People moving out of jobs on a global scale might sound like the doomsday of economic recovery, but many are actually finding new opportunities among the disruption. What does this mean for the arts sector and how will it affect an already precarious workforce?
BOILING TENSION AND A GLOBAL CRISIS
According to the National Director of Australian Museums and Galleries Association (AMAGA) Katie Russell, ‘the Great Resignation could mean two things: it could mean people will move out of the arts to seek employment opportunities that are more viable beyond the arts, particularly at the leadership level; or there is structural change which requires disruption to manifest.‘
Russell explained that this tension has already been brewing before the pandemic: ‘A lot of people have been advocating in the arts for a long time about diversifying the leadership in our organisations, and breaking down the models that exist.’
Speaking for a performing arts context, Executive Director of Theatre Network Australia (TNA) Nicole Beyer echoed that while there is anecdotal evidence people are leaving their jobs, low salaries and sporadic income has been pressuring arts workers for years.
‘We can’t look at the Great Resignation without looking at remuneration, income and salaries,’ said Beyer. ‘According to our Small to Medium Salary Survey, even at executive roles, our sector is paying at least $20-30,000 less than the equivalent role in other not-for-profit sectors.’
Read: Is ‘Great Resignation’ coming for Aotearoa’s creative sector?
Forecasting for the Great Resignation for 2022, Russell said: ‘I think it will continue into next year as people have been incredibly fatigued by a very different time, and that brings on reflections.
‘It’s not what if [the Great Resignation] occurs or not, it really is about how do we seize on the opportunity that those openings provide for structural change, for enacting diversity, and the organisational changes that everyone really want to see and have been talking about for a long time.’
‘Use the Great Resignation as a chance to enact change.’
Australian Museums and Galleries Association (AMAGA) National Director Katie Russell
Russell added that recent, sometimes sudden, resignations that we have seen across the sector should be celebrated rather than feared. ‘Transparency is really important in these spaces for leadership to say “I’ve done what I can here and I’m moving on to something new.” It’s something to celebrate.
‘More freedom of movement can be inspiring – the arts is not a set path. You’ve got a chance to choose your own adventure in the arts, and hopefully, the opportunities and movement can be a positive thing.’
However, Russell added: ‘It’s not to diminish the fact that precarious work or job loss isn’t a profound trauma for people.
‘It really puts the onus back on the organisations to provide that wellbeing support and ask, more often perhaps than they do now, “What do people need?” and respect those needs.’
TRANSLATING VALUE TO SALARIES
What would it take to bring back hope for the arts workforce? Beyer agrees that structural changes need to take place.
‘Within organisations we need to start valuing people more, we need to have better conditions, we need to be more flexible and COVID showed that we can do that,’ Beyer said.
In describing the attraction of arts jobs, Russell introduced the term ‘vocational awe’ that was originally a critique of the sacrificial career often expected of librarians.
It is best exemplified by Fobazi Ettarh who coined the term in 2018 and wrote: ‘In the face of grand missions of literacy and freedom, advocating for your full lunch break feels petty.’
Russell echoed: ‘People who work in the arts treat it as a calling, some refer to it as putting yourself in service to the arts, and often that can come at the expense of your own wellbeing.’
People being so grateful to be included in the sector is not something to be taken advantage of, said Russell. ‘I think organisations need to shift from that, actually realising that they have a responsibility, not only in terms of the public accessibly and diversity offerings, but also to support their staff in that manner.
‘Rather than saying “Aren’t you fortunate to be in this position” or “Aren’t you lucky to work in the gallery”, it’s more “okay, what are your basic needs in order to be an arts worker?”
Beyer agreed. ‘We need to value the work of artists and arts workers more, and that is reflected in the fees that we pay them. The problem at the moment is that the system basically offers no protections.’
On one level, structures in funding need to help sustain long-term, as opposed to contracted, work. Project-based funding and grants usually means that workers are already considering where their next gig is going to land before the current one ends.
‘In my experience and from that of our members, I’m seeing a lot of people choosing not to wait for the next short term contract at a big institution and looking beyond that to something more long term, something that supports them better, and I’m seeing movement into the regions,’ said Russell.
While emergency grants are welcomed, Beyer said offering very short term and small amounts of money ‘are not strategic investments,’ adding ‘there have to be a shift to things like fellowships that offer long term, multi-year funding, like those offered at the Australian Council and Creative Vic.’
‘It’s not just the funding bodies’ issue, it’s all of us. We all need to recognise the cost of making the art that we want to see and want to have on our stages around Australia.’
Theatre Network Australia (TNA) Executive Director Nicole Beyer
Russell added: ‘What the leadership of AMAGA, but also the sector as a whole, needs to champion is foundational support for the base of arts organisation and stability of work. [Otherwise] it’s not sustainable financially, and it’s not sustainable for mental health.’
DEVELOPMENT, DIVERSITY, AND MENTORING
Russell envisions a more holistic mentorship program that can cater across the sector, connecting emerging professionals with more established ones, and fostering inter-disciplinary communications.
‘Hopefully we’ll see a lot more movement and dynamism in the sector – I think that’s going to come from developing others, not only your own career. That’s the responsibility of leadership, or the leadership organisations, to actually map trajectories and also really think about succession. [Thinking about] what does it mean to cede power and to share knowledge across someone’s career and their trajectory.
‘I’ve never found it threatening if people want to leave the organisation – it’s not about holding, it’s about sharing and sending them out into the wold. I get a vicarious pleasure out of that.’
Similarly, for Beyer it comes down to ‘new models of leadership’.
‘It’s about looking at what structural barriers we’ve put in place for people – sometimes a full-time Artistic Director role might not be what people want to do, they might prefer working half the time in an organisation and the other half as an independent artist.’
Russell added: ‘Don’t forget that people who have experienced in the arts or who are educated in the liberal arts have very adaptable skills.’
‘The arts have so much [talent] to offer, if it’s circular within the arts then society isn’t getting the best of that person as well. So I think people trained in the arts should move beyond the arts, and maybe move out, come back in – careers can be much more fluid.’
Using this opportunity of the Great Resignation to diverse the sector is top on the agenda for both Russell and Beyer.
‘We need different ways of bringing people into our sector,’ said Beyer. ‘Pathways at the moment mean that if you’re more privileged, more gates will be open for you.
‘We need to have much more formalised processes to mentoring people so that it’s not just about people who are like ourselves – it’s about putting people of colour, people with disabilities, First Nations people and so on in substantial professional development that are budgeted for,’ Beyer added.
Russell concluded: ‘In the last five years we’ve seen institutions, museums and galleries developing [things like] disability and inclusion action plans, and roadmap for First Nations agency in the sector. So these are all the plans, [but] does this disruption allow us to actually enact those plans? That’s what I’d love to see.’
‘I don’t think the Great Resignation is going to solve all of the endemic problem in the arts, but I think that there are pockets of hope for the things that we’ve been seeking for so long in the sector.’
