Thank you for writing this, I have SO MANY feelings reading.
I moved to NYC on a starting salary of 32,500 in the performing arts (in 2008), and it's INSANE to me how little the needle has moved -- not just in terms of entry level jobs, but even for the leadership jobs that are now on my level. I'm seeing EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR jobs that still fall on the Very Low Income scale in this chart.
(I have cultivated a good lifestyle in the arts while still technically performing very poorly on this chart, but that's another story for another time 🙃)
What this all makes me fear is that --even more so than ever-- there is increasingly no such thing as a "sustainable" career in the arts. The arts models we have cannot keep up with the late capitalist doom spiral.
If there's any chance of making changes to arts models, entities like NYFA have to take a stand and have a moral viewpoint on this! NYFA cannot simply mirror back this dire landscape. You're so right on that.
I've used NYFA extensively in my career including their classifieds board and their 1-1 paid coaching sessions and they're great in many ways but this is NOT it.
Yes, yes, YES. It's the same in the performing arts world. Indeed, any creative field, the world over. Thanks, but last time I checked, I can't eat (or pay rent with) "credit and exposure."
Thank you for including that chart -- eye-opening. Almost want to include it in my resume when applying for jobs!
I honestly thought unpaid internships were illegal in New York. They certainly should be! Almost as bad as the job listings are the “artist opportunities” many of which seem to be for exhibitions which exist only to make money from submission fees.
As someone who received a NYFA fellowship and found an amazing (paid) job from the classifieds years ago, I realize how much good the foundation does and have a hard time finding fault with them. I think more than anything, these examples show the sad reality of how hard it is to make a living as an artist, particularly in the city.
Unpaid internships should definitely be illegal. I've also found a paid job from NYFA- it's undeniably a key platform for many artists. I was on the fence about placing some fault on NYFA, and after giving some thought, I realized NYFA is facilitating the process of these art organizations finding cheap and unpaid labor. I know these "opportunities" can just be posted elsewhere like Craigslist, but making them available on NYFA has some legitimizing power, thereby systemically approving oppressive labor conditions. I'm grateful for NYFA, and wish they make certain changes to really side with the artist class!
I agree with the overall sentiment of this piece but I did want to make a counter point here. I found a caregiver for my father who has dementia through an agency advertising on NYFA. The opportunity to be paired with young artists has been great for him. These guys will talk to my dad about music, take him to museums and listen to him lecture about books (and maybe not find it incredibly boring). As a writer who also struggles to make a living from my work, I understand that it would be better if there were more paying jobs for a traditional living in our respective art forms. But I also think that artists make excellent caregivers -- particularly for people in cognitive decline who get so much out of music and art -- and some agencies have taken notice. This work is not for everyone, but for some, it is relatively speaking decent pay, low responsibility, and predictable with normal hours -- better than waiting tables.
Any chance you are talking about "Duet- care at home"? If so, I have accounts from friends that made me very weary of this company. Separately, I am very glad your father was able to find a good match, and it sounds like the artist found this experience fulfilling too. Creative aging is a whole growing industry that seems great. I also support artists who happen to choose caregiving work to supplement their income. What I'm against is NYFA classifying caregiving work as an art job. It downplays the distinction between creative practice and side work, skirting the need for real support and opportunities for artists. I think the economic discourse this reinforces is harmful even if young artists might find seeing these opportunities on NYFA convenient in the immediate future.
Tons in LP! And caregiving is a career in its own right; it's not something that's easy to do "on the side." It takes so much out of you. (Or maybe -- probably -- that's just me.)
Thank you for writing this, I have SO MANY feelings reading.
I moved to NYC on a starting salary of 32,500 in the performing arts (in 2008), and it's INSANE to me how little the needle has moved -- not just in terms of entry level jobs, but even for the leadership jobs that are now on my level. I'm seeing EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR jobs that still fall on the Very Low Income scale in this chart.
(I have cultivated a good lifestyle in the arts while still technically performing very poorly on this chart, but that's another story for another time 🙃)
What this all makes me fear is that --even more so than ever-- there is increasingly no such thing as a "sustainable" career in the arts. The arts models we have cannot keep up with the late capitalist doom spiral.
If there's any chance of making changes to arts models, entities like NYFA have to take a stand and have a moral viewpoint on this! NYFA cannot simply mirror back this dire landscape. You're so right on that.
I've used NYFA extensively in my career including their classifieds board and their 1-1 paid coaching sessions and they're great in many ways but this is NOT it.
Why are all art fields like this!? I wrote a post about the fashion side of things and it’s sad to know it’s just as bad everywhere
Yes, yes, YES. It's the same in the performing arts world. Indeed, any creative field, the world over. Thanks, but last time I checked, I can't eat (or pay rent with) "credit and exposure."
Thank you for including that chart -- eye-opening. Almost want to include it in my resume when applying for jobs!
I honestly thought unpaid internships were illegal in New York. They certainly should be! Almost as bad as the job listings are the “artist opportunities” many of which seem to be for exhibitions which exist only to make money from submission fees.
As someone who received a NYFA fellowship and found an amazing (paid) job from the classifieds years ago, I realize how much good the foundation does and have a hard time finding fault with them. I think more than anything, these examples show the sad reality of how hard it is to make a living as an artist, particularly in the city.
Unpaid internships should definitely be illegal. I've also found a paid job from NYFA- it's undeniably a key platform for many artists. I was on the fence about placing some fault on NYFA, and after giving some thought, I realized NYFA is facilitating the process of these art organizations finding cheap and unpaid labor. I know these "opportunities" can just be posted elsewhere like Craigslist, but making them available on NYFA has some legitimizing power, thereby systemically approving oppressive labor conditions. I'm grateful for NYFA, and wish they make certain changes to really side with the artist class!
I agree with the overall sentiment of this piece but I did want to make a counter point here. I found a caregiver for my father who has dementia through an agency advertising on NYFA. The opportunity to be paired with young artists has been great for him. These guys will talk to my dad about music, take him to museums and listen to him lecture about books (and maybe not find it incredibly boring). As a writer who also struggles to make a living from my work, I understand that it would be better if there were more paying jobs for a traditional living in our respective art forms. But I also think that artists make excellent caregivers -- particularly for people in cognitive decline who get so much out of music and art -- and some agencies have taken notice. This work is not for everyone, but for some, it is relatively speaking decent pay, low responsibility, and predictable with normal hours -- better than waiting tables.
Any chance you are talking about "Duet- care at home"? If so, I have accounts from friends that made me very weary of this company. Separately, I am very glad your father was able to find a good match, and it sounds like the artist found this experience fulfilling too. Creative aging is a whole growing industry that seems great. I also support artists who happen to choose caregiving work to supplement their income. What I'm against is NYFA classifying caregiving work as an art job. It downplays the distinction between creative practice and side work, skirting the need for real support and opportunities for artists. I think the economic discourse this reinforces is harmful even if young artists might find seeing these opportunities on NYFA convenient in the immediate future.
Tons in LP! And caregiving is a career in its own right; it's not something that's easy to do "on the side." It takes so much out of you. (Or maybe -- probably -- that's just me.)
And it definitely feels so much harder if it's a loved one, doesn't it?