Audit of visual artists in Scotland

An audit of visual artists in Scotland, conducted by the Scottish Arts Council, has concluded that although many artists are low earners, Scottish artists as a whole contributed £4.6m to the economy over the past two years.

While two thirds of artists working in Scotland earn some income from their work, the majority of these only earn £5,000 a year or less. Despite this, 94% of those artists who responded to a survey which set out to examine the range of work produced and the geographical spread of visual artists working in Scotland, had exhibited their work publicly in the last two years. The research report recommends the setting up of a National Collecting Scheme to enable curators to buy more art for public galleries and museums. It also calls for improved training opportunities to support the professional development of artists, and the establishment of an interest free credit facility to support the private purchase of works of art. The summary report, ‘Making their Mark: an audit of visual artists in Scotland’, is available at w: http://www.scottisharts.org.uk