Download The performing arts industry comprises a small segment of the New

–
Performing
Arts
The performing arts industry comprises a small segment of
the New Zealand labour force, but it is nonetheless a complex
industry. The industry makes a significant contribution to
the economic, social and cultural life of our communities.
Customers and participants alike are challenged, moved and
energised through their engagement with this vibrant industry.
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Industry Snapshot
5%
10%
15%
Employment by Age
15–19
20–24
25–29
Performing Arts
30–34
35–39
40–44
45–49
55–59
60–64
65+
Total Economy
Employment by Gender
Economic Contribution
Performing Arts
Male 49.9%
50–54
2,088M
$
Female 50.1%
Total Economy
1.0% of New Zealand’s GDP in 2015
Male 53%
Female 47%
Average Earnings
Demographics of Employees
$100k
$50k
$51,417
$56,030
$0k
Customers and participants
alike are challenged, moved
and energised through their
engagement with performing arts.
80 Performing Arts
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Total Economy
Performing Arts
Total Economy
76%
Performing Arts
70%
Percent Full-Time in 2013
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Performing Arts 81
Industry Profile
The industry can be broken down into five distinct areas: dance, drama, music, audio and performance technology.
There is already a synergy between the recreation sector and the arts. Culture, performing arts, sport and recreation are
frequently clustered together, as seen in the Ministry for Culture and Heritage which includes sport and recreation in its remit.
Given the overlap with sport and recreation, Skills Active is working with the performing arts industry to extend its gazetted
coverage to include this workforce within its scope.
The broader arts and culture sector is made up of 31,392 businesses, which in 2015 employed some 116,515 people. Skills Active
is engaging with a specific subset of that broader sector, made up of the following workforce areas:
Government and
Funding Organisations
Ministry of Culture
and Heritage
Creative NZ
Community Trusts
TEC
Charitable Trusts
Commissions
MoE
• Production (entertainment technicians, stage managers)
• Education (performing arts instructors), venues and facilities (stadia, theatres, arenas)
• Creation (artists, choreographers, writers)
• Performance (dancers, musicians, actors, producers)
National Organisations
This subset, which is referred to in this report as the performing arts industry, employed 25,523 people in 2015.
Performing Arts and cultural
industry organisations
Skills Active is working with the performing arts industry to extend
its gazetted coverage to include this workforce within its scope.
ENTERTAINMENT
VENUES, FACILITIES
THE INDUSTRY HAS FOUR DISTINCT GROUPS
National organisations:
• Strategic direction for the industry is driven by the
Ministry for Culture and Heritage, and the national
arts development agency, Creative New Zealand. A
number of performing arts and cultural organisations
service the industry, as well as specialist industry
bodies that advocate for specific segments (not
Council-run programmes
LOCAL AUTHORITIES
(COUNCILS)
necessarily employers) such as Dance New Zealand
(DANZ); Entertainment Venues Association of NZ
(EVANZ); Entertainment Technology of NZ (ETNZ);
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
(RIANZ); Australasian Performing Right Association
(APRA); and Playmarket.
Commercial providers
Freelancers
Performers
VOLUNTEERS
Freelancers
Performers
Local authorities:
• Local authorities are the major owners and managers
of residential and event spaces and studios in New
• Included in this group are recording studios, event
venues, music industry organisations and private
teachers of performing arts (e.g. dance studios and
music teachers).
Volunteers:
• The workforce includes a high proportion of
freelancers, contractors and volunteers.
• In a report commissioned by the Ministry of Cultural
Heritage, 6% of organisations surveyed were entirely
Staff
Zealand, many of which service both sport and
recreation and the arts.
Employers and providers:
70
APRA
Playmarket
ETNZ
DANZ
RIANZ
staffed by volunteers. Between 65% and 80% of
organisations in the industry employ freelancers or
contractors.70
Participants
In 2015, there were 8,757 business units operating in the
performing arts industry, up from 8,142 five years earlier. Between
2010 and 2015, total business units grew by an average of 1.2%
per annum – significantly faster than the business unit growth
seen in the total economy over that same period of 0.2% per
annum.
growth slowed down to 1.1%, while business unit growth for the
total economy jumped by 1.8%.
Performing arts businesses employed an average of 2.9 people
in 2015, fewer than the average of 4.3 people employees per
business unit in the total economy.
