The HEartS Professional Model: A conceptual model for arts professionals' work and wellbeing

Abstract

In recent years there has been a surge of research on arts professionals' livelihoods, with particular focus on experiences of work and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, using the HEartS Professional multi-strategy survey, we collected data in three phases in the United Kingdom (UK): initially during the first national lockdown (Phase 1, April–June 2020; Spiro, Perkins et al., 2021), and then annually for two years; Phase 2 (April–May 2021; Spiro, Shaughnessy et al., 2023), and Phase 3 (May–July 2022). In this article, we focus on Phase 3. Our first goal is to explore which factors are important in the context of mental and social wellbeing (measured using the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, the 15-item Social Connectedness Scale-Revised, and the Three-Item Loneliness Scale). Our second goal is to consider how work and wellbeing are associated with job satisfaction. Physical activity, social activity, financial stability, and health are significantly associated with mental and social wellbeing for the 564 professional artists in the UK who responded to our survey, and there are links between mental wellbeing and job satisfaction. As the creative industries emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and tackle ongoing challenges, a longer-term approach in this area is needed: one that allows a more holistic understanding of the contributors to arts professionals' work and wellbeing. Informed by the data collected in Phases 1 to 3, where we see consistent trends, we propose a conceptual model – the HEartS Professional Model – for understanding the drivers that are associated with arts professionals' wellbeing and job satisfaction. Within this model, the variables can be seen as part of wider domains: broad thematic groups including community (including perceived social connection and living situation), healthy living (including self-rated health and physical activity), finance (including financial hardship and household income), and demographics (including gender and age). The HEartS Professional Model has the potential to inform development of support, policy, and infrastructure in the creative industries that are fit for purpose and respond to creative professionals’ needs. Furthermore, it has the potential to be the basis for the long-term tracking and understanding of work, wellbeing, and job-satisfaction in the arts.