The Nature of Work for Illinois Artists

In 2021, 99,552 Illinois workers were working in the arts and related creative industries - this represents approximately 1.5 percent of the Illinois workforce. 64,063 (64.3 percent) of these workers were working full time (more than 40 hours per week). The concentration of artists and creative workers tends to follow the broader concentration of the state’s workforce, with 85 percent of the state’s artists being located within the Chicago and Northeast regions (Table 1). As a share of the workforce, artists and creative workers are highest represented in the Chicago region - representing 2 percent of the overall workforce.

Table 1: Illinois Artists by Region (2019 and 2021)

Based upon the National Endowment for the Arts’ definitions of which occupations encompass arts and creative work, Designers, Artists, and Architects combined make up 66.3 percent of the Arts and Creative workforce in the state (Table 2). Between 2019 and 2021, the number of individuals working part-time or full-time in these fields has fluctuated substantially. Sone of this variation is likely due to the continued impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic which displaced many individuals from their usual sources of work and income. This is acutely observed in looking at the change in the number of individuals working as dancers and choreographers, musicians, entertainers and performers, photographers, and actors. Conversely, those working as artists increased, likely in part due to displacement or disruption of work in other industries.

Table 2: Artists by Occupation (2019 and 2021)

Despite the volatility observed in some fields, the overall shares of artists and creative workers by occupation remains relatively constant, with a notable gain in shares for producers and directors, artists, and announcers (Figure 3).