AUTHOR: Alisha TITLE: A Shrinking Arts Market? DATE: 9/19/2005 04:43:00 AM ----- BODY:

As I look around right now, I know more artists and craftspeople that are trying to turn art making and selling into their full time career. Does this sound like anyone you know? At the same time, when I look around I also see more graduate arts administration, masters of arts in business, and master of fine arts programs then ever before. And according to my view, this mass of education and effort isn’t quite matched by sales figures, job options, or a widening art market. Sure, all outward appearances LOOK great, but the art market appears to be narrowing. Is this due to a lack of art buying confidence? Is this the result of a bigger economic picture? Or, is this the result of having more buying options than ever before? A recent RAND study, while focusing on nonprofit arts and the fine art world, does still speak to the bigger picture artists and craftspeople work within today. The study offers several of the shallower pool in which we frequently find ourselves standing today. Click here to read a brief report on this research which, to quote them, “suggests that the visual arts picture isn’t as rosy as it first appears” and that the report tells “a story of rapid, even seismic change, systemic imbalances, and dislocation.” Hmm… not particularly encouraging. But, fact IS a far easier platform to plan and act from than the theories, wild guesses, and reactive disappointment we typically arm ourselves with.

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