The University of the Arts London Report 'Who Gets To Be An Artist?' published on 20th October 2025, was produced with Artquest and looks at who gets to be an artist in the UK today, using survey data from their ongoing Applied data partnership to consider whether access to a career in this vital industry is equitable and accessible.
It finds that nearly a third of respondents had taken on more debt in the last year, nearly 15% had accessed a foodbank to support themselves and almost 40% of respondents had accessed emergency mental health support.
In addition, a majority of respondents (58%) had dipped into savings to support themselves - not including the 15% that had none to dip into. More shockingly, nearly a third of respondents had taken on more debt in the last year just to continue being an artist.
Just over a quarter of respondents said that over the past year, they had had to supplement their artistic work with additional employment for the first time.
To address these issues and support artists, UAL is calling on the government to:
Expand access to creative education at all levels, ensuring people from all different backgrounds can gain the skills for a career in the arts.
Address the precarity and turbulence faced by self-employed artists and creative freelancers more broadly, and
Work in partnership with the creative industries and creative education sector to champion the value of creativity to the UK and deliver on the Sector Plan’s ambitions
The full report is available on the UAL website.
