Posted Tuesday 28 May 2019
It's tough making a living when you're a creative professional in Aotearoa, and most of us can't spend as much time on our creative practice as we'd like! Research released by Creative New Zealand and NZ On Air has found most creative professionals canvassed in a survey relied on other sources of financial support such as another job or a partner's income to survive, and most couldn't dedicate as much time to their art or creative practice as they would like. The median personal annual income for creative professionals in this survey was around $35,800, compared to $51,800 for all New Zealanders earning a wage or salary or $37,900 for self-employed New Zealanders. However, when you take away other sources of income, the median income from creative work is only $15,000. The highest paid creative professions in this survey were video game developers and the lowest paid were dancers. Despite their low earnings, creative professionals are highly committed to their sector - only three percent thought they'd leave the creative industries in the next five years. WIFTNZ has been asked to take a lead on the gender income disparity in the media production sector so expect to hear from us about this in the near future!