ON THE MARK: What we know about artists

We are learning a lot about industrial arts training and jobs these days, well-deserved and long overdue. But what about artists? Musicians, performing artists, writers, filmmakers, painters, photographers, designers and architects?

An economist, I’ve been studying artists for almost 20 years: their aspirations, training, post-schooling work, and ways of relating to their patrons, audiences and publics. I started exploring data, mounting surveys, and interviewing many artists, hoping to learn about their challenges, who opens or closes doors for them, whom they work for and/or sell to. It’s been a wonderful ride, especially after 20 years of studying and writing about the military industrial complex. Sometimes, I think it’s self-indulgent.

Here are some windows into what we’ve learned. First, arts training occurs in many settings: K-12 schools, universities, colleges and conservatories and private lessons. Many artists teach themselves — members of garage bands, for instance. It’s heartening how many people of all ages want to express themselves or share beauty or insight through song, sound, photographs, drawings, sculpture, writing, movement, and design. Sadly, many of us received negative feedback and discouragement when quite young. Like in many sports, competition and an emphasis on winning often discourages many people from continuing to pursue the guitar, piano or easel at tender ages.

Despite such experiences, artists — who are often self-employed — have created organizations and space where they can share their work, learn from each other, exhibit or perform, and access materials and equipment to pursue their artistry. Minnesota is unusual in that artists, with the help of foundations and our Legacy Amendment dollars, have developed artist centers that offer membership at a modest price and offer space, mentoring and communities of learning welcoming to all comers. In 2006, my graduate assistant and I published “Artists’ Centers,” a study exploring how they began and currently operate, including the Duluth Art Institute with its photography, textile and pottery studios; Grand Marais Art Colony and its sister organizations up the North Shore; Northfield Arts Guild; and the tiny New York Mills Regional Cultural Center.

For a decade, I’ve been serving on the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project’s board of directors. We’ve been surveying graduates of arts high schools, colleges, universities and conservatories. We’ve learned much about how they value their education and how curricula might be improved, where they are working now, and, if they are self-employed, how they are doing. Surprisingly, almost half of them are working outside of the arts: in education and libraries, but also management, communications, manufacturing and law. However, most of them report using their arts skills frequently.

A decade ago, I ran several artist research projects in California. One was commissioned by the City of San Jose — the “capital of Silicon Valley” — asking why artists were underrepresented in their workforce and how to change that. Another, funded by large foundations, asked whether we could demonstrate that artists cross over to and from for-profit, nonprofit and community work. Using a large-scale survey (2,100 responses) and dozens of interviews, we discovered high levels of “crossover” among all types of artists. They made more money in the commercial sector on average, but most felt that nonprofit and community work were both superior for honing their skills and permitted more meaningful relationships with other artists and the people they serve. Yet another used new data on California’s arts nonprofits and how they employ artists. We found that artists accounted for 57 percent of people on their payrolls, but mostly as temporary contractors rather than as full- or part-time employees.

I learned the most, though, from a project I did in Minnesota with Anishinaabe writer Marcie Rendon. Sponsored by the McKnight Foundation, we spent a year travelling around Minnesota interviewing Native American artists in every art form. We learned a great deal about their challenges: schooling, access to working space and materials, getting past gatekeepers, and finding financial support and markets. They also shared with us their material and cultural challenges: how to harvest materials like birch bark that are legally forbidden; how to receive permission from elders for women to play the drums; how to honor their tribal traditions but to innovate at the same time.

I’ve loved this work, gaining respect for those who choose this challenging profession. Currently, I’m organizing the bimonthly art exhibit at our Pine Knot office, 122 Avenue C, downtown Cloquet. Please come by anytime during our normal office hours and view our current show, featuring the work of Fond du Lac artist and professor Karen Savage-Blue. All my writings on artists, many with photos, are available on my website, annmarkusen.com. Just click on the covers at the top of the webpage and download!

Ann Markusen is an economist and professor emerita at University of Minnesota. A Pine Knot board member, she lives in Red Clover Township north of Cromwell with her husband, Rod Walli.