Push and Pull Factors Impacting the Career Transitions of Artists and Arts Graduates Beyond the Creative Fields

Although most DataBriefs focus on studies using the SNAAP data itself, periodically we feature summaries of other research relevant to the SNAAP mission. This DataBrief highlights the work of Aisha Motlani and the Illinois Creative Workforce Partnership, who surveyed and interviewed arts alumni and former professional artists from Illinois on various aspects of their career pathways. 

The musician or dancer who juggles one or more ​“day jobs” while struggling to maintain a creative career has long been a fixture in our collective image of what it means to be an artist. Underlying this image is the assumption that this arrangement is spurred by the scarcity of jobs and low pay in many creative industries. 

While these factors may indeed play a significant role in artist career transitions or multiple job holdings, a new report published by the Illinois Creative Workforce Partnership (ICWP) suggests that economic considerations alone do not account for the large proportion of artists who have secondary or even primary non-arts jobs. Using surveys and in-depth interviews, the study reveals that a variety of ​“pull” and ​“push” factors guide the decision of arts graduates or artists to pursue non arts careers. These include alignment between jobs and employee skills and interests, a sense of mission-alignment with employers or companies, and negative experiences of working in the creative industries, such as racial, gender, or social bias. 

During the study period, the researchers surveyed and interviewed 40 artists and arts graduates from 13 different artistic disciplines working in 11 fields outside of the arts, including healthcare, IT, finance, and retail. Because of the ICWP’s focus on the Illinois’s arts ecosystem, participation was restricted to those who either worked or trained in the state. That said, the findings can still contribute to national conversations about how to support and amplify the creative workforce through workforce policies and employment pathways.

Study participants were asked about the factors that drew them to their present non-arts occupation as well as the barriers that were preventing them from working full time in the arts. Their coded responses were used to determine ​“push” and ​“pull factors” and the results of this analysis are shown in Tables 1 and 2. It reveals that while access to higher wages, health insurance, and benefits were among the most cited pull factors, 14 out of 40 participants also cited positive feelings towards their company or employer as a major pull factor. The top cited pull factor was a close alignment between the non-arts job and the participants’ interests of skills. 

Similarly, while wages and lack of access to secure and long-term employment were among the most frequently cited push factors, they were not the only ones. Negative experiences in the creative industries were also widely cited by 22 participants. Furthermore, interviews revealed that the barriers facing artists and arts graduates were exacerbated for some subgroups of this workforce. A fine arts graduate working for a tech company who moved to the U.S. to attend art school stated:

“Hardship is another layer if you’re an immigrant…[Jobs] that offer work visas in the arts are extremely rare. That was another reason that I had to look for work outside of the art field because, just looking at the numbers, it’s almost impossible.” (Fine arts graduate working for a tech innovation hub)

Analysis of the survey and interview data also revealed themes that cut across push and pull factors, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chicago-specific responses, and experiences of inequality and a lack of diversity within the arts. Interview participants said there was not enough attentiveness or support within the creative industries and institutions for neurodivergent, historically minoritized, and low-income artists and arts graduates. For instance, a vocal performance graduate who now works in finance talked about the financial burdens of music career: ​“You pay to sing well into your twenties and early thirties as a musician. When I say pay to sing [I mean] these summer programs are very expensive … I never thought those opportunities were available to me because I couldn’t afford them.” 

Overall, the findings in this report have implications for how we educate, train, employ, and support artists and arts graduates coming from a variety of backgrounds, disciplines, and experiences. It also contributes to our understanding of the factors shaping young people’s career choices, supporting research that has shown that they often place a greater emphasis on mission alignment and are more likely to want to work for organizations that share their values (Lipshits-Braziler et al., 2024; Perna, 2023). Future reports emerging from this data collection effort will explore how artists and arts graduates describe and apply the skills they have gained from their arts training, as well as the opportunities and barriers they have faced when transitioning to careers outside the arts. 

This DataBrief was prepared by Aisha Motlani.

Full Article Citation:

Motlani, A. (2025). Should I stay or should I go?” Factors impacting the career transitions of artists and arts graduates beyond the creative fields. Branching Out Series. Chicago, IL: Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative (IWERC), Discovery Partners Institute (DPI), University of Illinois. https://dpi.uillinois.edu/wp‑c…

References:

1. Lipshits-Braziler, Y., Arieli, S., & Daniel, E. (2024). Personal values and career-related preferences among young adults. Journal of Personality, 93 (2), 378 – 393 https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.1…;
2. Perna, M.C. (2023). Why more young people are exploring jobs that connect to a greater purpose. Forbes Careers. https://www.forbes.com/sites/m… ng-jobs-that-connect-to-a-greater-purpose/