Surveys of working artists produce a consistent and unglamorous picture.
income from art alone sits below the minimum wage in most countries studied.
Most artists therefore hold a second job, and teaching is the most common one.
The distribution of income is extreme even by the standards of creative work.
A small number of artists earn a great deal, which every average that is published.
are the policy instrument most used and the least examined.
take days to write, and success rates are often below one in ten.
The unpaid labour of applying is a transfer from artists to administrators that nobody records.
Schemes that award smaller sums with a short form reach more people for the same budget.
space is the second cost and the one that rises fastest.
Artists move into cheap districts, make them attractive and are then priced out by that attraction.
The cycle is so regular that developers now include artists in early plans deliberately.
Long and public ownership of a few buildings are the only measures that have held.
income matters far less to most artists than the debate suggests.
For a painter, the relevant policy is rent; for a musician, it is the fee structure of a platform.