Statistical profile of English-speaking artists in Quebec

There are nearly 14,000 minority-language artists in the province

Nov 28, 2023

This article offers insights into minority-language artists in Quebec as well as summary information about arts leaders and all workers in cultural occupations (a category that includes both artists and arts leaders). The article is based on custom data that Hill Strategies requested from Statistics Canada’s 2021 long-form census.

The article complements our recently-released study of French-language artists and cultural workers outside of Quebec, which is available only in French.

Throughout the article, the terms “English-speaking” and “Anglophone” refer to people who were categorized as such by Statistics Canada, using its new concept: potential demand for federal communications and services in the minority official language. This fairly broad definition includes residents of Quebec whose mother tongue is English and/or who speak English at home, either most often or as a secondary language. Using this definition, there are 1.7 million people in Quebec who could potentially request federal services in English.

The article is made possible with the support of ELAN: English-Language Arts Network.

Hill Strategies Research retained full editorial control of the content.

Details of the occupational categories and other notes regarding methods are provided at the end of the article.

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13,800 artists in Quebec have English as their mother tongue or speak English at home

There are 13,800 Anglophone artists in Quebec, representing 32% of all artists in the province, which is tied with New Brunswick for the highest minority-language percentage among the provinces.

Artists represent 1.3% of all Anglophone workers in Quebec, which is higher than the proportions for Quebec as a whole (0.9%) and Canada (1.0%).

Among Anglophones in Quebec, 1 in every 74 workers is an artist.

Graphic of key facts about the nearly 14,000 English-speaking professional artists in Quebec. 1 in every 74 Anglophone workers in Quebec is an artist. 2 in 3 are self-employed. One-half have at least a bachelor's degree. Median personal incomes are 17% lower than Francophone artists in Quebec. Source: Hill Strategies analysis of 2021 census data at http://www.statsinsights.ca

English-speaking artists in Quebec: highly educated, with a very high self-employment rate

Among Anglophone artists in Quebec:

52% have a bachelor’s degree or higher, much higher than percentages of all Anglophone workers (37%) and Francophone artists in Quebec (43%).
66% are self-employed, nearly five times higher than the percentage of all Anglophone workers (14%) and somewhat higher than that of Francophone artists in Quebec (60%).
48% are women (including some transgender and non-binary people), similar to the proportion of all Anglophone workers in Quebec (47%) and equal to that of Francophone artists in the province (48%).
18% are members of racialized groups, much lower than the percentage of the province’s Anglophone workers (29%) but much higher than that of Francophone artists in Quebec (7%).
21% are immigrants to Canada, lower than the percentage of all Anglophone workers (27%) but higher than that of Francophone artists in Quebec (12%).
2.5% identify as Indigenous, similar to the percentage of all Anglophone workers (2.7%) but slightly higher than that of Francophone artists in Quebec (1.9%).
23% are 55 years of age or older, higher than the percentage of all Anglophone workers (20%) but lower than that of Francophone artists in the province (30%).
26% have a child at home, much lower than the percentages of all Anglophone workers (37%) and Francophone artists in Quebec (34%).

Over one-half of English-speaking artists in Quebec have at least a bachelor’s degree.

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Anglophone artists in Quebec have lower incomes than their Francophone counterparts

This article focuses on median incomes, which are believed to provide a better indication of the typical situation of professional artists than the average (i.e., the “mean”), which is more strongly affected by a few individuals with very high incomes.

Readers should keep in mind that the income statistics from the 2021 census relate to the 2020 calendar year, which included many pandemic related lockdowns and significant slowdowns in artistic activity.

The median employment income of English-speaking artists was just $13,100 in 2020, which is about one-third of the median employment income of all Anglophone workers in Quebec in the same year ($37,600). The median employment income of English-speaking artists was 21% lower than the median of French-speaking artists in Quebec in 2020 ($16,600).

The median personal income (from all sources) of English-speaking artists in Quebec was $31,000 in 2020, 33% lower than the median income of all English-speaking workers in the province ($46,400) and 17% below the median of the province’s French-speaking artists ($37,200). The income gap between artists and other workers is much larger among Anglophones (-33%) than Francophones in Quebec (-24%).

The graph below summarizes the median personal incomes of artists and all workers in Quebec by language.

Bar graph of Median personal incomes of English- and French-speaking artists and all workers in Quebec, 2020. All Francophone workers, $49200. All Anglophone workers, $46400. Francophone artists, $37200. Anglophone artists, $31000. Note: Personal incomes include all sources for an individual during the 2020 calendar year. Source: 2021 census, custom data request by Hill Strategies.

In 2020, the median household income of English-speaking artists in Quebec was $73,500, which is 29% lower than the median employment income of all Anglophone workers in Quebec ($104,000) and 16% lower than that of French-speaking artists in the province ($88,000).

Many Anglophone artists occupy senior positions

The largest occupation group among English-speaking Quebec artists is the senior role of “producers, directors, choreographers, and related occupations), which accounts for nearly one in every four artists. In descending order, the largest artist occupation groups are:

Producers, directors, choreographers & related occupations: 3,100 (22% of English-speaking artists in Quebec)
Musicians: 2,400 (18%)
Writers (except technical writers): 2,100 (15%)
Painters, sculptors & other visual artists: 1,500 (11%)
Photographers: 1,200 (9%)
Actors, comedians & circus performers: 1,200 (9%)
Artisans & craftspeople: 870 (6%)
Dancers: 670 (5%)
Other performers: 430 (3%)
Conductors, composers & arrangers: 370 (3%)

4,500 Anglophone arts leaders

In Quebec, there are 4,500 workers in five occupation groups that are classified as arts leaders, representing 30% of the 14,900 arts leaders in the province. In 2020, the median personal income of English-speaking arts leaders was $52,400, 17% less than the median for Francophone arts leaders in Quebec ($62,800).

Over 60,000 Anglophone workers in arts, culture, and heritage occupations

The 63,600 English-speaking workers in arts, culture, and heritage occupations in Quebec account for 28% of the 225,600 cultural workers in the province. As a proportion of the overall labour force, there are more minority-language cultural workers in New Brunswick (34%) than in Quebec (28%).

The median personal income of English-speaking cultural workers in Quebec was $45,200 in 2020, 8% lower than the median for Francophone cultural workers in the province ($49,200). As noted above, the difference between all English-speaking and all French-speaking workers in Quebec is 6%.

Methods

The census relies on a very specific concept of professional workers, one that includes people who worked more hours as an artist than at any other occupation between May 1 and 8, 2021, plus those 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. Part-time artists who spent more time at another occupation in May of 2021 would be classified in the other occupation. (The same would be true of workers in cultural occupations and arts leadership occupations.)

The occupational perspective counts people who work across the economy, as long as they are classified into one of the 10 artist occupation groups, 5 arts leadership occupation groups, or 52 cultural occupation groups.

The 52 cultural occupation groups include the 10 artist occupation groups as well as the 5 arts leadership occupation groups, other cultural occupations (e.g., graphic designers, print operators, editors, translators, architects, and professionals in fundraising, advertising, marketing, and public relations), and heritage occupations (e.g., librarians, curators, and archivists).

More details about the occupation groups included in each of the categories is available in a recent article, which also outlined the methods behind choosing the 52 cultural occupation groups, Another article highlighted some strengths and limitations of the census for counting artists and cultural workers.

To ensure confidentiality and data reliability, no estimates of fewer than 40 people are presented in this article.

The challenging context of the pandemic in the spring of 2021 is important to keep in mind when interpreting census data on artists, which were collected in May of 2021. Income data from the census relate to the 2020 calendar year.