive. This profile emerges from a survey of Massachusetts artists made in the Spring and Summer of 1981. Besides the 1,260 artists who returned a mail questionnaire, 50 consented to personal interviews. The survey concentrated on the education, training, job market experiences and incomes of the artists. The sampling procedure was based on the distribution, by residence and occupation, of the 17,881 Massachusetts artists reported in the 1970 Census. (p. 2)

CONTENTS
Foreword.
Acknowledgements.

Chapter 1. Summary of findings.
Chapter 2. What is known about artists in the labor market.
Chapter 3. General characteristics of the artists.
Chapter 4. Implication of narrow definitions of artist.
Chapter 5. Education and training.
Chapter 6. Employment and unemployment.
Chapter 7. Income and expenses.
Chapter 8. Job search in artistic and non-artistic fields.

Appendix A. Artists and jobs questionnaire.
Appendix B. Artistic organizations that provided mailing lists of names.
Appendix C. Discipline and job type classifications.

Bibliography.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Artists-Resources for