# data[].attributes.body
“As a young boy my parents enrolled me and my brother in guitar and taekwondo
classes. Meanwhile they decided my sister should go through piano and dance classes (more feminine forms of art)”

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By Tom Jacobs

(Photo: Jordan McQueen/Unsplash)

Why do men have to be dragged to seeing a play or an opera? The statistics are clear: A 2012 National Endowment for the Arts report found sizable gender gaps for attendance for all traditionally highbrow art forms, with women outnumbering males by two-to-one at ballet performances and poetry readings.

"Society-wide cultural norms ... define highbrow culture as belonging to the feminine sphere," notes a research team led by Ghent University sociologist Susan Lagaert. In a newly published study, she and her colleagues present intriguing evidence of how that assumption affects the behavior of adolescents.

They report seventh-grade boys feel pressure to conform to standard conceptions of masculinity, and this motivates them to steer clear of cultural pursuits.

Such pressure - which can be both internal and external - is "strongly related to their low interests in arts-theater-, music-, and literature-related activities," the researchers write in the journal Sex Roles.

Their study featured 5,227 students from Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium. All were in their first year of secondary education, the equivalent of seventh grade in the United States; most were 12 years old.

Students at this grade level were chosen "because the onset of biological puberty in early adolescence makes gender differences particularly salient," the researchers write. At the same time, they are "old enough to expect that tastes formed in this life phase will remain more or less stable, and continue into adulthood."

In a survey, the students were asked to estimate their interest (on a four-point scale) in 24 leisure activities. The researchers noted their responses to seven of these: making music, studying drama, painting or drawing, attending plays or dance performances, using the library, visiting an art museum, and reading.

Another set of four questions was designed to determine the extent to which they felt they were typical of their gender. On a scale of zero to four, the students rated their agreement with such statements as "I feel that my personality is similar to that of most (members of my gender)."

A final set of four questions measure the extent to which they felt pressure to conform to gender stereotypes. Again on a scale of zero to four, they rated their agreement with such statements as "I think it is important to act just like other" members of my gender.

To measure outside pressure, males responded to the statement "The boys I know would be upset if I wanted to learn an activity that only girls usually do." Females were similarly asked whether their girlfriends would be upset if they expressed interest in something typically associated with boys.

The results: "We found that the more typical a male adolescent considers himself to be, the lower his interest in highbrow culture," the researchers report. "The more gender congruent a female adolescent is, the higher her interest in highbrow cultural activities."

Perhaps more importantly, they found "the more pressure for gender conformity a young man experiences, the lower his interest in highbrow culture."

Young women under similar conformist pressure were more interested in cultural activities, but only to a small degree. This difference reflects the fact "it is more difficult for young men to like an activity perceived as feminine than it is for young women to dislike a feminine activity," the researchers write.

These results are problematic for a number of reasons. Many studies link studying the arts, and music in particular, to a variety of cognitive and social benefits. A 2014 study, no doubt reflecting the dynamics described here, found females consistently outnumber males in high school bands, orchestras, and choirs. In a very real sense, young men are missing out.

To help change that, Lagaert and her colleagues suggest schools create "safe environments where there is little pressure to conform to stereotypes," allowing them to explore their creative side. This also means strong anti-bullying policies, since young men involved in the arts are bullied at higher rates than their non-artistic peers.

"Schools and teachers should stimulate pupils, young men and women alike, to use arts and poetry to express themselves," they write. They further suggest that teachers of art and literature might consider "focusing on topics that are closer to young men's interests," to get around stereotypical thinking.

Perhaps a strong dose of Ernest Hemingway, followed by a David Mamet chaser?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Roots of Men's Disinterest in the Arts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Tom Jacobs (Photo: Jordan McQueen/Unsplash) Why do men have to be dragged to seeing a play or an opera? The statistics are clear: A 2012 National Endowment for the Arts report found sizable gender gaps for attendance for all traditionally highbrow art forms, with women outnumbering males by two-to-one at ballet performances and poetry readings.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Female performing arts graduates' earnings outstrip their male counterparts' after five years.

The average salary for a female performing arts graduate is £21,900, rising from £14,200 in the first year after finishing their studies.

Whilst men earning more in the initial stage of their careers with an average salary of £14,300 in their first year, women earn more on average three years in - £18,300 compared to £17,500.

