Abstract

The report presents results and findings of the first survey on visual artists in Greece, conducted in collaboration with the Metropolitan Organization of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki (MOMus). It includes five broad sections: demographics and social origin, education (both artistic and non-artistic), occupational and professional profiles, working conditions, and living conditions. It also includes several questions regarding artists' representations and attitudes (e.g., degree of satisfaction, optimism, etc.).

The survey involved 591 artists (38% men, 62% women), whose age ranges from 32 to 57 years. Setting the confidence interval at 95%, the margin of error is calculated at ±3,82%. This sample represents all stages on the trajectory of the social and working life of the visual artists. The questionnaire covers all dimensions of the working and living conditions, adopting and adapting appropriately the methods applied to similar surveys conducted in other developed countries and by international organizations and the EUROSTAT.

The findings are in line with research results in other developed countries as they show that visual artists belong to the less favored and more vulnerable social strata. They work under particularly unfavorable conditions and have remarkably low income, even though they are highly educated, specialized, and skilled. Most visual artists hold more than one higher education degree and they also are particularly polyglots. This research shows that the institutionalization and the protection of the labor and the work of visual artists need substantial revision and upgrading.