Resource roundup: Your guide to fair pay in the arts

The big picture

Understanding the financial landscape artists across the U.S. navigate

• A 2022 survey of more than 13,000 New York artists finds that 57.3% made under $25,000 the previous year, and 85.7% earned less than $50,000.

• This statistical portrait from the National Endowment for the Arts tracks employment trends, demographic data, and income for artists. According to the survey, 5 million workers are employed in the arts and culture industries.

• In 2023, there were approximately 2.8 million artists in the total U.S. labor force, a 36 percent increase from 2010, according to the National Arts Statistics and Evidence-based Reporting Center.

• In 2023, arts and culture added $1.17 trillion to the U.S. GDP, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

• A document by the group Indebted Cultural Workers highlights major income disparities at cultural institutions. (At the Museum of Modern Art, director Glenn Lowry makes $2.3 million a year, plus a $6 million rent-free apartment, which is about 48 times the salary of an education assistant at the museum.)

• In Illinois, an artist must reach 357,724 Spotify streams per month to earn a full-time salary at the state's minimum wage ($11/ hour in 2021). Check out this site to compare your state.

• According to the National Endowment for the Arts, dancers and choreographers are the lowest-paid artists in the U.S., with an average salary around $31,000.

Pay transparency in the arts

Understanding what everyday artists in the U.S. make for their work

• The Artist Pay Project, which lives here on the art rebellion, offers a detailed look into the financial lives of artists of all types.

• Bills, Bills, Bills is a series of anonymous money diaries from theatre workers curated and edited by Jenna Clark Embrey.

• The Chicago Dancer Pay Transparency Project shares pay rates for local dance companies.

• Salary Transparent Street is a social-first group sharing the salaries of people in all industries. Check out these specific TikToks to hear from creatives in the U.S.

Policies supporting fair pay for artists

Understanding new policies and policy proposals that support artists

• New York’s Freelance Isn’t Free law, which took effect in 2024, is a groundbreaking policy protecting freelancers from nonpayment. Other cities and states including California, Seattle, Illinois, and Minneapolis have enacted similar protections for freelancers.

• In 2024, Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman introduced the Living Wage for Musicians Act which aims to compensate artists and musicians more fairly at a penny per stream when their music plays on streaming services. The act was created in partnership with the United Musicians and Allied Workers and local and national artists who have been directly impacted by the lack of oversight in the music industry.

• New York Isn’t New York Without Artists is a policy guide intended to be a long-term, step-by-step program for lawmakers to reference as they enact policies that empower artists. Commissioned by Creatives Rebuild New York and authored by HR&A Advisors, recommendations include ensuring strong tenant protections and anti-displacement measures, passing worker protection laws for nontraditional workers, and increasing public funding economic development projects that integrates arts and culture.

• Chicago nonprofit Threewalls' From Living to Thriving wage policy report pushes against the patronage model to consider a more holistic approach to artist support. Additionally, it addresses the need for a direct and comprehensive analysis of pay equity for artists through human-centered, intersectional policy development.

• The American Academy Arts and Sciences 2021 "Art is Work" report lays out policy recommendations to support creative workers, including naming and including arts workers in federal policy, recognizing how creative work happens, and increasing protections for independent workers.

Wage tools for artists and people who pay them

Understanding fair pay for artists

• The W.A.G.E. fee certification calculator helps artists, and organizations hiring artists, easily determine equitable compensation based on annual operating expenses.

• On Our Team in Chicago, has developed Pay Equity Standards, a system to establish and publicly recognize equitable pay practices within theatre companies, arts organizations, and not for profit organizations. 2024 certification is currently open for nonprofit arts organizations and theatre companies.

• Choreographer and video artist Makini created a Designing Your Fees worksheet to help freelance artists determine their goal hourly rate for nonprofit work.

Movements for change

Organizations working to ensure artists have what they need to thrive

• art.coop is a collective providing artists working on economic justice with resources, money, ideas, and tools.

• Springboard for the Arts is a Minnesota-based organization offering artists resources to make a living from their work. The nonprofit's guaranteed income program has given $500 a month — no strings attached — payments to artists since April 2021.

• Based in Durham, North Carolina, Art Ain’t Innocent, is an organization fighting for equitable structures for art funding and advocacy.

• Berkshire/ Columbia Counties Pay Equity Project

• Artists at Work is a workforce resilience program that has provided a salary and benefits to dozens of artists across the U.S. It’s part of a burgeoning movement to value and pay artists fairly.

• Creatives Rebuild New York was a 3-year, $125 million initiative which employed artists for two years to work with community-based organizations, offering a $65,000 salary and benefits. CRNY also included a no-strings-attached, cash disbursement program for 2,400 artists.

• Museums Moving Forward is an independent organization devoted to envisioning and creating a more just museum sector by 2030.

• Dance Data Project is a nonprofit promoting gender equity in classical ballet through data analysis, advocacy, and programming.

• Golden Egg is an artist-led initiative strengthening financial security for Chicago's freelance musicians by offering retirement matching grants and connecting artists to vetted resources about financial planning.

• Bandcamp alternative, Subvert, is a music marketplace collectively owned by musicians, labels, and individual supporters who purchase memberships. Check out Subvert's zine to learn more about how the cooperative works and their goals.

Education for artists

• The Artistic Finance podcast features conversations with theatre artists about money.

• Learn more about artist career trajectories through interviews in the Creative Independent.

• Anticapitalism for Artists is an education community dedicated to raising the class consciousness of artists of all kinds in order to transform the living conditions of both arts workers and the world.

• Podcast episode with artist consultant Beth Pickens about the relationship between artists and money. In this interview between Paco de Leon and Pickens, the two discuss the challenges artists face in valuing their work, the pressure to commercialize their art, and the societal messages that undermine the worth of artists.

• In this podcast episode, arts entrepreneur Aubrey Bergauer offers eight negotiation strategies to advance in art leadership.

• Artist U's, Making Your Life as an Artist, is a pay-what-you-can guide and workbook focused on building a balanced, sustainable artistic life.

• Queer & Trans Wealth offers an anti-capitalist perspective on personal finance and guides on a range of topics including war tax resistance, starting a susu fund, and saving for retirement.

• The Center for Cultural Innovation's "Business of Art: An Artist's Guide to Profitable Self-Employment" ($24.95) is a workbook helping artists design a business model, manage money, and navigate legal issues.

• The Conscious Citizens is an online hub of information dedicated to building community power. Explore guides on topics ranging from how to start a food rescue program, to artist funding databases, to tips for calling your representatives.

This list will be updated periodically. If you'd like to share other resources, please email me at makeda@theartrebellion.net.