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Deciding how much you want to earn

If you ask anyone how much they want to earn the almost invariable answer is "lots", or something like that. The reality is that most of us never will earn "lots" and so a sense of realism is needed about how much you actually hope to earn.

That realism has to be based on three things:

• what other people doing the same sort of work earn;
• what similarly qualified people in different, but not entirely dissimilar, jobs earn;
• your own experience and flair.

The first two of these measures are reasonably objective; the third can only be assessed individually. That, however, does not mean you should dismiss its importance. It is also important for you to consult others about it, especially if you doubt what experience and flair you have, as is common amongst very many talented people. But little more can be said about it here.

As [a-n] have discovered, comparison of the rates that artist's earn is a thankless task. This makes the first option difficult. As a result the second option might well be better as the basis for assessment of what to expect to earn. There are in fact several strong and logical arguments to support this view:

• artists have traditionally been undervalued, so to make comparison with historic payments to them might just be to continue a trend of underpayment;
• most people who employ artists do not know an artist's worth and so will need to use other measures to help them form an opinion.

Perhaps the most obvious comparison to be made is with teachers. Again, there are strong logical reasons:

• teachers are usually graduates, and many will have an additional qualification as well, making the training period 4 years, similar to that of many artists;
• most teachers are employed by local authorities, and many artists will also be engaged by such authorities;
• artists are sometimes engaged to undertake work similar to that of teachers e.g. leading workshops;
• many of the management skills required by an artist are similar to those used by a teacher.

a-n The artists Information Company has found that at present teachers are paid the following approximate sums:

• starting salary (outside London) £18,500;
• average salary for an established teacher (outside London) £30,250.

An average teacher has probably had at least ten years service, after which automatic annual promotions tend to cease. Until then they are worth approximately £1,000 a year. London weighting tends to be worth not much more than £1,000 a year.

Interpreted for an artist this might mean, having rounded things to the nearest thousand pounds that:

• a newly qualified artist, straight out of college should aim to make £19,000 a year;
• an artist ten years out of college should hope to make £30,000 a year;
• you should add about £1,100 a year for extra experience in between these times;
• after you have worked for about ten years increased earnings have to be justified by personal additional experience and flair, although this option is always available at any time earlier than that if it can be justified;

if you are working in an expensive, and probably urban area, it is justified to increase your target earnings to allow for this fact by more than £1,000 a year.

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© 2004 Text: Richard Murphy; iTool: a-n The Artists Information Company  Email support