Status of Artists in KC
CSF and the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City commissioned a new study – The Status of Artists in Kansas City by Michael Frisch and Darren Bohrer- as part of the KC Artist LINC program to examine the demographic and household conditions of artists in Kansas City in order to better understand the relative state of artists’ living and working conditions in the metropolitan area. Using data from the 1990 and 2000 US Census and other sources, the study confirms that Kansas City has become a midcontinent center for artists, where artists have the opportunity to raise families, buy houses and participate as fully-invested members of the community to a degree that they may not be able to elsewhere.
More than 6,000 artists live in the KC metro region, with a combined household income of over $400 million dollars; more than 5,000 are employed in multiple disciplines and by multiple sectors of the local economy. In addition to the highest concentration of visual artists of any major city between the coasts, there are significant concentrations of artists working in other disciplines, including musicians, composers, actors and performers, writers and authors, photographers, and film and multi-media workers. Arts-related occupations such as architecture and design are also well represented in Kansas City.
