Rewarding creativity

June 3, 2023

I wish I could make a claim on the creativity embedded in Moana Moa but all I can claim is the commissioning. The creativity was solely the realm of our friend Nige, erstwhile builder, now metal sculptor. I have wanted a moa for the garden for a considerable length of time. GWD Motors in Frankton had a moa I eyed up. It disappeared recently but that wasn't me – I finally didn't need to steal their moa because we are getting our very own.

It's hard for creatives to make a living in New Zealand, or anywhere. Creativity is more about vocation than income, as I wrote about in Creating Connections – noting that science gets about ten times as much government funding as do creative arts. This differential was reinforced by a conversation with my songwriting tutor. I was talking about a primary production funding application I'm working on, which is seeking $8 million from government. "That's the total of the annual pool of government funding I can compete for," she said. In the same vein, the fund that supports authors is supposedly open on an ongoing basis year round, except it's capped at 350 applications a year. This year, it took 24 hours for them to get 350 applications; last year it was 8 days. And here's the average income for different branches of creative arts.

These incomes compare with an average income for New Zealanders of $61,800 a year and the average salary of a research scientist being $83,000. The only creative grouping making more than the national average are video game developers. One could argue that creative endeavour sits at the top of Maslow's pyramid of needs i.e. is not as necessary to society so isn't rewarded well. However, caregivers don't get paid well and their role sits at the bottom of the pyramid. While celebrities get paid vast amounts of money; I'm not sure whether celebrities have a place in the pyramid.

I did a search for reasons creatives are paid low wages on average (noting there are small numbers of extremely highly paid creatives). Possible reasons include:

Supply and demand: there are large numbers of creative artists.
Perceived value: people don't attribute high value to creative works.
Exploitation of passion: a Duke University study found that people get paid less if it is perceived they are passionate about their job! That's tricky – care less about your work and you will earn more?
Reliance of creative artists on intermediaries who take a cut, leaving little for the artist (publishers, music streaming services, art galleries).
Lack of financial literacy/business sense: this is likely an important issue. People who are focused on making money have a head start in the money making business.
Lack of direct relationship to making other people money: related to the point above, if your work is directly linked to making money, it's easier to charge higher rates. I have certainly found this, as helping people get research funding is very directly linked to them making money.

In the end, it's impossible to pull apart the many reasons creative artists are generally not wellpaid. However, Nige and we are equally happy about Moana Moa and I look forward to providing pictures of her on-site at pa harakeke.

In 1993 Paddy Freaney claimed to have seen a moa near Arthurs Pass. It was suggested that Freaney might have been keen on publicity for his recently built pub. It was also reported that Freaney had a bet on with a mate as to who could feature on the front page of The Press first.

What, no arms? (Deinocheirus, Tyrannosaurus, Therizinosaurus, Moa)

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