Artists & the Economic Recession Survey results released

Preliminary results for the Artists and the Economic Recession Survey, commissioned by Leveraging Investments in Creativity, in collaboration with Helicon Collaborative and Princeton Survey Research Associates International, have recently been released: http://www.lincnet.net/sites/all/files/Selected%20Findings%20Artists%20and%20the%20Recession%20Survey%202009.pdf

A full report will be available in early Spring 2010.   

Highlights of the data include:

• Two-thirds of artists hold at least one job in addition to making art.
  
• Artists’ incomes are relatively low (two-thirds made less than $40,000 in 2008), and half (51%) reported a decrease in their art-related income from 2008 to 2009.
  
• Forty percent of artists do not have adequate health insurance and more than 50% are worried about losing what they do have.
  
• Despite the challenges, artists are optimistic about the future—89% think artists have a special role in helping strengthen communities in these times, and 75% believe this is an inspiring time to be an artist.  
  
• Some opportunities have emerged as a result of the recession—40% report they have been able to spend more time on their artwork, and one-third have seized the opportunity to experiment and collaborate more.  
  
• While direct financial support would be most helpful to artists, technical assistance, networking opportunities, and supplies are also high on the list.

The response from artists was phenomenal: 6,800 artists nationwide completed the survey between July 20 and November 17, 2009.  The results provide excellent data that give us a snapshot of artists’ experiences, needs and behaviors that we will be able to track over time.  Because of the high response rate, we are able to make comparisons by age, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, arts discipline, percent of income from art work and other important characteristics.  

If you are interested in seeing data about your particular geographic area or mailing list cohort, our data analysis partner, Princeton Survey Research Associates International, can create custom reports comparing “local” data to the national results. 

Local data can be provided in a variety of ways:   

1.       A topline report that compares local and national results/ $100

2.       A full local report comparing local results to national results/ $2500

Thank you very much for your interest and participation.