However, in 2015 the situation was reversed and business unit
ACNielsen, Skills and Training Needs in the Cultural Sector, 2008
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Workforce Profile
Regional Employment
41%
Auckland
10,515
TOP FIVE JOBS IN THE PERFORMING ARTS SECTOR
Job
2005
2015
Change
Conference and Event Organiser
2,563
3,586
1,023
Music Teacher (Private Tuition)
2,712
3,094
382
Painter (Visual Arts)
2,231
2,663
432
Photographer
1,831
2,512
681
Facilities Manager
1,060
1,957
897
In 2015, there were 25,523 people employed in the performing arts
industry, which equates to 1.1% of the New Zealand workforce.
Since 2000, employment growth in the industry has averaged
2.8% each year, compared with growth in the total economy
of 1.7%. Between 2010 and 2015, jobs grew by an average of
6.3%
Waikato
1,616
1.2% each year – a stronger rise than the total economy, which
saw average annual growth of 0.8%. Growth in performing
arts employment is expected to continue to outpace the wider
economy up to 2019, with employment expected to reach 28,652
in 2020.
Between 2010 and 2015, performing arts
employment grew by an average of 1.2%
each year, compared to a figure of 0.8%
for the total economy.
78
North Island
%
16%
Wellington Region
3,979
Canterbury
South Island
22%
12%
2,972
Of the 25,523 people working in performing arts
in 2015, some 10,515 – or 41% of all working
performing arts professionals – were based in
the Auckland region. Performing arts jobs in
Auckland grew faster than the rate of employment
nationally. By contrast, 16% of the industry
was based in the Wellington region, and 12% in
Canterbury.
Total Employment
2005 21,732 — 2015 25,523
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Performing Arts 85
Workforce Makeup
GENDER
ETHNICITY
The performing arts industry has good gender
balance.
In 2013, there were more people working in performing arts who
identified as Pakeha/NZ European than in the total workforce.
Meanwhile, the proportion of performing arts professionals
who identify as Asian has not grown as fast as it has in the
national labour force, rising only 1.9% between 2006 and 2013
for performing arts, compared with a 3.1% increase in the total
workforce.
Male 49.9%
In 2015, 49.9% of those employed in the industry
were male and 50.1% female. While there was a
slight drop in the number of women employed in the
industry between 2012 and 2015, the ratio of women
employed in the industry remains higher than that of
the total workforce (47% women to 53% men).
Female 50.1%
100%
50%
0%
EARNINGS
TYPE OF EMPLOYMENT
Many performing arts professionals are in part-time, project or
portfolio employment, including periods of self-employment.
In 2015, 32.2% of performing arts professionals were selfemployed. This is almost double the share of self-employed
workers as in the total economy (16.6%). Over the past five
years, the self-employment rate in the industry has increased,
while self-employment within the national labour force has
declined.
In 2013, there were fewer people in performing arts who worked
more than 40 hours a week, compared to the total workforce
(36.7% and 43.1% respectively). There were also more people
in the industry working fewer than 30 hours a week, than in the
total workforce (27.5% and 21.3% respectively). These figures
reflect the high incidence of part-time and casual employment in
the performing arts workforce.
Many performing arts
professionals are in
part-time, project or
portfolio employment,
including periods of
self-employment.
AGE
Performing arts has the most even spread of age demographics of
any industry that Skills Active works with – although the industry
did have more people in the 15 to 40 age group in 2013, than
Average annual performing arts earnings have grown at a slower
rate than the total workforce over the past decade, with the
average annual earnings in the sector for 2015 sitting at $51,417,
compared to average annual earnings for the total workforce of
$56,030.
Arts and Culture
Total Economy
PAKEHA/NZ
EUROPEAN
MĀORI
PASIFIKA
ASIAN
OTHER
Average Earnings 2015
$100k
$50k
$0k
$51,417
$56,030
Performing Arts
Total Economy
SKILL AND QUALIFICATION LEVEL
Many people enter performing arts with post-school
qualifications, while others achieve direct entry as a result of
clearly evident talent. Some 31% of people working in the industry
have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
In 2013, the industry had considerably fewer low-skilled workers
(8.7%) and more highly-skilled workers (63.2%) than the total
workforce, where 38.7% workers were low-skilled and 37.9%
highly-skilled in that same year.
