Two weeks ago, I posted about the 200,000-plus artists in Canada. Artists represent 1.0% of the Canadian labour force.

This post contains a brief analysis of the number of artists in each province and territory, including the number of artists, artists as a percentage of the labour force, and the largest artist occupation.

The post does not contain demographic, financial, or historical analysis. I have requested detailed data from the census to get at those elements, but I do not yet know when I will receive the data. When I receive the data, I will produce a demographic and financial analysis for sponsored jurisdictions.

This analysis relates to professional artists, but with a very specific concept of professional: i.e., people who worked more hours as an artist than at any other occupation between May 1 and 8, 2021, plus people who were not in the labour force at that time but had worked more as an artist than at another occupation between January of 2020 and May of 2021.

At the end of this post, I include other important notes to keep in mind regarding census data on artists.

Interested in a demographic and financial profile of artists in your province or municipality? Subscribe now at the sponsor / shareable level (just $750) to get a custom post with many important breakdowns (occupation, gender, education, age, racialized individuals, Indigenous Peoples). Bonus: you’ll receive access to every other subscribers-only post for the next 12 months.

Musicians are typically the largest artist occupation

Musicians are the largest artist occupation in Canada and in 8 of the 10 provinces. The exceptions are Quebec (where the largest artist occupation is producers, directors, and choreographers) and New Brunswick (where there are slightly more craftspeople than musicians).

In all 3 territories, craftspeople represent the largest artist occupation.

Artists as a percentage of the labour force

Statistical insights on the arts

How many artists are there in in each…

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