Everyone it seems is being impacted by COVID-19 negatively, especially our local artist. Ohio Citizens for the Arts released data later last week and shows how the pandemic is impacting local talent.
"While it is too soon to know the full impact of the crisis, the preliminary results of this survey thus far reveal devastating economic implications for the livelihoods of individual artists and the operations of arts organizations that serve the community and employ individual artists. The situation is bleak, and action is required to provide relief for those who slip through the cracks," the press release states.
Thankfully, organizations such as GCAC are providing emergency grants for artists and working to make a difference during these trying times. Still, it's important to be aware of the situation and what this might mean for the future of artists and art organizations.
“The economic damage to arts organizations, artists, and livelihoods is immediate and we have serious concerns about many of these organizations still being here when we come out of this crisis," says Angela Meleca, executive director of OCA. "We need to ensure that the arts community is safeguarded just like the other nonprofits and small businesses that are integral to society in a manner that ensures they can continue to contribute to our economy, education systems, and quality of life well into the future.”
Here are some statistics from the OCA report.
Most of the individual artist respondents work in the ‘gig economy,’ and are self-employed.
- Nearly 71 percent of respondents work in the visual arts and music.
- 81 percent of respondents are not employed by K-12 or higher education.
- A little more than 50 percent of respondents teach private lessons.
As a result of the COVID-19 response efforts, individual artists are losing main sources of income and their livelihoods.
- 4,006 gigs were considered lost by 486 survey respondents. Over half of those were lost by musicians. Gigs include performances, exhibitions, commissions, residencies, teaching opportunities, etc.
- 32.64 percent said there was no possibility of rescheduling gigs.
- Approximately 62 percent of respondents reported losing revenues between $1,000 and $7,500. The largest number of respondents (121/473) reported losing between $2,500 and $4,999 in revenue associated with lost gigs.
- When asked whether artists had other sources of revenue, a little over half (55.86 percent) replied they did have other sources of revenue, while a little under half (44.13 percent) reported no other sources of revenue.
Most individual artists are not eligible for unemployment within the current structure.
- An overwhelming number of artists reported that they were not eligible for unemployment (71.90 percent), while a significantly smaller percentage (20.87 percent) thought they might be eligible for unemployment, and an even smaller percentage (7.23 percent) indicated eligibility for unemployment.
To read the entire report, click here to download the PDF.
