#SitForAnArtist champions sector recovery

Without a COVID-safe environment, our entire generation of visual artists could be in peril.

In the recent Pulse Survey conducted by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA), nearly 40% of artists reported a significant drop in art working hours as a result of the current battle against Delta in Australia. Out of the 1,224 artists and arts workers surveyed, an alarming 81% earned less than $25,000 for the 2020–21 financial year.

’One of the narratives that isn’t very well seen is that lockdowns don’t just affect the artists living in that area,’ NAVA Co-Director Mimi Crowe told ArtsHub. ’Such significant periods of lockdown in Melbourne and New South Wales has impacted artists across the country … art exhibitions and tours are very cross border experiences.’

Unlock Padlock Icon

Unlock this content?

Access this content and more

Celina Lei is an arts writer and editor at ArtsHub. She acquired her M.A in Art, Law and Business in New York with a B.A. in Art History and Philosophy from the University of Melbourne. She has previously worked across global art hubs in Beijing, Hong Kong and New York in both the commercial art sector and art criticism. She took part in drafting NAVA’s revised Code of Practice - Art Fairs and was the project manager of ArtsHub’s diverse writers initiative, Amplify Collective. Celina is based in Naarm/Melbourne.