The opposite is true of creative arts and design graduates: females earn less than males from the get go - £16,400 on average compared to £16,800 in their first year working.

The gap grows with time, with men earning £23,400 on average after five years, £1,900 more than female creative arts graduates.

Creative arts, where 60% of graduates are women, provides the lowest financial returns of any course of study, analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) shows.

Xiaowei Xu, a Senior Research Economist at IFS, said women disproportionately chose subject with lower-paying career options.

"Of course, money isn't - and shouldn't be - the only factor when it comes to choosing what to study. But more needs to be done to inform young people about the financial consequences of degree choices, and to overcome gender stereotypes, so that women are not locked out of high-paying careers by choices at a young age."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Female performing arts graduates earn more after five years

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Female performing arts graduates' earnings outstrip their male counterparts' after five years. The average salary for a female performing arts graduate is £21,900, rising from £14,200 in the first year after finishing their studies.

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.text
“The financial return to getting a degree – varies enormously across subjects,” researchers said.
 
Previous IFS studies show taking a degree in economics at university boosts women’s pay by 75% by age 30. This is more than ten times the return to studying creative arts (7.2%)

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.original_text
“The financial return to getting a degree – varies enormously across subjects,” researchers said.
 
Previous IFS studies show taking a degree in economics at university boosts women’s pay by 75% by age 30. This is more than ten times the return to studying creative arts (7.2%)

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.referenced_tweets[].text
The gap between men and women’s earnings does increase sharply after women have their first child.
 
👨‍🎓👩‍🎓But the IFS research shows that even before women have children, they are paid less than men with similar qualifications
https://t.co/dkFjuRGVy3 https://t.co/CSLTANVqoB

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.referenced_tweets[].entities.urls[].title
Women earn less because they choose the wrong degrees, study finds

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.referenced_tweets[].entities.urls[].description
Analysis suggests the gender pay gap is apparent soon after graduation, with a difference of 25 per cent evident by the age of 30

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
“The financial return to getting a degree – varies enormously across subjects,” researchers said.

Previous IFS studies show taking a degree in economics at university boosts women’s pay by 75% by age 30. This is more than ten times the return to studying creative arts (7.2%)
— Telegraph Education (@tele_education) October 5, 2021

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.text
“The financial return to getting a degree – varies enormously across subjects,” researchers said.
 
Previous IFS studies show taking a degree in economics at university boosts women’s pay by 75% by age 30. This is more than ten times the return to studying creative arts (7.2%)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.includes.tweets[].text
The gap between men and women’s earnings does increase sharply after women have their first child.
 
👨‍🎓👩‍🎓But the IFS research shows that even before women have children, they are paid less than men with similar qualifications
https://t.co/dkFjuRGVy3 https://t.co/CSLTANVqoB

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.includes.tweets[].entities.urls[].title
Women earn less because they choose the wrong degrees, study finds

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.includes.tweets[].entities.urls[].description
Analysis suggests the gender pay gap is apparent soon after graduation, with a difference of 25 per cent evident by the age of 30

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
“The financial return to getting a degree – varies enormously across subjects,” researchers said.
 
Previous IFS studies show taking a degree in economics at university boosts women’s pay by 75% by age 30. This is more than ten times the return to studying creative arts (7.2%)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
“The financial return to getting a degree – varies enormously across subjects,” researchers said.
 
Previous IFS studies show taking a degree in economics at university boosts women’s pay by 75% by age 30. This is more than ten times the return to studying creative arts (7.2%)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.referenced_tweets[].text
The gap between men and women’s earnings does increase sharply after women have their first child.
 
👨‍🎓👩‍🎓But the IFS research shows that even before women have children, they are paid less than men with similar qualifications
https://t.co/dkFjuRGVy3 https://t.co/CSLTANVqoB

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.referenced_tweets[].entities.urls[].title
Women earn less because they choose the wrong degrees, study finds

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.referenced_tweets[].entities.urls[].description
Analysis suggests the gender pay gap is apparent soon after graduation, with a difference of 25 per cent evident by the age of 30

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.text
On #WomensDay  we celebrate all the strong female artists💪 who have inspired humanity through #Arts.  #ArtsEd helps break the gender gap by providing equal opportunities for all students and helping them to support each other and collaborate to create music in a safe space!🙌

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.original_text
On #WomensDay  we celebrate all the strong female artists💪 who have inspired humanity through #Arts.  #ArtsEd helps break the gender gap by providing equal opportunities for all students and helping them to support each other and collaborate to create music in a safe space!🙌 https://t.co/QNGpklRO5j

