Artists & Art Workers in Yorkshire & Humber- Survey Report 24/25
In June 2024, we carried out a survey to better understand artists and art workers in our region, in order to identify our priorities and to shape any potential research in the future.
248 artists and art workers in Yorkshire and Humber took the time to fill out the survey based around pay, employment, funding and barriers to working in the visual arts. Since then, we’ve brought the survey responses together into a report with some really insightful findings that we hope will provide suggestions for how the visual arts sector in the region can be improved, with this key data being relevant to the visual arts sector nationwide too.
In summary, artists in the region are under pressure financially and are competing with each other for limited opportunities and resources. To ensure that careers in the visual arts can be a sustainable, change is needed. With the introduction of a new government in 2024, CVAN has been advocating for artists across the country by lobbying MPs to show the government why policy change is necessary. We invite the sector to use these findings to lever in more investment for the arts in our region. Data helps tell the story so reports like this are essential in that drive for improved conditions.
This report acts as evidence to both why change is necessary; how the changes CVAN calls for will improve the visual arts sector; and how more funding to develop studio spaces will create more opportunities for artists in the region. Hopefully this new evidence will invite more pressure onto the government to put these changes into motion and allow the visual arts to thrive. Please take the time to peruse the report through this link and below. Word document version available here too.
A very special thank you to University of Sheffield Social Sciences student Tom Moore, who joined us over the summer and was tasked with analysing and compiling the survey responses. A big thank you to the wider team and board at YVAN for their input and support and Hannah Burgess for the report design.
Some key findings from the report:
60% of the respondents earn less than £5,000 from visual arts, 21.6% of these artists earn nothing at all.
Only 4.4% of respondents make over £30,000 from visual arts, despite the average salary for the region being £36,900.
73.2% of artists said that they are a member of a network or group.
47.6% of funding applications are successful.
More artists have seen their income decrease in the last two years, rather than increase.
20% of the respondents make all their income from the visual arts, showing how difficult it is to pursue the visual arts full time in the region.
28.7% of artists state explicitly that a lack of affordable studios is a barrier to working in the visual arts.
Over half of artists feel a lack of finances and funding is a barrier, often citing a shortage of available funding in the local area.
Over a quarter of artists described a lack of opportunities as a barrier to working in the visual arts.
Over 25% of artists who were commissioned to make work last year felt their fee didn’t reflect time the spent.
Sharon Gill, CEO of YVAN, said “Raising awareness of the precarity and inequity experienced by the visual arts sector within the wider creative industries is essential. We need to recognise that artists are the backbone of the nation’s cultural economy, yet they continue to remain endangered. Data and information help us tell the story to the Policy Makers, budget holders and investors and we can all share our story.”
We would welcome your feedback and thoughts on this survey report. Is there anything you feel strongly is missing, or could be improved upon? We will be doing further surveys every three to five years, as appropriate within the political and financial environment, to measure whether the findings change over time and whether our responses need to change as a result. So your feedback is really valuable to us. Thank you! Please email info@yvan.org.uk with your thoughts.