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 OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts