The National Endowment for the Arts is the national federal agency charged with encouraging artistic activity in the American people, for the intrinsic value of the arts in our daily lives, and also because of the massive benefits the arts yield to our national economic health and well-being. The NEA partners with state arts agencies in each state and territory of the union, and the Alaska State Council Arts is the NEA’s partner in Alaska (I serve on ASCA with 10 other Alaskan volunteers).
The NEA provides direct financial support to ASCA and each state arts agency that meets the law requiring a dollar-for-dollar match for the federal funds received. In Alaska, this is well under $1 million annually, but the federal and state dollars together go on to leverage a great deal more private foundation money. Beyond these crucial monetary contributions to states, the NEA is also uniquely positioned to conduct comprehensive research about the arts, which can help all Americans embrace wise policy choices that ensure artistic activity is providing the greatest personal benefits while helping Americans prosper materially and thrive creatively.
The NEA is led by a presidentially-appointed Chairman; a tradition has emerged where each person in this position devises and implements what is known as a signature initiative. Jane Chu is the 11th NEA chair and she has enthusiastically followed this precedent with a project called Creativity Connects (she has also tried to visit as many states as possible, and Alaska was lucky to welcome her last year for a very successful visit).
This past week the NEA released an informative and timely research report that flows from the initiative, “Creativity Connects: Trends & Conditions Affecting U. S. Artists.” At 78 pages, this isn’t a quick glance at the state of the artistic field, but rather a thorough analysis of forces shaping artists’ careers and how they make a living, exposing some trends similar to those challenging the wider workforce, and some pressures that bear with greater concentration on the artistic and cultural sectors. It highlights the ever-increasing fluidity of how the term artist is defined and the cross-sector and multidisciplinary reality of working as an artist today.
Creativity Connects looked to many sources in compiling the data on which its observations and conclusions are based. It started with a 2003 study by the Urban Institute for baseline data about categories of artists’ needs, and how well these were being met. The NEA then turned to individual interviews, regional roundtable discussions, a summit of arts leaders, an online research forum, and a thorough review of other existing research to come to a point where this current update about the arts economy emerged. The entire report can be viewed at www.arts.gov/50th/creativity-connects/report.
Creativity Connects seeks to find out if and how artists’ working conditions have changed in the past decade, whether support for artists is staying current with evolving needs, what adaptations artists are making, and what might be done to enhance artists’ abilities to unleash their creative talents while solidifying their employment and earning capacity.
In 2015, 2.3 million Americans were primarily employed as artists, about 1.5 percent of the U.S. labor force. Almost 60 percent of these artists have at least an undergraduate degree, almost twice the proportion of the full workforce, but most working artists make less money than professionals with similar levels of educational attainment. Artists are three-and-a-half times likelier to be self-employed than others, and have median incomes below the full workforce figures. These are statistics that could change with targeted arts and economic policies.
Technological change is one area where artists are being buffeted and challenged like all other Americans. Online means to create and distribute art have opened up markets and opportunities at the same time they have made protecting intellectual property harder and crowded the marketplace with competitors. Social media have eliminated many barriers to exposure and participation but created significant time and content creation demands for creators and end-users. Change continues so rapidly that just staying current with existing technological rules and more can be a major component of many artists’ careers.
As the economy continues to see lower unemployment and rising wages, those at the lower end of the earning spectrum have been among the last to share in the rebound. This trend has hit artists, and many have gone to work outside traditional arts markets and venues to make enough to support themselves and their families. An upside to this is the increased variety of ways in which the arts are being put to use in non-traditional fields. A downside is the permanent emergence of a “gig economy,” where arts workers may find work frequently, but it’s the sort of work that doesn’t provide any stability in terms of benefits like health insurance or assistance in saving for retirement. Relieving these inequities could really help artists and society at large.
ASCA is very grateful for Jane Chu’s leadership in choosing to make Creativity Connects happen. As Alaska continues to meet the challenges forced upon us by our changing economy, Alaskan artists have the potential to play a key role in making our transition successful. The research in this recently released NEA report deserves careful consideration by artists, arts organizations, policymakers, and elected officials committed to a healthy economic future for all Alaskans.
• Benjamin Brown is a lifelong Alaskan and an attorney who lives in Juneau. He serves as chairman of the Alaska State Council on the Arts.
