Artists and the creative class: The need for new perspectives

In order to identify artists' distinct contributions to economic development, I delineate artists as a separate population of the creative class by comparing Richard Florida's parameters of the creative class with those of artists. Because of the decline of public funding for individual artists, many must work secondary occupations in order to make ends meet. Artists' unique creative skills---independently fostered by their participation in artistic activities---benefit other industries through them working secondary occupations in these industries. These jobs fall in many different industries (i.e. administration, teaching, etc.), but this paper focuses on the restaurant/bar and high-tech industries in particular. Recognizing both the distinct characteristics of artists' employment patterns and the contributions artists make to areas other than the art-world will hopefully help present artists as an occupational group worth recognizing, and furthermore, abolish a common paradox of valuing art but not the producers of it.