The purpose of the Arts and Culture Barometer is to annually monitor and highlight the views of artists regarding current issues and phenomena. The theme of the Arts and Culture Barometer 2023 is the different types of work performed by artists. The results of the barometer are based on a questionnaire to which 1417 artists responded in autumn 2022. The final report examines crossing the boundaries between specific artforms and working in multiple fields of the arts, the different types of work performed by artists and the types of sectors in which they work, and different income sources and earnings models.

The Arts and Culture Barometer is conducted by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) together with the Center for Cultural Policy Research (Cupore).

OVERVIEW

The theme of the Arts and Culture Barometer 2023 is the different types of work performed by artists. In total, 1417 artists responded to the questionnaire in autumn 2023. The final report examines crossing the boundaries between specific artforms and working in multiple fields of the arts, the different types of work performed by artists and the types of sectors in which they work, and different income sources and earnings models. The Arts and Culture Barometer is conducted by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) together with the Center for Cultural Policy Research Cupore.

Working in multiple fields of the arts and crossing the boundaries between specific artforms is common in an artist’s work. Multidisciplinary work is done both together and in collaboration with other artists, as well as independently in one’s own artistic work. The respondents consider artistic boundaries to be somewhat old-fashioned, and for many, crossing boundaries is a natural part of the process of making art. However, it is also considered important to respect and maintain professional skills and traditions within specific fields of the arts, and crossing artistic boundaries should not be considered an intrinsic value. Demands for multidisciplinary art also come from the outside, for example from funding bodies.

Artists extend their activities and work to many areas of society, both by making art and performing other types of work. Many artists perform other types of work that enables their artistic work, which takes up a lot of time and requires a wide range of skills. Along with making art, artists do a lot of other work that requires the professional competence of an artist, as well as work that does not require the professional competence of an artist. Other work is done mainly to earn a living, and the motive for doing the work can also be one’s own interest and desire to influence social issues. In particular, work that requires the professional competence of an artist is considered meaningful, and many would do more of this type of work if there were better jobs available. However, other work is also a burden and takes time away from making art.

It is typical for artists to work in several different labour market positions during the year. Salaries and wages, as well as fees and work compensation, are key income sources for artists, however paid employment often involves something other than making art. A quarter of the respondents had received income from a company, and more than a quarter of artists had also received unemployment benefits. The importance of the platform economy for professional artists was visible in relation to specific fields of the art, especially in the utilisation of online services that sell art or products.

SUMMARY

The annual Arts and Culture Barometer monitors and highlights the views of artists regarding current issues and phenomena. The theme of the 2023 barometer is the different types of work performed by artists, and it examines crossing the boundaries between specific artforms and working in multiple fields of the arts, the different types of work performed by artists and the types of sectors in which they work, and different income sources and earnings models. The results of the barometer are based on a questionnaire to which more than 1400 artists responded in autumn 2023.

In this barometer, the different types of work performed by artists were divided into four categories: a) artistic work, b) work that enables artistic work, c) other work that requires the professional competence of an artist (other than artistic work), and d) work that does not require the professional competence of an artist. Even though it is sometimes difficult to divide and draw boundaries between these categories of work, the results of the barometer highlight how important it is to make visible the wide range of work performed by artists and the wide-reaching scope of tasks. The following three subsections summarise the key results of the barometer.

MULTIDISCIPLINARY WORK IS A NATURAL PART OF THE PROCESS OF MAKING ART FOR MANY, AND SOMETIMES ALSO A FINANCIAL NECESSITY

Based on the results of the barometer, multidisciplinary work is very common for artists along with independent artistic work. Boundaries between different artforms are not considered in practice to be of great importance in artistic work, and the definition of multidisciplinary art is also somewhat perceived as artificial. Although crossing the boundaries between specific artforms is considered a natural part of the process of making art, respecting professional skills and traditions within specific fields of the arts is also important for artists. Multidisciplinary art was also considered a topical and fashionable demand coming from the outside. Despite this, artists feel that the factors that combine different ways of making art are still poorly understood when it comes to funding. When applying for grants and subsidies, selecting a specific artform is often perceived as difficult in practice. It is not necessarily possible to find suitable funding or a specific artform for multidisciplinary work and collaboration. A clear majority of respondents supported tying funding decisions to specific artforms to ensure that they are made expertly. At the same time, more than half of the artists who responded to the questionnaire felt that multidisciplinary work should be better taken into account when awarding grants and subsidies.

Crossing boundaries is an important way of finding work, and multidisciplinary work is a daily routine for many freelance artists. In order to earn a living, some artists feel it is necessary to combine and expand the boundaries between specific artforms. Some artists would be more interested in crossing artistic boundaries, but financial resources do not make it possible. Also, they may lack the time to network across artistic boundaries, especially if they have to finance their artistic work by doing other work. In other words, scarce resources both “force” a multidisciplinary approach and prevent it. The lack of partners also came up as a factor affecting multidisciplinary art: they may lack acquaintances, contacts and networks in other fields of the arts. In some responses, the artist’s own art education was seen as limiting multidisciplinary work due to the above-mentioned lack of contacts and the stigma imposed by one’s education as being an artist within a specific artform. On the other hand, multidisciplinary work was more common the higher the respondent’s education.

