What is a Professional Artist?

Following are some of the definitions relating to artists and professionalism that have been adopted. The term ‘artist’ in these definitions is not necessarily exclusive of the other forms of practice, i.e. under some uses they also include musicians, dancers etc.

NAVA

NAVA uses the following combination of characteristics as a way of determining a professional artist for eligibility for its grant and Professional Membership programs (no single indicator is determinative):

The applicant is:

• seeking to build a reputation as a professional artist
• making regular attempts to bring his/her work to the public or relevant market
• having regular public exhibitions of his/her art work
• offering work for sale, or selling art work
• having work acquired for public or private collections
• securing work, commissions or consultancies on the basis of his/her professional expertise
• undertaking arts projects
• securing residencies, teaching, lecturing or giving public talks
• eligible to apply for or has been awarded government grants
• seeking philanthropic patronage or sponsorship
• carrying out work in a businesslike manner (e.g. keeping financial records, having formal written contracts or agreements, having a written business plan)
• regularly participating in activities designed to promote his/her work including establishing a website and other marketing activities
• achieving industry or peer recognition through published works, critical texts or media profile
• building industry contacts
• renting, leasing or owning space dedicated for art purpose
• professionally qualified or has equivalent experience typical of others in the industry
• a member of a professional association or union (like NAVA)

NAVA also worked with the Australian Tax Office on a definition for tax purposes. See The Australian Tax Office and Professionalism.

Australia Council

The Australia Council commissioned a series of surveys looking at professional issues relating to Australian artists in all art fields. The definition used for Don’t Give Up Your Day Job, the most recent report in the series, looked at a number of factors relating to ‘professionalism’.

“..this survey, like its predecessors, is concerned with serious, practising professional artists. The seriousness is judged in terms of a self-assessed commitment to artistic work as a major aspect of the artist’s working life, even if arts-related work is not the main source of income. The practising aspect means that we confine our attention to artists currently working or seeking to work in their chosen occupation. The term professional is intended to indicate a degree of training, experience or talent and a manner of working that qualify artists to have their work judged against the highest professional standards of the relevant occupation.”

Arts NSW

The following definition from Arts NSW (website May 2006) is provided as an indication of the type of definition a state government agency might apply.

“ The definition of 'professional artist' is deliberately broad to take into account factors such as:

• artists from diverse cultural backgrounds whose artistic or cultural knowledge has been developed through oral traditions
- professional artists who are self-taught- artists of professional calibre who must work outside the arts to generate income.A professional artist:

• identifies him/herself as such on the basis of skill or experience
- is accepted by peers or the arts industry as a professional and may or may not earn income from artwork.”

UNESCO

The definition adopted at the 1980 UNESCO international conference on the status of the artist is: “Any person who creates or gives expression to, or recreates works of art, who considers his artistic creation to be an essential part of his life, who contributes in this way to the development of art and culture and who is or asks to be recognised as an artist, whether or not he is bound by any relations of employment or association.”

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

The ABS doesn’t currently (as at May 2006) have a definition of a professional artist, however, for the paper Arts and Cultural Heritage in Australia. Key Issues for an Information Development Plan, released for discussion in 2006, it used the following to describe ‘creative participants’: “Professional creative participants are broadly defined as creative participants who have a serious commitment to their arts practice and consider it a major aspect of their working life, regardless of their income or employment status.”

The Australian Tax Office and Professionalism

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) differentiates between professional artists and ‘hobbyists’. In its Taxation Ruling Income tax: carrying on a business as a professional artist (TR2005/1) the ATO lists a number of business indicators which it uses to determine whether an artist is running a business as a professional.

To access the Taxation Ruling Income tax: carrying on a business as a professional artist (TR2005/1) go here.