In the arts in Australia, precarious employment, unpaid work and short-lived careers are the norm.
Many artists and arts workers have ‘portfolio careers‘, piecing together a mixture of jobs while competing for limited funding and career opportunities in the arts.
COVID-19 shone a glaring spotlight on this precarity, exposing the lack of permanent jobs in the sector. Some 81% of artists work as freelancers or on a self-employed basis, without access to sick leave or other entitlements many Australians take for granted.
