The Cost of Being an Artist

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UPDATED NOVEMBER 7, 2013 9:34 PM

The Cost of Being an Artist - New York Times

DEBATERS

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  Don’t Quit Your Day Job

  JURI KOLL, ARTIST AND FILMMAKER
  Compared to Ireland and Denmark, where there are tax-free grants or direct subsidies, the U.S. lags far behind in its treatment of artists.
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  You Need a Support System

  NISHA ASNANI, MUSICIAN, ARTS ADMINISTRATOR
  From networking with arts organizations to creating their own groups, artists must find ways to create communities that inspire, energize and support them.
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  For Millennials, It’s Not Practical

  ELENA SHEPPARD, POLICYMIC
  To become a successful artist requires a cocktail of connections, financial support, talent and tremendous luck, so many of us are opting for more stable paths.
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  Cheap Rent and Side Gigs Minimize Risk

  THOMAS BRADSHAW, PLAYWRIGHT
  You could make $100,000 tomorrow and never make a penny again. Artists need to take this into consideration to avoid financial ruin.
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  Being a Lawyer Is Easier

  MIKI NAVAZIO, LAWYER, MUSICIAN
  The financial pressures were tolerable when I was single and childless. They became much less so as I was approaching 40 and longing to start a family with my new wife.
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  Instead of Exploiting Artists, Pay Them

  PADDY JOHNSON, ART CRITIC AND BLOGGER
  The arts industry, at all levels, is subsidized not just by the labor of artists, but by their quality of life. They should get paid, not taken for granted.

INTRODUCTION

Damon Winter/The New York TimesNew York artist Ronnie Landfield is in danger of losing his rent-stabilized studio, where he’s lived and worked since 1969.

Artist and musician David Byrne recently wrotethat the cultural life of New York City had been “usurped by the top 1 percent,” implying that our society’s emphasis on the bottom line has compromised our humanist sensibilities.

With soaring housing and health care costs, and a culture that seems more interested in financial stability than creative expression, has it become too expensive to pursue the arts in this country?

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