Why are artists paid so badly?

Roxanne Hawthorne’s cover for Hand Book published by Artsmakers Aotearoa
Photo: Roxanne Hawthorne

Last year the Ministry of Culture and Heritage Manatū Taonga reported New Zealand’s arts and creative sector contributed $16.3 billion to New Zealand’s GDP, or 4.3% of the total economy, in the year ending March 2023. 

That contribution to the GDP had grown over the past year by 5.3%, compared to 2.9% growth for the rest of the economy.

It appears, culture is a growth business and that also goes for its vital role in everything from wellbeing to increasing understanding of each other and ideas development. Yet last year the national arts council Creative New Zealand released a report showing the median income for a creative professional in Aotearoa New Zealand was $37,000 (compared with a general median of $61,800)  The research also found that 44% of that income was supplemented by other work – making the median income from creative alone $19,500 a year.

Artists typically work a range of jobs – with all the insecurities and management that involves – don’t have a union, and have to compete both for public funds and awards to gain recognition. 

• Concerns are so widespread that we’re not valuing arts and culture in investment terms, that the government is expected to soon release a much lobbied for arts and creative sector strategy, led by Minister Paul Goldsmith.

Judy Darragh
Photo: Mark Tantrum

A key advocacy organisation for artists that has emerged recently in Aotearoa New Zealand is Art Makers Aotearoa (AMA). It was founded in 2020 as a not-for-profit arts network by visual artists Richard Orjis, Mark Harvey, Heidi Brickell, Rebecca Ann Hobbs and a guest on RNZ Culture 101 this week, Judy Darragh.

Since its inception AMA has been part of successful lobbying towards a resale royalty right for artwork at auction (which becomes law 1 December), and some copyright compensation for the reproduction of artists work. They have also published on their website of resources for artists a long-sought guide to minimum artist fees in public galleries. 

When the statistics came out in 2023 about how little artists earn there was, says Darragh, a lot of shame for artists. 

“I had artists in tears,” she says. “There was quite a lot of shock when that data came out in public about how little we earned.”

Alongside the work AMA has been doing, there are bigger and more direct ways to alleviate this Darragh suggests. One example is artist tax exemption schemes. In Ireland, the first Euro 50,000 an artist earns from their artwork is tax exempt. 

She believes change is also in the hands of artists. For example, stop agreeing to work for nothing.

As pictured in Hand Book – Judy Darragh aged 21 in Nelson
Photo: Sally Dixon

Just launched (with Creative New Zealand funding) is Hand Book, a collection of essays and artworks exploring what it means to be an art maker in Aotearoa. It is “by artists, for artists” and available for free through select galleries or online.  

Judy Darragh has been part of the formation of many now legendary artist-run initiatives. In 2000 she was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the arts and in 2004 had a major retrospective of her work at Te Papa. 

Represented by dealers in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and Ōtautahi Christchurch, Darragh has been practicing as an artist since the late 70s. Hand Book features in its introduction a photograph of a 21-year-old Judith digging a garden in Nelson in 1978.

So how much is a senior artist, so celebrated for having tended her patch for so long, earning? It was our first question for Judy Darragh on Culture 101.