51% of indie artists considering a career change, says new report

Theatre Network Australia’s latest survey of independent artists reveals that mid-career artists are more likely than emerging or established artists to be retraining or leaving the industry.
A stylised image of an online survey, depicting an iPad against a blue background. A person's finger has marked a red tick in one box on the tablet.

This Is How We Do It, a new survey of independent performing arts practitioners, has revealed that 51% of them are either actively undertaking a career change or seriously considering doing so.

Theatre Network Australia’s 2022 report, based on responses from 297 people across the country, shows that 19% of respondents are exiting the arts industry altogether, while 32% are undertaking a partial or related career change.

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts