The recent collapse of the global art market has piled yet more pressure on US artists, leaving many struggling to get by.
International art sales fell by 12% last year, marking the steepest drop in decades besides the 2009 recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. While sales in the US, the world’s biggest market, fell by a more reserved 9%, the drop comes after several recent yearly contractions.
In response, some advocates have called for the government to support the industry — which accounted for around 1% of the US workforce in the latest census — with hundreds of thousands losing their jobs in recent years. US policy is failing to “offer artists stability or protection,” an expert argued in The Conversation.
