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, and there are 2.5 million artists in the U.S. labor force.

• In 2022, arts and culture added $1.102 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 supporting 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 Los Angeles, 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.

How much should I pay an artist?

• 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.

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.

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.

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