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
On #WomensDay we celebrate all the strong female artists💪 who have inspired humanity through #Arts. #ArtsEd helps break the gender gap by providing equal opportunities for all students and helping them to support each other and collaborate to create music in a safe space!🙌 pic.twitter.com/QNGpklRO5j
— Bloom Arts Foundation (@BloomArtsFndn) March 8, 2022

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.text
On #WomensDay  we celebrate all the strong female artists💪 who have inspired humanity through #Arts.  #ArtsEd helps break the gender gap by providing equal opportunities for all students and helping them to support each other and collaborate to create music in a safe space!🙌 https://t.co/QNGpklRO5j

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
On #WomensDay  we celebrate all the strong female artists💪 who have inspired humanity through #Arts.  #ArtsEd helps break the gender gap by providing equal opportunities for all students and helping them to support each other and collaborate to create music in a safe space!🙌 https://t.co/QNGpklRO5j

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
On #WomensDay  we celebrate all the strong female artists💪 who have inspired humanity through #Arts.  #ArtsEd helps break the gender gap by providing equal opportunities for all students and helping them to support each other and collaborate to create music in a safe space!🙌

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Frieze Sculpture opened in London's Regents Park in early July to positive response, with works by the likes of Huma Bhabha, Jodie Carey, Tracey Emin, Lars Fisk, and Jaume Plensa. The annual exhibition is much-loved for the accessibility of its outdoor artworks, but this year a slight sour note marked the proceedings. Speaking to colleagues and journalists at the show's opening, curator Clare Lilley was frank that she would have liked to include a 50/50 split of men and women-but had been unable to do so.

Given the recent focus on the issue of representation and Lilley's awareness of the issue, the question lingers: Why? The curator, who is also director of programs at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, went on to explain that she saw a lack of financial support from galleries for ambitious sculpture by women, given that the market value of the works tended to be lower due to the gender of the artist.

"Frieze Sculpture is, in large part, dependent on galleries proposing work for the exhibition," Lilley explained. "Of my first long-list, which included all the proposed female artists, only 23 percent were women. After working for four months talking to galleries and artists we raised that to the current 43 percent."

The experience, she said, made it apparent that there were simply more already-made works by male artists available for consideration. In the case of female artists, more often they were being asked to do something new.

"More women than men made new work for Frieze Sculpture," Lilley pointed out. "In other words, with a clear understanding that the work would be shown in arguably the best outdoor commercial exhibition in Europe, the female artists had to seek the means to produce, possibly with less assistance, and certainly under greater pressure."

It is well known that women artists are still fighting to attain equal recognition in the art industry. While Yayoi Kusama, Jenny Holzer, and Rachel Whiteread are some of the most successful contemporary artists working in sculpture today, they represent the very top end of the market, selling in the millions at auction and receiving public commissions. Their status thus may not be representative of broader trends for women working in the field.

For more emerging artists, the gender gap means a gap in terms of who has access to the means to create ambitious projects. Indeed, artists often have to wait to be able to even experiment with sculpture, simply because the basic costs are so high. It can cost tens of thousands of pounds to make a large sculptural commission, plus thousands more for the work's transportation and storage.

"It all costs," said Abby Hignell, director of London-based sculpture specialist Hignell Gallery. "It costs to make it, it costs to move it."

Hignell points out that there's a sharp career hurdle, where artists who are selling pieces in the "low thousands" face the prospect of scaling up to do larger pieces involving tens or even hundreds of times that investment. "It does tend to take an artist awhile to make sculpture," she says. "Hence you get artists who are mid- to late-career [making sculpture] because they've got the capital."

Are things changing? It has never been more fashionable to be righting historical representational wrongs through art, and there are an increasing number of women in decision-making roles within art, including institutional directors and senior curators.

If the key is achieving the sustained, early-career support to allow more women artists to reach the point where they can scale up their practice, surely a key obstacle must be that previous surges of interest around female artists have proved fleeting. "What happens is it's seen as a little zeitgeist moment: 'women artists are really hot right now, let's get on that,'" says Hignell. "Then it goes quiet. The key is to keep going."

But, she adds, perhaps things really are different this time: "I can't see this slowing down, because when you look behind the scenes there are so many more women."

