Artists without subsidies

This thesis is about what visual artists in the Netherlands would do when the subsidies that are directly beneficial to artists would be gradually phased out from now on, and in five years will not exists anymore at all. The exact research question is as following: ‘What are the expectations of visual artists about which behavioral changes they would make when they will no longer be able to make use of any subsidies from the government or subsidized foundations in a near future?’ Sub questions that will be answered are as following: ‘Which visual artists make what changes?’, ‘What are the changes that the visual artists are going to make when subsidies were to be abolished in a hypothetical situation?’ and ‘What do visual artists expect that would happen with visual artists in general, art in general en the competition amongst visual artists when subsidies were to be abolished?’ The research strategy that was used is mainly quantitative. The main source for data collection in this thesis is through performing an online survey, which was filled in by 293 visual artists. Although most of the respondents at first thought that nothing would change for them when subsidies were to be abolished, it later on appeared from the statements on which respondents have given their opinion, that some things for them would change after all. Especially the 191 subsidy-artists (the artists who either receive subsidies now, have received them in the past or will apply for them in the near future) expect that they will have to make some behavioral changes when subsidies were to be abolished. The 86 non-subsidy-artists (the artists who do not receive subsidies now, nor received them in the past or will apply for them in the future) expect to have to make far less changes when it comes to their behavior when subsidies were to be abolished. The behavioral changes that are going to be made most certainly when subsidies were to be abolished, according to the respondents’ expectations, are that the respondents are going to work more in their second jobs; that they will be able to spend less time on their artistic profession; that they are going to live of selling personal assets, savings, or moderate their life style; and that they are going to undertake action to preserve subsidies, like joining a union or protest. Generally, it appears that the respondents when it comes to their own artistic practice, expect that less things would change when subsides were to be abolished than when it is about the consequences of the abolishment of subsidies for other artists or other art than their own art. Apart from artists’ expectations about the future without subsidies this thesis is also about artists’ finances.