Only 8.8% of those working in the industry had no qualification at
all in 2013, which is lower than the figure for the total workforce
of 13.6%. Some 52% of performing arts professionals had a level 4
qualification or higher, compared to 45.7% of those employed in
the wider workforce.
did the total economy. Between 2006 and 2013, the rise in the
average age of the industry was smaller than the corresponding
age rise in the total workforce.
5%
10%
15%
Employment by Age
15–19
20–24
Performing Arts
86 Performing Arts
25–29
30–34
35–39
40–44
45–49
50–54
55–59
60–64
65+
Total Economy
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Performing Arts 87
Impact
PARTICIPATION
A 2014 Creative New Zealand survey found that 65% of New
Zealand adults had attended a performing arts event or location
in the past 12 months, and 20% had been actively involved in the
creation or production of such an event in the same period.71
Performing arts was more popular than any other form of arts
activity during that period, including visual arts, craft and object
arts, and literature.72
“The growth in performing arts attendance has come mainly
from the range of ‘other’ performing arts, such as kapa haka and
comedy shows, rather than growth in theatre, dance or concerts,”
the survey said.
ECONOMIC
In 2015, the performing arts industry contributed $2.088 billion
to New Zealand GDP, or 1% of the total. This reflects an average of
2.9% per annum growth over the last five years, compared with
GDP growth of 2.5% per annum in the total economy.
A regional survey found that Wellington arts and culture
organisations, including theatres, dance companies and venues,
convention centres and stadia, injected some $141.5 million in
spending into the local economy in 2010.76
The survey found that the demographics most likely to be active
participants in arts events were 15- to 29-year olds, and Māori.73
A sport and recreation survey found that 324,000 New Zealand
adults participated in dance in 2013-14, making it the 8th most
popular activity during that period. Of those, 243,000 were
women, or 14.1% of all women.74
Meanwhile, 55.9% of all New Zealand girls (5- to 18-year-olds)
participated in dance in 2010-11, making it the 4th most popular
activity for girls.75
$2,088M
Economic Contribution
GDP
1.0% of New Zealand’s GDP in 2015
TOURISM
While there is no national data available regarding the industry’s
overall contribution to New Zealand tourism, local studies
in Auckland and Wellington have demonstrated the positive
contribution of arts and events to both tourism and local
economies.
In 2015, council-owned venue manager Auckland Live secured a
diverse range of world-class concerts and shows, attracting more
than 1.02 million people to 2,096 events – up from 1,400 events in
the previous year.77
Performances by the Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters and the Eagles
attracted more than 232,000 people and generated 101,740
visitor nights alone. These three events generated $19.3 million
in visitor spending. In total, out-of-town concert-goers spent
approximately $23 million while visiting Auckland.78
Major events in Wellington over summer 2015-16 were also a
significant tourism driver. In the 121 days of November to February,
the region had over 960,000 visitor nights, up by more than 8%
on the previous summer, which itself grew by 5.6% compared
with 2013/14. The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo was a highlight,
bringing an estimated 45,000 people to the region.79
HEALTH
A meta-study carried out in New Zealand by primary health
organisation Pegasus Health found that a range of qualitative and
quantitative studies supported the argument that participation
in creative arts could lead to improved psychological and social
health, better self-esteem, and better overall quality of life.80
The research also indicated that there was some, though limited,
71
Creative NZ, New Zealanders and the Arts, 2014
Survey, 2010/2011
79
76
72
Creative NZ, New Zealanders and the Arts, 2014
Arts Wellington, Economic Impact Survey, 2010
77
73
evidence that participation in singing and dance was associated
with better physical health, including pain management.81
Further meta-research published by the Ministry for Culture and
Heritage in 2016 found that those participating in post-disaster
artistic and creative initiatives in Christchurch reported physical
and mental health benefits as a result.82
Creative NZ, New Zealanders and the Arts, 2014
Regional Facilities Auckland, Annual Report, 2015
Westpac Stadium press release, Wellington Events Bring Record Visitors, 2016
80
Pegasus Health, The Arts in Health, 2014
78
74
Sport NZ, Active NZ Survey, 2013/14
75
Sport NZ, Young People’s
Regional Facilities Auckland, Annual Report, 2015
81
Pegasus Health, The Arts in Health, 2014
82
Ministry for Culture and Heritage, Gauging the
Impacts of Post-Disaster Arts and Culture Initiatives in Christchurch, 2016
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Trends / Issues / Risks
Training Environment
POLITICAL
No industry training framework was developed for performing
arts through the original unit standard process of the 1990s.
