35% growth in the number of professional artists in Saskatoon between 1991 and 2021

Saskatoon represents an increasing proportion of artists in Saskatchewan

Jan 21, 2025

Today’s article provides a careful comparison of statistics on artists in Saskatoon and area from census years from 1991 to 2021. The article is made possible with the support of the City of Saskatoon. Hill Strategies Research retained editorial control of the content.

Focus on Census Metropolitan Area data, despite significant behind-the-scenes data work

Over many days in 2024, I sought out comparable data on the number of artists from different census periods. I scoured hundreds of datasets from five census years (1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, and 2016) to find data that are comparable to my custom data request in 2021. I then downloaded those datasets, pinpointed the 10 artist occupations (out of about 700 occupational categories), copied the artist data into spreadsheets, and analyzed the results.

For municipalities, I was unable to find comparable data for the entire period. However, I was able to find data for:

the Saskatoon Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) for 1991 through 2021
the City of Saskatoon for 2006 and 2021
the Province of Saskatchewan for 1991 through 2021

At the end of this post, I provide further notes on elements that I needed to address to ensure and “apples-to-apples” comparison:

Changes in our definition of “artists”.
Changes in Statistics Canada’s occupation classifications.
Slightly different definitions of who is counted as a worker (including artists) in different datasets.
Changes in census methods, particularly the outlier year of 2011.

There are some elements that I have not been able to address:

Demographic breakdowns, because of additional complications due to the relative lack of readily available, comparable census data.
Change in the number of cultural workers, because there have been significant changes in some of the 52 occupation groups that are included as cultural workers.

For those who are particularly curious, I’ve written about some of the census changes in more detail, especially here, here, and here. My post on Canada-wide changes in the number of artists is here.

35% increase in the number of artists in the Saskatoon CMA between 1991 and 2021

In 2021, there were 1,490 professional artists in the Saskatoon CMA, compared with 1,100 in 1991. This represents an increase of 35% in the number of professional artists in the CMA over a 30-year timeframe, which is much higher than the 8% provincial increase (the lowest increase among the provinces).
The increase in the Saskatoon CMA is lower than the 49% increase in the CMA’s overall labour force and the 75% nationwide increase in the number of artists.

Comparable data are only available for the City of Saskatoon in 2006 and 2021. In 2021, there were 1,390 professional artists residing in the city, which is a 26% increase over the number in 2006 (1,100).

The 26% increase in the city is higher than the 20% increase in the Saskatoon CMA, the 1% increase in the City of Regina, and the 9% increase in Saskatchewan during the same timeframe. In other words, Saskatoon represents an increasing proportion of professional artists in the area and the province.

The following graph demonstrates that, since 2001, there has been a relatively steady increase in the number of artists in the Saskatoon CMA. In contrast, in the province as a whole, there have been only moderate changes in the number of artists over the 30-year period.

Not surprisingly, the number of artists in the City of Saskatoon is very similar to the CMA estimates for 2006 and 2021 (the two years for which municipal data are available).

Line graph of the number of professional artists in Saskatoon and Saskatchewan, 1991 to 2021. City of Saskatoon: 1100 in 2006; 1390 in 2021. Saskatoon CMA: 1100 in 1991; 1090 in 1996; 1100 in 2001; 1240 in 2006; 1340 in 2011; 1440 in 2016; 1490 in 2021. Saskatchewan: 3600 in 1991; 3700 in 1996; 3500 in 2001; 3600 in 2006; 3800 in 2011; 4000 in 2016; 3900 in 2021. Hill Strategies Research Inc. Sources: Census 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2016, and 2021. The 2011 estimates are the midway point between 2006 and 2016. Comparable data for city boundaries are only available in 2006 and 2021.

Note regarding 2011 data: Because of significant changes in methods of the (voluntary) National Household Survey in 2011, I am not considering the count of artists in that year to be comparable to other years. For graphing purposes, I have imputed estimates for 2011 as the midpoints between the 2006 and 2016 estimates.

Sponsors and potential sponsors: Are you interested in a similar article for your jurisdiction? Provincial data are available for the full time period. At the local level, there are additional challenges, but I am able to work through some of them. Data for Census Metropolitan Areas are easier to find than for local municipalities, but I have found at least a couple of data points for larger municipalities.

If you are not yet a sponsor but are interested in an historical analysis, please sign up below and choose the “Sponsor-shareable” option. I’ll be in touch when I get the notification of the sign-up.

Five periods with increases, one with a decrease

The following graph shows that, in the Saskatoon CMA, there has been an increase in the number of artists in five of the six five-year periods between 1991 and 2021. The largest increase came between 2001 and 2006. In the most recent five-year period (2016 to 2021), there was a 3% increase in the number of professional artists in the CMA.

The final graph in today’s post shows that the increase in the number of artists in the Saskatoon CMA has been higher than the increase in the overall number of workers in two periods: 2001 to 2006 and 2016 to 2021 (albeit slightly).Large increases in the number of artists in British Columbia throughout the 30-year timeframe

The data in the following graph indicate that the growth rate in the number of artists has been strong in each five-year period between 1991 and 2021, but the largest increases came at the beginning of the historical data (24% between 1991 and 1996 and 20% between 1996 and 2001). Since 2001, the five-year growth rates have hovered around 10%.

