Centre the artist by paying them

Too many artists spend more time applying for funding than making art. With short-term contracts, inconsistent income, and rising living costs, it’s nearly impossible to build a sustainable career. This isn’t just a workforce issue, it’s a cultural one.

As the Visual Arts Work report makes clear, artists face systemic barriers to stable incomes. More than 80% earn less than $25,000 a year from their practice, and most rely on second jobs, unpaid work, and insecure project-based funding just to keep working.

Every time a government-funded gallery mounts an exhibition, a council commissions a mural, or a festival programs a visual artist, there is an opportunity to set the standard for how artists are valued in Australia. And yet, too often, these opportunities fall short.

Despite federal government endorsement and widespread adoption of artist payment guidelines in NAVA's Code of Practice for Visual Arts, Craft and Design (the Code), too many publicly funded projects still underpay, delay, or completely overlook artist fees. Voluntary compliance is not enough. When public funding does not explicitly require artist payment in line with recognised standards, the result is confusion, inconsistency, and a cycle of undervaluation that erodes the sector.

Public funding should not support work that fails to pay the very people who make it possible. Artists’ contributions are not optional. Payment must be required and budgeted from the outset.

NAVA calls for a simple but essential reform: make the payment of artists’ fees a condition of all public funding, aligned with the Code. This reform would deliver immediate change across the sector and give artists confidence that their time, skill, and contribution will be recognised in every publicly funded project.

While grants remain vital, artists cannot plan or grow when funding cycles are short, competitive, and unpredictable. The Visual Arts Work report finds that project-based funding alone ‘reinforces precarious working conditions and limits artists’ ability to take creative risks or invest in their long-term development.’

We need a scalable model for supporting artists that combines the stability of a basic income with deeper investment through expanded fellowships. The Irish Basic Income for the Arts pilot provided weekly payments to 2,000 artists and creative workers, including over 700 visual artists. It proved what many have long argued, that regular income support allows artists to focus, develop, and contribute without constantly chasing funding.

At the same time, targeted fellowships remain essential for enabling ambitious, high-impact work, but the current scale is vastly inadequate. Creative Australia’s 2024–25 Fellowships supported just ten artists in total across all artforms. This is not a pipeline; it’s a bottleneck.

A hybrid model would include:

• A basic income stream supporting a broad cohort of artists through modest but consistent income to reduce precarity.
• A dramatically scaled-up fellowship program supporting hundreds of mid-career with multi-year funding to pursue sustained creative development, major projects, and public engagement.

Mid-career artists, often at greatest risk of leaving the sector, would benefit most from sustained support. A three-year model allows time to take creative risks, develop ambitious work, and maintain momentum in their practice. These reforms go beyond income. They are about creating the conditions for meaningful, future-focused work. Artists need time to experiment, research, and contribute without being stretched to the brink.

These proposals directly respond to Pillar Three of Revive: Centrality of the Artist. If artists are truly at the centre of cultural policy, their labour must be paid. Not just in principle, but through enforceable standards backed by appropriate public investment. Revive must be funded to meet the industry standards it promotes.

The first phase of Revive laid a strong foundation. The next phase must deliver the structural support artists need to thrive. NAVA urges the Australian Government to make artist-centred funding a priority in the next phase of Revive. A hybrid model of living wages and fellowships is scalable, measurable, and achievable. This is the kind of targeted policy action that will sustain artists’ futures.