I am 56 and this year (tax year 22/23) I made a profit from my art for the very first time. The sum of £893.76 is not to be sniffed at, but hardly enough to live on. I have always had a day-job.
Before this, 21/22 had been my best financial year. I made a loss of £375.92.
In 2016 (based on 2015 data) Arts Council England published the Livelihood of Visual Artists Report, finding most artists earned less than £5,000 from their art* that year. These artists are either rich, being supported by someone else, or had other forms of income. There’s not enough honesty about this. According to the report, 7% of artists earned more than £20,000, and 2% more than £50,000. The average art practice income was £6,000. I can’t find a more recent ACE study, they don’t do these things very often, although it may have been updated slightly in 2018.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (Ben Quinn for the Guardian) found that the number of working class people in the arts has shrunk by half since the 1970s. Don’t get me started.
I’m writing from a place of privilege. For a brief period in history the door was opened and the likes of me walked straight through. They’ve closed the door now. Someone from my background would not be able to go to art college today.
This is why 5% of my sales go to Arts Emergency.
*In this context, making ‘a living from your art’ means money made from selling an actual piece of art. Teaching, workshops and non-original prints (not printmaking/etching as this IS art) are considered ‘other sources of income’.