Very high concentration of artists in the labour force in the District of Sechelt, British Columbia
140 professional artists reside in Sechelt
This article offers an analysis of the demographics, employment characteristics, and incomes of artists in the District of Sechelt, along with a brief summary of workers in arts leadership occupations and those in all occupations in the arts, culture, and heritage (a category that includes 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 is made possible with the support of the District of Sechelt. Hill Strategies Research retained editorial control of the content.
The occupational perspective in this article counts people who work across the economy, as long as they are classified into one of 10 artist occupation groups, 5 arts leadership occupation groups, or 52 cultural occupation groups. Details about the occupation groups included in each of the categories are available, as are the methods behind choosing the 52 cultural occupation groups. Contextual information about the strengths and limitations of the census for counting artists and cultural workers is also available.
Provincial and national context: Artists, arts leaders, and all cultural workers
There are 39,700 professional artists who reside in British Columbia, representing 20% of the 202,900 artists in Canada. As a percentage of the overall labour force, artists account for 1.4% in B.C., the highest percentage among the provinces and well above the national average (1.0%). In B.C., one in every 72 workers is an artist, compared with one in every 102 Canadian workers. (Articles related to B.C. artists and Canadian artists are available. The Canadian post provides a list of the 10 artist occupation groups.)
56,200 Canadians, including 10,100 British Columbians, work in five occupation groups that are classified as arts leaders. B.C. accounts for 18% of Canada’s arts leaders, higher than the province’s share of all workers (14%). For more information on the occupation groups included as arts leaders, please see this Canada-wide article. Two of the arts leadership occupations (those including conductors and composers as well as producers, directors, and choreographers) are also included as artists. As such, the number of arts leadership workers should not be added to the number of artists in any jurisdiction.
The broadest analysis relates to the 154,800 British Columbians and 914,000 Canadians who work in arts, culture, and heritage occupations. These workers represent 5.4% of B.C.’s labour force, the highest proportion among the provinces and well above the national average of 4.4%. One in every 18 B.C. workers and every 23 Canadian workers has a cultural occupation. The 52 occupation groups in this category 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).
Sechelt has the third-highest concentration of professional artists among Canadian municipalites
The 140 professional artists in Sechelt account for 2.7% of the District’s labour force, nearly double the provincial average (1.4%) and close to triple the national average (1.0%). The concentration of artists in Sechelt is tied for the third highest among Canadian municipalities.
In Sechelt, 1 in every 38 workers is a professional artist.
The Sunshine Coast Regional District, which includes the District of Sechelt, is home to 440 professional artists, which represents the same percentage of the Region’s labour force (2.7%) as in Sechelt.
In the census, artists would have to spend more time as artists than in any other occupation to be classified into an artist occupation group. More specifically, occupational data from the census are based on the number of people who worked more hours in an occupation than in any other between May 1 and 8, 2021, plus people who were not in the labour force at that time but had worked more in that occupation than any other between January of 2020 and May of 2021.
To ensure confidentiality and data reliability, no estimates of fewer than 40 people are presented in this article. With 140 professional artists in Sechelt, none of the 10 artist occupation groups have 40 or more workers. As such, the counts of artists by occupation group are not considered reliable.
Demographic and employment characteristics of artists in Sechelt
Among the 140 artists in Sechelt:
86% are self-employed, three times higher than the self-employment rate of all workers in Sechelt (28%) and much higher than the rate among all B.C. artists (72%).
50% are women (including some non-binary individuals), similar to the percentage of all workers in Sechelt (51%) but lower than all B.C. artists (55%).
46% have a bachelor’s degree or higher, almost twice the proportion of all workers in Sechelt (25%) but similar to that of all B.C. artists (43%).
46% are 55 years of age or older, higher than the percentages of all workers in Sechelt (39%) and all B.C. artists (29%).
43% have a child at home, well above the proportions of all workers in Sechelt (33%) and all B.C. artists (29%).
There are fewer than 40 artists in many other demographic categories, and the data for them are not presented here for confidentiality and reliability reasons. This includes the number of local artists who are Indigenous, members of a racialized group, or immigrants to Canada.
Professional artists in Sechelt had low median incomes in 2020
The financial analysis in this article offers three measurements of artists’ incomes: employment income, personal income, and household income. Employment income shows the work-related earnings of artists from all paid or self-employed positions that they held during the year. Personal income includes all sources, such as employment income, net revenue from self-employment, pandemic supports, rental income, investment income, and others. Finally, household income provides a measure of the family situation of artists.
Median incomes were chosen as the key measurement, because the median should provide a better indication of the situation of a typical artist than the average (i.e., the “mean”), a statistic that is more strongly affected by a few individuals with very high incomes. All income statistics are shown before taxes.
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, which included many pandemic related restrictions and significant slowdowns in artistic activity.
During a year that was incredibly difficult for many artists, the median employment income of Sechelt artists was just $3,900 in 2020, which is just over one-tenth of the median employment income of all local workers in the same year ($36,400). The median employment income of local artists in 2020 was much lower than the provincial average ($11,100).
As shown in the graph, the median personal income of artists in Sechelt (from all sources) was $32,000 in 2020, 32% lower than that of all workers in the District ($46,800).
The median personal income of local artists is slightly higher than the median for all of B.C. ($29,400). The difference in median personal income between artists and other workers in Sechelt (-32%) is lower than the differences in all of B.C. (-40%) and all of Canada (-39%).
Artists in Sechelt have median household incomes ($71,000) that are 36% lower than other workers in the District ($111,000). The median household income of artists in Sechelt is well below the median of all B.C. artists ($92,000).
Sechelt has a very high concentration of cultural workers
The 330 workers in arts, culture, and heritage occupations in Sechelt account for 6.3% of the 5,300 people in the local labour force, a percentage that is much higher than both the provincial average (5.4%) and the national average (4.4%). One in every 16 workers in Sechelt has a cultural occupation.
The Sunshine Coast Regional District also has a very high concentration of cultural workers (1,200 cultural workers out of 16,500 local workers, for a concentration of 7.1%).
The 140 professional artists in Sechelt represent a substantial minority of all 330 cultural workers in the District (42%, compared with just 26% in all of British Columbia). The income statistics for local cultural workers therefore reflect the very low incomes of local artists in 2020.
The key income statistics for cultural workers in Sechelt in 2020 are:
Employment income of $8,900, about one-quarter of the earnings of all workers in the District ($36,400)
Total personal income of $34,000, 27% less than all workers in the District ($46,800)
Household income of $90,000, 19% less than all workers in the District ($111,000)
80 arts leaders reside in the Sunshine Coast
In the Sunshine Coast Regional District, there are 80 workers in five occupation groups that are classified as arts leaders. Because there are fewer than 40 arts leaders in Sechelt itself, the Sechelt count is not considered reliable enough to publish.