Over 18,000 professional artists in Alberta in 2021
Typical incomes were comparatively low in 2020
Using custom data that Hill Strategies requested from Statistics Canada’s 2021 long-form census, this article examines the demographics, employment characteristics, and incomes of artists in Alberta, as well as summary information about workers in arts leadership occupations and all occupations in the arts, culture, and heritage (a category that includes artists and arts leaders).
This article is made possible with the support of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. Hill Strategies Research retained editorial control of the content.
Details of the occupational categories and other notes regarding methods are provided at the end of this post.
Context: Canada-wide data
Across Canada, there are 202,900 professional artists, representing 1.0% of the Canadian labour force. Examined differently, this means that 1 in every 102 Canadian workers is an artist. (A full article on Canadian artists is available here.)
A similar analysis examines workers in arts leadership occupations in Canada, There are more than 56,000 Canadian workers in five occupation groups, which include individual occupations such as producers, directors, choreographers, conductors, composers, curators, conservators, and arts and heritage managers. 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.
The broadest analysis relates to the 914,000 workers in arts, culture, and heritage occupations, representing 4.4% of all Canadian workers. 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).
Over 18,000 professional artists in Alberta
The 18,100 artists in Alberta represent 0.7% of the 2.4 million workers in the province, which is below the national average (1.0%). In Alberta, one in every 134 workers is an artist.
Alberta is home to 9% of all artists in Canada, below the province’s share of the overall labour force (12%).
Artists in Alberta had comparatively low incomes in 2020
Three measurements of artists’ incomes are provided here: employment income, personal income, and household income. Employment income shows the work-related earnings of artists; personal income includes all sources of income (including pandemic supports); and household income provides a measure of the family situation of artists.
For all three measurements, the median income is highlighted. The median provides 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.
It should be kept in mind that the income statistics from the 2021 census relate to the 2020 calendar year, which included many pandemic related health measures, including gathering restrictions, and significant slowdowns in artistic activity.
The median employment income of Alberta artists was $10,700 in 2020, which is about one-quarter of the median employment income of all Alberta workers ($45,200). The median employment income of artists in the province is slightly below the median of all Canadian artists ($11,700).
The median personal income of Alberta artists (from all sources) was $28,000 in 2020, 47% below that of all Alberta workers ($53,200) and 7% below the median of all Canadian artists ($30,200). The 47% difference between artists and other workers in Alberta is the largest gap among the provinces and above the national average of 39%. The graph below depicts the differences in the median personal incomes of artists and all workers in Alberta and Canada.
In 2020, the median household income of artists was $100,000, 21% lower than that of all workers in Alberta ($126,000) but higher than the median of all Canadian artists ($93,000).
Demographic and employment characteristics of Alberta’s artists
Among artists in Alberta:
62% are women (including some transgender and non-binary people), higher than the proportions of all Alberta workers (47%) and all Canadian artists (54%). The percentage in Alberta is second highest among the provinces, behind only Saskatchewan (65%).
72% are self-employed, nearly five times higher than the percentage of all Alberta workers (16%) and slightly higher than that of all Canadian artists (68%).
About two-thirds (65%) reside in the cities of Edmonton and Calgary.
11% reside in rural areas, 9% reside in areas with populations under 30,000 (but which are not considered rural), and another 11% reside in areas with populations between 30,000 and 100,000. Combined, areas with less than 100,000 residents account for nearly one-third of Alberta’s artists (31%).
40% have a bachelor’s degree or higher, above the percentage of all Alberta workers (30%) but below that of all Canadian artists (45%).
35% have a child at home, lower than the percentage of all Alberta workers (42%) but higher than that of all Canadian artists (31%).
26% are 55 years of age or older, somewhat higher than the proportion of all Alberta workers (23%) but somewhat lower than that of all Canadian artists (28%).
6% are Indigenous, equal to the proportion of all Alberta workers (6%) and higher than that of all Canadian artists (4%).
17% are members of racialized groups, below the percentage of all Alberta workers (27%) but close to that of all Canadian artists (19%).
18% are immigrants to Canada, lower than the percentages of all Alberta workers (27%) and all Canadian artists (21%).
3.4% are French speakers (i.e., official language minority), similar to the percentage of all Alberta workers (2.9%) but lower than official language minority speakers’ proportion of all Canadian artists (11%).
For the first time, the 2021 census collected information on transgender and non-binary residents. For artists, this information is only available for the three Prairie provinces as a group. On the Prairies, there are about 110 transgender and 260 non-binary artists. Combined, trans and non-binary artists represent 1.4% of all artists on the Prairies, similar to the national average of 1.2%. (More information about the strengths and limitations of these gender statistics is available here.)
Note about estimates related to Indigenous Peoples: Census data are less complete for Indigenous Peoples than many other groups. Some Alberta reserves and settlements did not allow census enumeration on their territories. Statistics Canada estimates that 37% of Alberta’s on-reserve Indigenous population did not respond to the long-form census. As a result, the number of Indigenous artists (and other Indigenous workers) may be underestimated.
Alberta artists by occupation and industry
Alberta’s 18,100 professional artists include a range of occupations:
3,800 musicians (21% of all artists in the province)
2,600 photographers (15%)
2,300 artisans & craftspeople (13%)
2,100 painters, sculptors & other visual artists (12%)
2,100 writers (12%)
1,800 producers, directors, choreographers & related occupations (10%)
1,400 dancers (8%)
1,100 actors, comedians & circus performers (6%)
670 other performers (4%)
240 conductors, composers & arrangers (1%)
For artists in the province, the largest industry sector is arts, entertainment, and recreation, which employs three in every ten artists (30%). Within this sector, the largest number of artists work in the “independent artists, writers, and performers” group (20% of Alberta artists), followed by those who work directly in performing arts companies (8%).
The next-largest broad sectors are educational services (where 23% of Alberta artists are employed) and information and cultural industries (11%). Other artists work across the economy: all other industries (excluding the three largest ones) employ 36% of artists. The proportion of artists who work mostly in educational services (23%) is quite high, similar to the other Prairie provinces (27% in Saskatchewan and 24% in Manitoba).
3,600 arts leaders in the province
About 3,600 Albertans work in five occupation groups that are classified as arts leaders. One-half of the province’s arts leaders are in the broad grouping of producers, directors, and choreographers:
Producers, directors, choreographers & related occupations: 1,800 (51% of the arts leaders in the province)
Managers in publishing, motion pictures, broadcasting & performing arts: 700 (19%)
Library, archive, museum & art gallery managers: 630 (18%)
Conductors, composers & arrangers: 240 (7%)
Conservators & curators: 210 (6%)
Alberta accounts for 6% of Canada’s arts leaders, one-half of the province’s share of all Canadian workers (12%).
Over 80,000 cultural workers in Alberta
The 80,600 workers in arts, culture, and heritage occupations in Alberta represent 3.3% of the province’s overall labour force, below the national average of 4.4%. One in every 30 workers in the province has a cultural occupation.
Alberta’s cultural workers account for 9% of all such workers in Canada, lower than the province’s share of the overall labour force (12%).
In 2020, a typical cultural worker in Alberta had:
Employment income of $37,600, 17% less than all Alberta workers ($45,200)
Total personal income of $46,000, 14% less than all workers in the province ($53,200). As was the case with artists, the 14% difference between cultural workers and other workers in Alberta is the largest gap among the provinces and is more than double the 6% gap nationwide.
Household income of $118,000, 6% less than all workers ($126,000)
Methods
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 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. 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 arts leadership occupations and all cultural occupations.)
The occupational perspective 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 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.