Art Works: Move over David Letterman, we have our own top ten list! In our new research note Artists and Arts Workers in the United States we unearthed some surprising facts about the 2.1 million strong cadre of working artists, as well as data on arts-related industries, and states and metro areas where artists live and work. We asked questions like: What’s the most popular arts profession? Who makes the most? When do artists arrive at work? Which cities have the most artists?
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Fast Facts: Artists and Arts Workers
Art Works: Move over David Letterman, we have our own top ten list! In our new research note Artists and Arts Workers in the United States we unearthed some surprising facts about the 2.1 million strong cadre of working artists, as well as data on arts-related industries, and states and metro areas where artists live and work. We asked questions like: What’s the most popular arts profession? Who makes the most? When do artists arrive at work? Which cities have the most artists?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
It is interesting that the stereotypical centers of arts and culture still are holding sway. New York and California seem to be holding onto the top titles in the arts but it is interesting to see that the publishing industry has moved to the midwest. I think that this shows the decentralization that is possible in the digital age of the arts. We can create art and share it over large distances and the old guard cities such as New York and LA are getting to be unattainable goals due to higher cost of living.
It's not an unexpected collection of topics to survey people about, but some of the results are a bit surprising. I would not have expected MInneapolis as a huge publishing center, but at the same time New York and California do not surprise me at all as being the states with the highest concentrations of artists. Looking at the article they are discussing makes some of the results even more interesting, seeing things like the growth rate for artists vs. industry as a whole and how it doesn't track all that closely was probably the biggest surprise.
Reading through the attached note to this article proved a lot more interesting than the summary that is provided for us. I think it's clear that New York and California are art centers of the country, and that architects make the most out of all of us. We know. But for instance, there are only 1/5 as many actors as fine artists, which surprised me. And that there are 11% more artists this decade than there were last decade. That sort of proves the existence of of the rising "creative class." And that the creative class is educated, with 59% holding at least a bachelor's degree as opposed to 32% of the total working class.
Well this seems to say that the arts aren't that different from other fields of work. We get paid about the same amount, there is still gender in equality, and everyone gets married. We just happen to get to work later then everyone else. I also wonder who they are classifying as artists, you can kind of determine that information from the first two statistics but a visual artist and an industrial designer are going to have very different statistics and lives. I like what Reilly said about the creative class, and I do think that it is starting to be more previlant, I feel that our generation is much more creative, it is trendy to be unique and to like things that are artsy. Just think about Hipsters!
Artists are normal people too, we are sensitive too! This article goes to show that artists are just as much part of the workforce as anyone else. I find it interesting that the last fact had marriage as a point. People often think of the lonely artist that has no time, even though that might be true, people (even artists) will find time and want to be married just as much as everyone else. With the equality that is now seen I would think that the woman artists would earn just as much as a man. I feel that even though industries are still dominated by men, I feel the art industry would have women be more equal. I would like to see the price in other fields of work and how they compare. Maybe it is actually lower then art.
Post a Comment