IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jculte/v45y2021i4d10.1007_s10824-020-09400-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Who is an artist? Heterogeneity and professionalism among visual artists

Author

Listed:
  • Andrea Baldin

    (Copenhagen Business School)

  • Trine Bille

    (Copenhagen Business School)

Abstract

The purpose of this article was twofold. Firstly, to investigate the heterogeneity among artists as an occupational category and secondly, to define arts as a profession and thereby to make a distinction between professional artists and amateurs. Artists' income and working conditions have been the subject of several studies, and many different sampling criteria have been used. Scholars have not yet achieved consensus on who should be included in the profession. In this article, we make an innovative contribution to this conversation. By applying a finite mixture model, which combines latent profile and latent class analysis, we have been able to identify different segments of artists in terms of professionalism. Each of these mutually exclusive classes is characterized by a particular income and working situation. We also include a membership function, estimated through a logistic regression, which allows prediction of the probability that an individual will belong to each class, given his/her socioeconomic characteristics. The subject of our study is Danish visual artists. The dataset consists of a combination of register data from Statistics Denmark and data collected from a questionnaire survey with 892 respondents. Based on the artists’ civil registration numbers, the two sources have been merged into a unique dataset. Our finite mixture model shows the heterogeneity among artists. Combined with a theoretically definition of arts as a profession, our research propose a distinction between professional artists and amateurs that cuts across categories used in prior literature. The results can be beneficial to cultural policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea Baldin & Trine Bille, 2021. "Who is an artist? Heterogeneity and professionalism among visual artists," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 45(4), pages 527-556, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jculte:v:45:y:2021:i:4:d:10.1007_s10824-020-09400-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10824-020-09400-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10824-020-09400-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10824-020-09400-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Trine Bille & Søren Jensen, 2018. "Artistic education matters: survival in the arts occupations," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 42(1), pages 23-43, February.
    2. Carlos Casacuberta & N鳴or Gandelman, 2012. "Multiple job holding: the artist's labour supply approach," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(3), pages 323-337, January.
    3. Ana Alacovska & Trine Bille, 2021. "A Heterodox Re-Reading of Creative Work: The Diverse Economies of Danish Visual Artists," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 35(6), pages 1053-1072, December.
    4. Abbing, Hans, 2002. "Why Are Artists Poor?," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9789053565650.
    5. Tsang, Eric W. K., 2014. "Old and New," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(03), pages 390-390, November.
    6. Rosen, Sherwin, 1981. "The Economics of Superstars," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(5), pages 845-858, December.
    7. Trine Bille & Knut Løyland & Anders Holm, 2017. "Work for Passion or Money? Variations in Artists’ Labor Supply," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(3), pages 347-380, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ellen Loots & Diana Betzler & Trine Bille & Karol Jan Borowiecki & Boram Lee, 2022. "New forms of finance and funding in the cultural and creative industries. Introduction to the special issue," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 46(2), pages 205-230, June.
    2. Kate MacNeill & Jenny Lye & Grace McQuilten & Marnie Badham & Chloë Powell, 2022. "The Incomes of Visual Artists: Which Artists, What Income?," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 55(4), pages 558-567, December.
    3. Tal Feder & Joanna Woronkowicz, 2023. "Reluctantly independent: motivations for self-employed artistic work," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 47(4), pages 589-607, December.
    4. Richard J. Paulsen, 2022. "Arts majors and the Great Recession: a cross-sectional analysis of educational choices and employment outcomes," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 46(4), pages 635-658, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Joanna Woronkowicz & Aparna Soni & Seth Freedman & Kosali Simon, 2020. "How have recent health insurance expansions affected coverage among artist occupations in the USA?," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 44(1), pages 117-154, March.
    2. Richard J. Paulsen, 2022. "Arts majors and the Great Recession: a cross-sectional analysis of educational choices and employment outcomes," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 46(4), pages 635-658, December.
    3. Lasse Steiner & Lucian Schneider, 2012. "The Happy Artist?: An Empirical Application of the Work-Preference Model," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 430, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    4. Lasse Steiner & Lucian Schneider, 2013. "The happy artist: an empirical application of the work-preference model," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 37(2), pages 225-246, May.
    5. Thom, Marco, 2016. "Fine artists' entrepreneurial business environment," Working Papers 06/16, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    6. Cecile Wetzels, 2008. "Are workers in the cultural industries paid differently?," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 32(1), pages 59-77, March.
    7. Lasse Steiner & Lucian Schneider, 2011. "The happy artist? An empirical application of the work-preference model," ECON - Working Papers 037, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    8. Maria Marchenko & Hendrik Sonnabend, 2022. "Artists' labour market and gender: Evidence from German visual artists," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(3), pages 456-471, August.
    9. Andrej Srakar, 2017. "Prevalence of Diseases and Health Care Utilization ofthe Self-Employed Artists and TheirEmpirical Determinants: Evidence From a Slovenian Survey," ACEI Working Paper Series AWP-08-2017, Association for Cultural Economics International, revised Sep 2017.
    10. Alexander Cuntz, 2018. "Creators' Income Situation in the Digital Age," WIPO Economic Research Working Papers 49, World Intellectual Property Organization - Economics and Statistics Division.
    11. Frank, Joshua & Sohn, Saeyoon, 2011. "A behavioral economic analysis of excess entry in arts labor markets," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 265-273, May.
    12. Trine Bille & Knut Løyland & Anders Holm, 2017. "Work for Passion or Money? Variations in Artists’ Labor Supply," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(3), pages 347-380, August.
    13. Trine Bille & Søren Jensen, 2018. "Artistic education matters: survival in the arts occupations," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 42(1), pages 23-43, February.
    14. Milenko POPOVIĆ & Kruna RATKOVIĆ, 2013. "Oversupply Of Labor And Other Peculiarities Of Arts Labor Market," Theoretical and Practical Research in the Economic Fields, ASERS Publishing, vol. 4(2), pages 204-230.
    15. Hyun-Seung Park & Hyeon-Cheol Kim, 2020. "Impact of Government Support on Performing Artists’ Job and Life Satisfaction: Findings from The National Survey in Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-8, October.
    16. Kate MacNeill & Jenny Lye & Grace McQuilten & Marnie Badham & Chloë Powell, 2022. "The Incomes of Visual Artists: Which Artists, What Income?," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 55(4), pages 558-567, December.
    17. Bille, Trine & Fjællegaard, Cecilie Bryld & Frey, Bruno S. & Steiner, Lasse, 2013. "Happiness in the arts—International evidence on artists’ job satisfaction," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 15-18.
    18. Brinja Meiseberg, 2014. "Trust the artist versus trust the tale: performance implications of talent and self-marketing in folk music," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 38(1), pages 9-42, February.
    19. Ali Shalizar Jalali, 2018. "Male Fertility as a Bull’s Eye for Mastocytosis," Global Journal of Reproductive Medicine, Juniper Publishers Inc., vol. 3(3), pages 58-60, February.
    20. Leye Li & Louise Yi Lu & Dongyue Wang, 2022. "External labour market competitions and stock price crash risk: evidence from exposures to competitor CEOs’ award‐winning events," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(S1), pages 1421-1460, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jculte:v:45:y:2021:i:4:d:10.1007_s10824-020-09400-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.