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SHORT TAKES : ‘Starving Artist’ No Mere Label

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<i> From Times Staff and Wire Service Reports</i>

The term “starving artist” is no empty phrase.

A survey of more than 4,146 practitioners of all forms of art nationwide by Columbia University’s Research Center for Arts and Culture showed that more than half of them earn $3,000 or less and that 77% need to work at other jobs to support themselves and their art.

Only 27% earn their major income as artists, and 28% reported that they earn most of their income from non-art-related activities.

The 102-question survey was answered by artists in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Cape Cod and western Massachusetts, according to Joan Jeffri, director of the center.

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They included painters, sculptors, photographers, film, video and television artists, theater people, writers, musical arts performers and dancers. Forty-two percent reported they were college graduates.

Jeffri said 10% of the respondents reported earning between $20,000 and $40,000 from their art in 1988, and only 4% reported earning more than $80,000. Gross income for 85% was $30,000 or less.

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