Artistic careers and crises. How did the pandemic affect Norwegian artists?

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this paper, we ask how the corona pandemic affected a cohort of former art school students. We have compared our findings with other studies of the consequences of the pandemic for Nordic artists. Most of our informants appeared less negatively affected by the pandemic than predicted by previous studies. None of those who responded said that they had left or considered leaving their professions, and none had experienced a disastrous loss of income because of the pandemic. Nevertheless, the pandemic affected the work and income situation of freelance actors and musicians who normally perform for live audiences. All the informants also responded that their workdays had changed substantially, and that the pandemic had negatively affected their well-being. Our qualitative study might contribute in detecting some nuances that were less easily detectable through quantitative surveys, e.g. that the pandemic did not substantially affect freelance actors in film and media.