As we continue to report on the dire impact that COVID-19 has had on the arts and cultural sector, one question that frequently comes up at Americans for the Arts is: What can be done to prevent this from ever happening again? I won’t attempt to tackle that question in this blog post, but I will be discussing some of the lived experiences of artists and creative workers that emphasize the need for building an infrastructure where artists and creative workers can thrive. Our survey findings shed light on the hardships that artists and creative workers are facing. It’s important to note, however, that many of these conditions have existed long prior to the pandemic. We must work to dismantle the systems that have allowed these conditions to continue and rebuild anew to create a better future for artists and creative workers in this country.

It’s been almost a year since the coronavirus put the U.S. arts and culture sector in lockdown. At Americans for the Arts, we spent the last year surveying artists and arts organizations across the country. There can be no doubt that artists are suffering financially due to the coronavirus pandemic. Disabled and BIPOC artists especially are feeling the strain. While weekly research updates are available on our website, this new blog series on the impact of COVID-19 on intentionally marginalized artists and creative workers does a deeper dive into the data that we’ve collected from April 2020 through now. The results are clear: artists in the United States are hurting, and those who are intentionally marginalized have been hit harder, likely because of inequities that have long existed prior to the pandemic. 

I grew up in a musical family—my dad is a children’s performer and songwriter—and the arts have been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember. When I had the opportunity to make a documentary for a C-SPAN education competition, it was natural for me to choose the arts as a topic. I hadn’t realized the impact COVID-19 had on our creative economy until I started listening to the stories of many local artists and creative workers. I interviewed a storyteller, a classical violist, a musical arranger, a vinyl record store owner, and several arts administrators, including Americans for the Arts’ very own Randy Cohen. What I saw right away was a common understanding that the lives of artists have been devastated by the pandemic. Gigs were cancelled, museums closed, incomes lost, and the future remained uncertain for our creative industry. At the end of the day, musicians and creative people need to have the necessary economic, social, and personal well-being incentives to rebound from the pandemic and to live. The arts bring value to society and we must focus on our artisans during these trying times.

Americans are stressed—the COVID-19 pandemic, racial injustice, polarizing politics, remote learning for students, unemployment, a fragile economy—so it is no surprise that mental health issues are spiking across the country. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that one-third of the population is showing signs of anxiety or depression—a tripling over just the previous year. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that nearly half of Americans believe the pandemic is harming their mental health. As community leaders seek to maintain the wellness and mental health of their residents amidst challenged budgets, new research shows the arts are an effective resource in reducing depression and anxiety and increasing life satisfaction—improving both quality of care and the financial bottom line. The arts are a proven contributor in keeping us mentally healthy, helping us heal when we are not well, and reducing healthcare costs. The NEA as well as local and state arts agencies support arts programs that address a vast array of mental health and personal well-being issues. With those benefits, it is no wonder that 73% of Americans favor government funding for arts in healthcare programs and 68% of Americans agree that the arts improve health and the healthcare experience.

On Inauguration Day, we witnessed an explosion of arts, culture, and creativity in Washington, DC. Arts and culture were the backbone of the entire day—they carried the symbols of a broken country knitting itself back together, they celebrated our history and articulated visions of our shared future, they consolidated in striking images and economical language the whole complex ethos of a new presidential administration dedicated to unity, hope, and an American Renaissance. It was an inspiring thing to see, and hopefully bodes well for the position, and support of, arts, culture and the creative economy in the Biden/Harris Administration. In the days and weeks to come, President Biden will step into complex negotiations to build and then pass first the American Rescue Plan, a $2 trillion relief package, and then a subsequent large-scale workforce and infrastructure recovery bill—and this is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to how much, and in what ways, the new administration thinks about the centrality of arts, culture, and the creative economy. There can be no national recovery, no American Rescue, without the creative economy, and the 5.1 million creative workers who make it up. 

2020 reinforced just how much we depend on data and storytelling to drive conversation, make decisions, and take action. Throughout 2020, Americans for the Arts collected data and stories from over 20,000 artists and creative workers across the country whose personal and professional lives were upended by the coronavirus pandemic. What we've found has been sobering, such as 95 percent have experienced a loss of income and over 60 percent are unemployed. Though the crisis rages on, it is important to reflect on how artists and creative workers fared in 2020, and especially emphasize the experiences of those who are and have been intentionally marginalized. Over the next few months, I will share research highlights in a blog series called The Impact of COVID-19 on Intentionally Marginalized Artists and Creative Workers.