Column graph of changes in the number of professional artists in the Saskatoon CMA in five-year periods from 1991 to 2021 1991 to 1996: -1%. 1996 to 2001: 1%. 2001 to 2006: 13%. 2006 to 2011: 8%. 2011 to 2016: 7%. 2016 to 2021: 3%. Hill Strategies Research Inc. Sources: Census 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2016, and 2021. The 2011 estimates are the midway point between 2006 and 2016.

The final graph in today’s post shows that the growth in the number of artists has exceeded that of all workers in every five-year period. The difference between artists and the overall labour force is most striking in the first two five-year periods (1991 to 1996 and 1996 to 2001).

Column graph of changes in the number of professional artists and all workers in the Saskatoon CMA in five-year periods from 1991 to 2021 1991 to 1996: Artists, -1%. All workers, 0%. 1996 to 2001: Artists, 1%. All workers, 8%. 2001 to 2006: Artists, 13%. All workers, 8%. 2006 to 2011: Artists, 8%. All workers, 13%. 2011 to 2016: Artists, 7%. All workers, 11%. 2016 to 2021: Artists, 3%. All workers, 2%. Hill Strategies Research Inc. Sources: Census 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2016, and 2021. The 2011 estimates are the midway point between 2006 and 2016.

Changes by artist occupation

While there have been periodic changes in Statistics Canada’s occupational classifications since 1991, seven of the ten artist occupation groups have not been amended over this timeframe. There have been very different rates of change in the number of artists in the seven occupation groups with comparable data in 1991 and 2021:

Producers, directors, choreographers & related occupations: 329% increase (from 1,500 in 1991 to 6,500 in 2021)
Photographers: 200% increase (from 1,300 to 3,900)
Conductors, composers & arrangers: 155% increase (from 260 to 650)
Dancers: 125% increase (from 820 to 1,800)
Painters, sculptors & other visual artists: 86% increase (from 2,300 to 4,300)
Musicians: 46% increase (from 4,800 to 7,000)
Artisans & craftspeople: 8% decrease (from 4,400 to 4,000)

The three artist occupation groups where an analysis of changes is not possible are: writers; actors and comedians; and the catch-all group of “other performers”.

Detailed notes

Here is further information about what I needed to address to ensure an “apples-to-apples” comparison of artists over time.

Changes in our definition of artists

In 2021, in consultation with you, we decided to include photographers as an artist occupation. Photographers had not been included in my previous counts of artists or the data that I had requested in previous census years.

Periodic changes in Statistics Canada’s occupational classifications

For artists, almost all the classification changes have been between occupation groups that are both included as artists, rather than between artist and non-artist occupation groups. That is good! However, because of the changes, an analysis of trends is not possible for some artist occupations.
A new occupation group was created in 2021 for “technical writers”. The 100 Saskatoon workers in this occupation group were not counted as artists in 2021 but were included with other types of writers (an artist occupation group) in every other census year since 1991. To adjust for this, the counts of artists prior to 2021 have been reduced by 3%, which is the proportion of technical workers among all artists and technical writers in 2021.

Slightly different definitions of who is counted as a worker (including artists) in different datasets

This is a tricky challenge and one that even holds for a single census year. Some datasets exclude people who were out of the labour force in May but had worked at some point in the previous 16 months. Many other datasets only include those who were in the labour force at the time in May of each census year.
My analyses of 2021 census data have included all people classified into an occupation, even though some of them did not work in May of 2021.
I believe that this inclusion is particularly helpful when looking at the number of professional artists, because of the ebbs and flows of artistic work.
I had to find datasets from each census year based on the same type of count (called “universe” by Statistics Canada). This was one of the toughest challenges.

Changes to census methods

The 2011 census was an outlier year, because the equivalent of the long-form census (called the “National Household Survey”) was a voluntary survey of 30% of all households. In all other census periods, the long-form census was a mandatory survey that covered 20% of households from 1991 to 2006 and 25% of households in 2016 and 2021.
The response rate in 2011 was just 69%, compared with a typical response rate above 95% in other years. I do not believe that the 2011 data are comparable to other years – and, indeed, the 2011 data tend to be quite different from other census periods.
Because of the lack of comparable data for 2011, I have imputed data for that year as the midpoint between the estimates for 2006 and 2016. The percentage changes are therefore imprecise for 2006 to 2011 and 2011 to 2016 but do provide an accurate portrait of the changes during the broader timeframe (i.e., 2006 to 2016).

Here are some other important notes to keep in mind when considering the above analysis of artists in the workforce:

The analysis relates to professional workers, but with a very specific concept of professional. The census data on occupations include people who worked more hours as an artist than at any other occupation during the census week (always in early May), plus people who were not in the labour force at that time but had worked more as an artist than at another occupation after January 1 of the prior year (2020, in the case of the 2021 census). Part-time artists who spent more time at another occupation during the census period would be classified in the other occupation.
The atypical nature of artists’ workflows can make it challenging for official statistics to count artists as artists. As such, census estimates of the number of artists might be low. “Gig work” has been common among artists for a very long time. Internet sources even indicate that the term “gig” was coined by jazz musicians in the early 1900s. (Source examples here and here.)