Artists endure the double-dip

The value of work available to artists has suffered another downturn, falling almost to the level of the 2008 recession, suggests a new report by a-n, the Artists’s Information Company. Following two years of growth, the overall value of work on offer last year was only marginally better than in 2008 and, whilst the total number of opportunities increased, the percentage that were paid was at a five-year low: down from 57% in 2008 to 36%.

Higher and further education remains the prime source of employment for artists, providing a quarter of all paid work available in 2011. However, this is lower than in 2010, when jobs in education accounted for 34% of all paid work; furthermore a 2011 survey of Artists’ Interaction and Representation (AIR) members reported that 50% of artists working in higher education believed that their income from this source was likely to reduce in the future.

Ninety-three percent of artists exhibit or work to gallery commissions, and Arts Council England (ACE) asserts that galleries listed as National Portfolio Organisations (NPO) should support artists’ professional development. However, this imperative was not included within the NPO Key Performance Indicators, leading to scepticism over whether such strategies will make it into funding agreements. a-n noted that “a disproportionate number of artists’ membership and development agencies and practice-based organisations lost core funding” when they were excluded from the 2012–15 National Portfolio and pointed to a change in ACE’s funding priorities.