ARTISTS WORK WIDELY IN DIFFERENT AREAS OF SOCIETY, PERFORM A LOT OF OTHER WORK ALONGSIDE MAKING ART

Artists extend their activities and work to many areas of society, both by making art and performing other types of work. While their artistic work is strongly focused on traditional artforms, based on the responses to the questionnaire, they also create art in many other fields of the arts as well. Many feel responsible both for the development of society more broadly and for the development of art and the working conditions of artists. The responses highlighted, among other things, promoting the working conditions within their own artform, as well as the support and help that many artists give to their colleagues.

The amount of time used and available for artistic work varies a lot. Sometimes it is impossible even to estimate, as artistic work cannot be limited to certain working hours. For example, the idea for a new artwork can linger in the mind for a long time before it is realised in the actual work. Based on the responses, the proportion of time spent on artistic work out of the total working time varied in terms of age, gender and artform. Alongside actual artistic work, and often in order to finance their artistic work, artists also perform other work, which may be related to their professional competence as an artist or something completely different. The artists who responded to the barometer were quite unanimous that too much of their time is spent on things other than their actual artistic work.

Other work, both work that requires the professional competence of an artist and work that does not, is performed mainly because the income from artistic work is not enough to make ends meet and a livelihood must be obtained elsewhere. Other jobs are considered meaningful in part. Especially work that requires the professional competence of an artist is considered meaningful, and many artists would gladly do this work if it were available. At the same time, however, other work is also a burden and takes time, energy and thoughts away from making art.

WORK THAT ENABLES ARTISTIC WORK TAKES A LOT OF TIME, AND THE VARIETY OF JOBS AND TASKS REQUIRES A WIDE RANGE OF SKILLS

Working as an artist and making art requires a wide range of different skills and abilities. Few can manage with artistic competence and professional skills alone. Instead, practicing the profession of an artist nowadays means, for example, taking care of a variety of tasks that enable artistic work. This can involve, for example, providing information and marketing, managing social security and pension issues, applying for funding, or solving questions related to the pricing of one’s own work.

Many artists have to take care of these things and find out about them very independently. Acquiring expertise “the hard way” is slow and often requires cooperation, networking and mentoring with other professionals and organisations in the arts sector. Art education often lacks studies related to these tasks, and the artists who responded to the barometer felt that art education should include more content related to functioning in working life. This would help the transition of artists into working life, since time and energy would not have to be spent on acquiring information and learning the basics. Artists also called for further training, especially for tasks related to work that enables their artistic work.

Although it is sometimes difficult to separate work that enables artistic work from actual artistic work, it is important to make this work visible. The tasks related to work that enables artistic work often demand a lot of time and energy, and there is often no compensation for them. Work that enables artistic work is often in the background, especially if there is not enough time for all the work, resulting in problems related to occupational wellbeing. This work can also be very frustrating because it is not “immediately visible” in the short term. The financial benefits of this work often become apparent only years later.

TYPICAL FOR ARTISTS TO WORK IN SEVERAL DIFFERENT LABOUR MARKET POSITIONS AND RECEIVE INCOME FROM MANY DIFFERENT SOURCES

It is very typical for artists to work in several different labour market positions during the year. Receiving income from several different sources may bring freedom to influence one’s own work schedules or work content, but often it is also linked to uncertainty about work and earnings, unpaid and short vacations, and problems with social security issues, for example. For some artists, working in many different, consecutive or overlapping labour market positions is natural, while for others it is hard and burdensome.

During 2022, artistic work was mostly done with a grant and as a freelance artist, as more than half of the respondents had worked in these positions. More than a quarter of the respondents had performed artistic work as an entrepreneur, freelancer or wage earner. Freelancers and free artists in practice had very different employment situations and ways of earning a living. The share of those who were involved in artistic work in an employment relationship varies by artform. Most of the time, however, artists in an employment relationship are engaged in work other than making art.

Artists have several income sources. The most frequently received income sources in 2022 were fees or compensation, salary or wages, working grants and copyright compensation, from which 45–63 percent of the artists who responded had received income. There were large differences in the monetary significance of these incomes. A third of the respondents named salary or wages as the most significant source of income, while a quarter of the artists named a working grant. On the other hand, the other most frequently received sources of income, fees or compensation and

copyright compensation, were the most significant sources of income in euro terms for only very few respondents. A quarter of the respondents had received income from their own company, and in euro terms it was the most significant income source for a tenth of artists. More than a quarter of the artists had been covered by unemployment benefits at least at some point during the year.

In 2022, artists who had performed artistic work estimated that they received, on average, about half of their income from their artistic work. On average, about a quarter of their income came from work that requires the professional competence of an artist, while more than a tenth of income came from work that does not require the professional competence of an artist, and similarly more than a tenth of income came from other income sources. However, situations vary a lot, and there was a lot of variation in the distribution of income based on the artform, for example. For artists working in the fields of architecture and design, the importance of income from other than artistic work was emphasised. At its peak, income from artistic work was estimated to make up a little more than half of their income, as reported by artists who worked in the fields of audiovisual art, the performing arts and literature.

The importance of the platform economy for the earnings of professional artists was visible in relation to specific fields of the art, especially in the utilisation of online services that sell art or products. This was emphasised in the fields of music and literature, where such platforms are already well established. Based on the responses, the importance of platforms that offer work and services is currently still small in each artform. The use of various online platforms was more common among artists who worked as entrepreneurs compared to those who worked in other labour market positions.