There are also examples of female artists working with large-scale and monumental works who have been steadily achieving success for years.

Waddington Custot gallery represents both Fabienne Verdier, who makes work like the giant-sized multi-panel painting La Faille, commissioned for the Majunga Tower in Paris, and Alice Anderson, who makes large-scale sculptural works using copper wire that have appeared at the Centre Pompidou, Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton Paris, the Wellcome Collection, London, and many other venues.

"We are coming into a new and welcome era where museums and galleries are taking on the responsibility of showing a more diverse program which more accurately represents artists working today," Waddington Custot directors Roxana Afshar and Jacob Twyford said in a statement. "However, we are not there yet."

Still, all indicators point towards a sea change in the market for sculpture by women. If the industry truly sees the current momentum extending into the future, it's possible that the prospect might actually lead to sustained investment, betting on a reshaped art historical cannon. Has there ever been a better time to invest in women artists?

Want to stay ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the breaking news, eye-opening interviews, and incisive critical takes that drive the conversation forward.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What the Gender Gap in Public Sculpture Tells Us About the Barriers for Women in Art

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Frieze Sculpture opened in London's Regents Park in early July to positive response, with works by the likes of Huma Bhabha, Jodie Carey, Tracey Emin, Lars Fisk, and Jaume Plensa. The annual exhibition is much-loved for the accessibility of its outdoor artworks, but this year a slight sour note marked the proceedings.

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.text
Black women have long been involved in the racial justice movement but now more than ever it's important for them to be in positions of leadership and influence as we shape the movement going forward.

🎤: @Gods_Peace1 

#urbanartsdigital #elusivedreampod #podcast

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.original_text
Black women have long been involved in the racial justice movement but now more than ever it's important for them to be in positions of leadership and influence as we shape the movement going forward.

🎤: @Gods_Peace1 

#urbanartsdigital #elusivedreampod #podcast https://t.co/u6iH6ahYGF

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
Black women have long been involved in the racial justice movement but now more than ever it's important for them to be in positions of leadership and influence as we shape the movement going forward.

🎤: @Gods_Peace1 #urbanartsdigital #elusivedreampod #podcast pic.twitter.com/u6iH6ahYGF
— Urban Arts Digital (@urbanartsdig) March 17, 2022

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.text
Black women have long been involved in the racial justice movement but now more than ever it's important for them to be in positions of leadership and influence as we shape the movement going forward.

🎤: @Gods_Peace1 

#urbanartsdigital #elusivedreampod #podcast https://t.co/u6iH6ahYGF

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
Black women have long been involved in the racial justice movement but now more than ever it's important for them to be in positions of leadership and influence as we shape the movement going forward.

🎤: @Gods_Peace1 

#urbanartsdigital #elusivedreampod #podcast https://t.co/u6iH6ahYGF

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
Black women have long been involved in the racial justice movement but now more than ever it's important for them to be in positions of leadership and influence as we shape the movement going forward.

🎤: @Gods_Peace1 

#urbanartsdigital #elusivedreampod #podcast

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I cheered when I read that Kimberly Drew would take up the role of associate director at Pace Gallery. I also cheered when Naomi Beckwith was appointed deputy director of the Guggenheim, when Maria Rosario Jackson took the helm of the NEA, when Vivian Crockett signed on as curator at the New Museum, and when Eunice Bélidor became the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts's first Black curator in the institution's 161 years.

With each headline I think, We're finally being seen. But I've also learned that being seen and making change are two different things. Being seen can happen in a moment. Change, especially institutional change, takes time.

I recently texted a friend, another Black woman, to ask if she was still with the institution that hired her last year. She tapback'd "HAHA" before explaining, "Yes, I'm still there. It's a good question though, because I'm constantly reconsidering my place there."

Many of us, especially women, suffer from imposter syndrome. (Raises hand.) And it's easy to question our role within an institution in the first year. I know, because I've worked with arts institutions for nearly two decades-in positions ranging from intern to director. From non-profits to commercial spaces to grant-making organizations to the academy, I've learned that, as with any relationship, the first year is about aligning strides and building trust. And the support of the people who hired you is a critical part of that alignment. Change-making is hard, even with the trust and support of your colleagues.

We all know that without support, change, and most everything else, is near impossible. So, when an institution proudly announces a hire, we hope it's a vote of confidence. We hope those press releases with beautiful headshots mean they don't just want to look like they're changing-but that they're really doing it, and further, that they trust this person to lead that change Surely they understand , we think, that real change takes time and that new hires need more than six months to prove themselves.

