2024 Demographic Profile of Calgary’s Arts Sector
In the summer of 2024, Calgary Arts Development conducted a demographic survey of Calgary’s arts sector, focusing on the 197 not-for-profit arts organizations that receive annual operating funding from Calgary Arts Development. This survey served as an update to the 2021 Demographic Profile of Calgary’s Arts Sector and the 2017 Equity, Diversity and Inclusion survey, aiming to provide current and detailed data essential for creating a comprehensive demographic profile of Calgary’s arts community.
The 2024 survey was administered by Calgary Arts Development in partnership with SMU DataArts. The involvement of SMU DataArts ensures participant anonymity and data security while offering organizations new tools and resources to assist with survey completion and potential result reporting.
A total of 4,316 individuals completed the survey, marking a six per cent decrease from the 4,595 submissions recorded in 2021. The decrease is attributed to a change in methodology, where most volunteers are no longer asked to complete the survey.
In previous years, general volunteers were also included. For this report, only volunteers doing work that might otherwise be carried out by a paid staff member were asked to complete the survey.
Key Findings
The arts sector continues to fall behind when it comes to racial diversity. While representation of visible minorities in the arts (26%) has improved from past years, it is still significantly lower than the overall number of visible minorities in Calgary (41% in 2021). Those within Calgary’s arts sector who identify as a visible minority also continue to be less likely to hold senior management positions or earn above $50,000 per year compared to those who identify as white.
Indigenous representation within the arts remains equivalent to the overall city population. While Indigenous individuals still make up a very small portion of the sector, more Indigenous arts workers are occupying positions of higher seniority than in the past. Still, those who identify as Indigenous remain less likely to earn above $50,000 per year than those who identify as white.
Relative to the national population, representation of 2SLGBTQ+ individuals within Calgary’s arts sector is high. Though we are still unable to make comparisons at the civic level, 30 per cent of those employed in the arts identify as 2SLGBTQ+, compared to 4.4 per cent of Canadians over the age of 15 in 2021.
Gender identity continues to have an impact on the ability to grow a career in the arts. Despite making up almost twice as much of the sector, women remain less likely than men to earn over $50,000 per year, and less likely to hold positions in senior management. Non-binary individuals are far less likely than both men or women to earn above $50,000 annually, though they make up a much smaller percentage of arts workers.
Income earned from the arts remains lower than other industries. A much higher number of respondents in 2024 did not disclose their income compared to previous years. However, results from this and other surveys conducted by Calgary Arts Development indicate that, while incomes for arts workers are slowly rising, they remain lower than what is earned by the average Calgarian. Due to these low wages, it can be hard to rely on the arts to earn a sufficient living; a smaller number of respondents in 2024 reported earning the majority of their income from arts work.
Representation for minority groups in the arts is improving. Relative to 2021, more individuals employed in the sector identify as a visible minority, non-binary or gender non-conforming, 2SLGBTQ+ or disabled. There is also a high degree of intersectionality between these underrepresented groups.
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