Consequently, the arts and culture sector is one of the least
serviced in the NZ qualification framework, in terms of on-job
training.
• Overlap with public health: The government is looking at a
range of responses to increases in obesity and other inactivityrelated conditions, and there is scope to grow participation in
dance among both men and women. This may drive demand for
qualified instructors who can plan and lead classes appropriate
to the health constraints of their participants.
• Changes in local government priorities: Recent changes to
the Local Government Act have already seen a shift in priorities
that focuses more investment into core council business. To
date, most councils still see the economic value in continued
investment in event venues, but with ageing venues and the
increased financial burden of earthquake strengthening, this
may change. Sport New Zealand has not recognised performing
arts as an active recreation until recently.
• Overreliance on gaming funding: Creative New Zealand is
warning arts organisations of a potential 10% decline in arts
funding for 2016-17, due to a decline in lotteries revenue.83
• Increased investment in health: More health investment may
lead to increased opportunities for the industry to address
health issues, particularly for Māori and Pasifika.
• Greater economic focus on Auckland: This could scale back
the available capital for investment in performing arts in other
regions.
BARRIERS TO INDUSTRY TRAINING AND QUALIFICATION COMPLETION
With more than 30% of the performing arts industry being
self-employed, and many working less than full-time hours, the
biggest barriers to training and qualification completion are likely
to be:
• Irregular hours of work and project-based employment
• High numbers of contractors, freelances and volunteers
• Cost of training and assessment.
• Other distractions: Arts and culture is only one of many
competing opportunities available to fill people’s leisure time.
• Digital disruption: Growing numbers of people, especially
young New Zealanders, are consuming arts and culture in
non-traditional ways, including online. This could see reduced
demand for live performances and events.
• Changing demographics: An ageing and diversifying population
may see a call for more age-appropriate and culturally
appropriate dance activities.
• Lack of relevant training.
With a diverse set of occupations and roles in the industry, a key
skills development issue is striking the right balance between
certain skillsets.84 85 These include:
• Technical and practical skills.
• Communication skills across all levels.
• Creative ability with applications in leadership and
management.
• Online learning/assessment: This provides an opportunity
for more cost-effective training and better monitoring and
assessment.
• Mobile technology: The proliferation of tablets and
smartphones creates an opening for forward-thinking
performing arts organisations to reach attendees and
participants in new ways.
• New technology and equipment: Automation and the fast pace
of technological change could drive job losses or changes in
technical skillsets.
NZME, Falling Lotto Spend Cuts Deeply into Art Funding, 2016
Working in performing arts is creative and challenging. You’re always having to think about what’s around you and develop
something new.
Tania Kopytko
It’s wonderful, positive work, but it’s not a workforce where the jobs are out there waiting for you. It’s an entrepreneurial industry
where you’ve got to go out and make work for yourself. So it takes a passion for performing arts, but also that business side, and
that dogged determination – without that you’re never going to go anywhere.
Arts and dance
freelancer
84
Skills Active Workforce Scan 2017
• Digital skills will also be essential to capitalise on increased
business development opportunities in the performing arts
industry. Innovation and entrepreneurship capacity of the
workforce needs to be developed for the industry to continue to
grow in New Zealand.
• Customer management skills.
TECHNOLOGICAL
90 Performing Arts
• Lack of availability for and access to training.
CURRENT AND FUTURE SKILL NEEDS
SOCIAL
83
Because so much of this activity occurs outside the tertiary sector,
there is an argument for an arts ITO that could strengthen the
upskilling capacity of the performing arts industry.
The bulk of activity and training for young people and adults in the
ECONOMIC
• Reduced investment in the arts: Any drop in arts investment
will lead to a reduction in the number of events and productions
delivered by performing arts professionals, and therefore a
contraction in the performing arts job market.
Specialist training in some disciplines is provided by public
universities and polytechnics, as well as by private institutions.
arts happens at community level, through arts businesses (dance,
drama or music studios, both private businesses and sole traders)
or community projects (circus, drama, dance or music projects, or
special training and events for youth, adults or older people).
Alison Viskovic, Stage One Needs Analysis Report for Performing Arts for the Targeted Review of Qualifications, 2013
85
ACNielsen, Skills and Training Needs in the Cultural Sector, 2008
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