Sadly, that's not always the case.

The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, the Hammond House Museum in Atlanta, and the MacLaren Art Center in Canada all placed Black women in leadership positions in the past year and a half. None of those women held their positions for longer than six months.

In contrast to their splashy arrivals, these departures were mostly quiet. Gugulethu Moyo's short tenure at Tucson's Jewish History Museum was very public. One headline "Black Jewish History Museum Director, Tasked With Both Curating and Cleaning Toilets, Forced Out After Getting 'Political.'"Six months after the museum's board unanimously selected Moyo to lead the museum, she resigned. "I was not treated as a leader."

We know that Black people have historically been, and continue to be, underrepresented in leadership positions in the arts and museum fields. According to a 2015 report by the Mellon Foundation, only 4 percent of positions that impact the institution's cultural direction are held by Black people. The report was so grim, a 2018 followup was commissioned-revealing that after three years, the number of Black people in "intellectual leadership" positions rose by 11 percent.

In a statement on the findings, Mariët Westermann, then Mellon's executive vice president for programs and research said, "While trends in recent hiring are encouraging, certain parts of the museum appear not as quick to change, especially the most senior leadership positions."

Since then, sweeping calls for social justice and pandemic shutdowns have further impacted the field. Institutions were forced to shutter their spaces and reevaluate their priorities. One response seems to have been a slew of headline-making . People of color, especially Black women, are being invited into the halls of power. But, as we know, with great privilege comes great responsibility. And decades of exclusionary practices cannot be changed overnight. As one woman told me: "There have been no hires of people of color since I was hired. And when racial issues arise, I'm the one who's supposed to find solutions."

Furthermore, the swift departures of these women in leadership positions have generally been swept under the proverbial rug, where these women quietly navigate the complexities of their short tenures. Anyone who has built a career in a field where references and confidentiality matter, or has experienced racism and/or sexism on the job, can understand how these departures would remain out of the spotlight. Anyone who has ever spoken out and not been believed, or ostracized, or villainized knows that speaking out is not always all it's cracked up to be-and for some, it can pile on to already-there vulnerabilities. A whistleblower is often only a whisper away from "madman," or "angry Black woman." This is why allyship is a critical part of the change we seek.

I get it. These are unprecedented times. Pandemics. The Great Resignation . The Great Renegotiation. Burnout. More choices. Less choices. Priorities are shifting as many of us reexamine our quality of life. In some ways, the "human" part of "human resources," is being tested like never before. So, shouldn't human resource protocols encourage , instead of departures , like never before?

I understand that exciting hires far outweigh the regrettable departures. I understand that we've come a long way, and I know we have a long way to go. And while I'll continue to cheer the hires that make me say "Yes! We're doing it!", I also hope these changes run deeper than a headline.

Lise Ragbir writes essays about race, immigration, arts and culture, and relationships. She has been published by Elle, the Guardian, Frieze, Hyperallergic, Time Magazine, USA Today, and Psychology Today, among others. She also co-edited the book Collecting Black Studies: the Art of Material Culture (2020). She was born and raised in Montreal, and now makes her home in Austin, Texas.

Want to stay ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the breaking news, eye-opening interviews, and incisive critical takes that drive the conversation forward.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
In the Past Two Years, Museums Have Finally Started Hiring Black Women for Top Jobs. Why Are So Many Already Leaving?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I cheered when I read that Kimberly Drew would take up the role of associate director at Pace Gallery. I also cheered when Naomi Beckwith was appointed deputy director of the Guggenheim, when Maria Rosario Jackson took the helm of the NEA, when Vivian Crockett signed on as curator at the New Museum, and when Eunice Bélidor became the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts's first Black curator in the institution's 161 years.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
BOYS’ CLUB NO LONGER: Women are brightening up classical music locally and globally

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If music is a universal language, then why have its institutions historically been run almost entirely by men? Women account for roughly half of the audience for classical music, yet the leadership of orchestras, opera companies, presenters, and choirs has remained lopsidedly male since the birth of…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Australian artists now spend more time on their creative practice than in previous years but earn less from it. The situation is particularly gloomy for the average Australian female artist. She is better educated than her male counterpart, she spends about the same time on creative work as he does, yet she earns a much lower income from it - $15,400 versus $22,100 in the 2014-15 financial year.

