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A lot of the artists I know have part time or full time jobs or freelance. Generally, if you're in the arts then you have some kind of technical proficiency for something such as UI design, some basic webwork, welding, carpentry, autocad, 3D modeling, running CNCs, laser cutters, creative suite, etc.
A lot of those jobs are quasi-creative careers in their own right and difficult to get as "day jobs" in New York anymore. Employers don't want to hire someone who they know is going to run off the minute s/he gets a commission, etc.
I moved here in 1989 to be a musician. Made minimum wage in the early 90s in my day job. I remember cheese being a luxury...the regular supermarket brick of low end cheddar. I made enough money to pay for a 200$ a month room in Washington Heights, rice and beans, Olde English 40s and band rehearsal space rent. Sometimes I had to walk to work, or knot broken guitar strings back together. I was happy, but I didn't take cabs anywhere or ever eat in restaurants or go to movies. We didn't have the internet back then. You actually had to go out and interact with other humanoids, or call people on the phone, or stare at the walls, or whatever. That's what really amazes me now...that people got along without being constantly jacked into the net.
So that's how we did it back in the day. I have no idea how starving artistes survive in this post Bloomberg city now.
Several relatives are NYC artists; I know them and meet their many friends. Dayjobs differ, depending on the type of art.
Theater performing artists favor interactive day-jobs in late afternoon, for example: Afterschool teacher in public schools, foreign language tutor, or pre-K/childcare if they're early risers. To the best of their ability, they keep weeknights and weekends available to audition, rehearse and perform on schedules determined by others. Theater is collaborative and they have to be On Time.
A visual artist or writer is freer to set up his own schedule because the art work is done in solitude. Some choose jobs with a physical or social component, such as retail or restaurant work, to balance out all the alone time producing visual art.
Writers may, or may not, want to pick up writing jobs in business or social media/marketing. They're good at it but some feel it's draining or hurts their style for their own writing.
The people I know get by on around $25-30K by putting together day jobs as needed. If they're smart with lots of freelance gigs, they file taxes as a sole independent contractor. They don't exactly starve but they live a very frugal lifestyle, have roommates, eat pasta/rice/veg, cook at home. They eat out with friends at diners or simpler ethnic places with the review marked $ -- not $$ or $$$. They don't shop retail, but share notes on thrift and wholesale.
Nobody takes them seriously their first year in town, because there's a revolving door of artists who come and go after a year in discouragement. If you are still here after a year, then people may pay more attention to you. Some scrape it all through their 20's, but at 30 the decision points change. At 30, depending on how far they've gotten artistically, some take fulltime work in something fairly creative (like a nonprofit arts organization), reducing the time spent producing their own art without leaving it altogether, in order to make room for having a partner and kids. That's what I've observed, anyway.
Last edited by BrightRabbit; 08-17-2014 at 09:36 PM..
The feedback in this thread has been serendipitous. I had forgotten about it and I'm the OP. All I have at this point is an intense interest in what it would be like to live in New York; a great eye for a photograph; a "professional photographer" course under my belt with cityscape as my favorite photographic subject; a pension that automatically increases by 1% annually with no FICA deduction; health insurance; a built-in roommate in the form of a 54-year-old partner with a brand new BS in social work who's in need of full-time employment; a BA in English; a house to either sell or rent out; a sweet little cairn terrier; and my 56th birthday coming up Saturday - oh, and the ability to type about 50 words a minute - and an interest in getting one of those entry-level day jobs described in this thread. Or I might just stay here.
Think you'll find most males found a "sugar daddy".
Leaving aside "Midnight Cowboy", "Breakfast At Tiffany's", and other examples of wealthy women taking on a young guy, it most always comes down to men especially back in the day. While it did happen on balance it was a man's world and there just were not enough women back then wealthy enough to "keep" a guy. Even today being "gay for pay" earns more, much more than a gigolo.
You can go to several websites not to mention scores of personal ones the world over and find no small number of males ranging from good looking to smoking hot (including models, Playgirl models, famous porn stars, etc...) that though straight (in theory at least) advertise for gay male clients. As the man responded about why he robbed banks, that is where to find money.
How do artists get by? They become connoisseurs and sell artwork for Sotheby's, Christies, galleries, etc.
Not true at all. Unless they obtain the proper degrees and backgrounds, forgoing the art making.
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