SHORT TAKES : ‘Starving Artist’ No Mere Label

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.

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.