Indeed, the income gap between men and women is wider in the arts than the average gap across all industries in Australia. This gap appears to be especially evident for female writers, visual artists and musicians.

These data come from a major survey of practising professional artists in Australia that we have carried out over the past year. It's the most recent in a long series of surveys undertaken in the Economics Department at Macquarie University since the early 1980s with funding from the Australia Council. The accumulated results tell us a lot about how the conditions of professional arts practice have changed over the years.

Our survey shows that the average income Australian artists earned from creative work is now just $18,800 a year, which is less in real terms than for any of the previous survey years. This is less than they could earn in other professional occupations that require similar educational qualifications. Their total gross annual income including all sources of income is $48,400.

One of the hazards that professional artists face throughout their career is having to explain why they should be paid for doing what others do for fun - painting, making music, acting, dancing, writing poetry.

People often don't appreciate that the level of education, training, experience and skill required to become a professional are at least as rigorous in the arts as they are in other professions like medicine and the law. In fact, the great majority of professional artists (90%) have post-school qualifications compared with only 53% for the general labour force. Artists spend about six years in training to obtain their basic qualifications, then almost another four years to receive further ones.

shutterstock

There are just under 50,000 professional artists in Australia. Since the genders are split in roughly equal proportions, the average or "typical" artist could be male or female. She or he is likely to be aged around 49 years, born in Australia, living in one of the capital cities, married or living with a partner, and without dependent children.

A 'portfolio' career

Artists are multi-talented. At some point in their lives they will have engaged in some other form of original creative work beyond their principal artistic occupation. Indeed the majority of artists today follow a "portfolio" career, working as freelancers under various contractual arrangements, often spanning multiple artforms, and applying their creative skills from time to time in industries far removed from the arts.

Less than a quarter of all artists are able to pursue their original creative practice full-time. We find that 66% of artists would like to spend more time at their creative work. The most important reason why most cannot do so is because working in the arts does not pay well enough, and they need to earn more income elsewhere.

Violetta Nahachevska/shutterstock

Why do so many aspirants long to take up a career in a field that offers so little prospect of financial security? Clearly one reason is the non-pecuniary rewards to be derived from art practice - what economists call, rather quaintly, "psychic income".

The inner drive to make art is what encourages artists to continue. When asked what have been the most important factors that have contributed to advancing their careers, 23% of artists nominate hard work and persistence, and 21% point to their passion, self-motivation and self-belief.

The average artist works a 45-hour week, not including hours spent on unpaid activities such as studying or voluntary work. Yet although creative work absorbs 57% of artists' working time, it generates less than 40% of their income. More than three-quarters of all artists have to take another job to support their creative practice.

These additional sources of income may be found within the arts sector - visual artists teaching in art school, for example, or dancers or musicians taking private pupils - or employment may have to be sought outside the arts altogether.

Why the income decline?

Why have artists' incomes declined? Could it be due to a sudden increase in their numbers, or perhaps a decrease in support provided to them? Neither explanation is convincing - though total numbers of artists have risen since 2009, the increase is comparable with the growth in the Australian labour force as a whole. And, while it appears that more artists have been applying for financial assistance in recent years, the success rate is similar to before.

Although we cannot answer the above question fully, the data point to the extent to which genuine creative activity is being curtailed by circumstances over which artists have no control. This should continue to be of concern for public policy - if the market does not adequately recognise the contribution that artists make to the cultural life of this country, some financial intervention may be warranted to rectify the inequity.

What of the future? The accumulated results from this series of surveys have helped us over the years to comprehend more clearly why we as a society need to accord artists the respect they deserve as professionals.

An understanding of the conditions of professional arts practice is a prerequisite for the development of more effective measures to support individual artists and to nurture the growth of the arts. At present, such measures are needed more urgently than ever.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The gender pay gap is wider in the arts than in other industries

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Australian artists now spend more time on their creative practice than in previous years but earn less from it. The situation is particularly gloomy for the average Australian female artist. She is better educated than her male counterpart, she spends about the same time on creative work as he does, yet she earns a much lower income from it - $15,400 versus $22,100 in the 2014-15 financial year.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Get the Facts About Women in the Arts | NMWA

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Contemporary women artists around the world still face obstacles & disparities. Learn about the gender inequalities in the arts with some eye-opening facts.