Don't give up your day job: an economic study of professional artists in Australia

A survey of the economic circumstances of 1063 practising professional Australian artists. The last decade has seen extraordinary changes in our political, economic, social and cultural environment. An understanding of the conditions of professional artistic practice is essential if effective measures for nurturing the growth of the arts in Australia are to be developed. Don't Give Up Your Day Job is the fourth in a series carried out over the past 20 years at Macquarie University, with funding from the Australia Council. The surveys provide information about the economic circumstances of professional artistic practice across all major artforms, apart from film. This survey, undertaken in 2002 and covering the 2000-01 financial year, updates and expands the information collected in the earlier studies.