Well over half of artists and art workers in the Yorkshire and Humber region earn less than £5,000 a year from their work, research has found – with more than a fifth earn nothing at all.
The findings come from a survey of 248 practitioners by the Yorkshire and Humber Visual Arts Network (YVAN) – one of nine bodies that form the Contemporary Visual Arts Network England (CVAN).
In a region where the average salary is £36,900, 60% of artists earn less than £5,000 a year, and 21.6% earn nothing, the responses indicate. Only 4.4% of respondents said they earned more than £30,000.
Despite these low earning levels, a fifth (20%) of respondents to YVAN’s survey make all their income from the visual arts. YVAN said this demonstrates “just how difficult it is to pursue the visual arts full time in the region”.
More than two fifths of respondents (42.9%) were commissioned to produce new artwork in the last year.
About three quarters of these were an independent artist, maker, designer, photographer or filmmaker. More than half (53.3%) had been in their career for more than 10 years, and more than a third (37.1%) earned under £5,000.
Financial barriers
More than a third (36.2%) of artists said their income had decreased in the past year while 33.2% saw it increase.
Within the last year, about a third (34%) of respondents had applied for funding for their work, with 47.6% of these successful.
More than half (51.8%) said a lack of finances or funding presented a barrier to their work, with many citing “a shortage of available funding in the local area”.
Other common challenges include issues with studio space (28.6%), shortage of time (21.1%), and a lack of ways to sell work (16.1%). YVAN’s report says respondents referred to a shortage of local galleries and gallery space, and “high competition” to access affordable studio spaces.
YVAN said the research demonstrates how “a lot of work is needed” to achieve Arts Council England’s 2030 goal of making the country one where “the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish, and where every one of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences”.
The organisation says that “artists in the region are under pressure financially and are competing with each other for limited opportunities and resources”.
It is calling for changes including more funding to develop studio spaces to create more opportunities for artists in the region.
To ensure adequate studio space, CVAN says planning laws should be reformed to allow artists access to “meanwhile spaces” in disused buildings or empty retail units.
It also says there should be more support to retrofit existing buildings – making them cheaper to run and therefore available for lower prices.
Other approaches the organisation recommends to reduce barriers for artists include greater clarity on pay through detailed contracts and published structures, and appointing a freelance commissioner “to advocate for and protect the rights of freelance artists”.
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