Artists and the future of working life

Introduction

Social structures and working life are changing. They are shaped, for example, by megatrends such as digitisation, robotisation, globalisation, climate change and the aging of the population. This shift also affects artists’ work, as even artistic work is becoming more diversified. The ways of doing things, working places and working relationships are more diverse, organisations are more mobile and temporary, and work is more self-directed.

In this article, we take a look at the changes in working life, the forces of change affecting society, and future-oriented thinking. We will also take a look at how they affect the possibilities of an artist. By utilising future-oriented thinking, anticipation and imagination of the desired future, we can reflect on our own role in building the future and map out and anticipate possible futures with an open mind.

We also want to encourage a down-to-earth examination of future changes: What could be my way to participate and make an impact? What worries me? How would I like to create a better future for myself and my environment? The article has reflection tasks for approaching the topic from your own point of view, taking into account your own art, plans and values.

The transformation of working life and the accompanying changes have a wide impact on society, the communities and companies operating in it, and individuals. For example, the boundaries between employees, employers, consumerism, work and non-work, entrepreneurship and paid work are becoming blurred. The fragmentation of work and making a living from several different sources is increasing. Entrepreneurship, part-time work, freelance work, self-employment and side jobs, among others, can be parallel and consecutive. The employer can be a client, a collegial community or a decentralised platform. This all affects key societal structures, such as the tax base, social security, the roles of interest representation (trade unions), and legislation. (Oksanen & Dufva 2018, Prime Minister’s Office 2017).

The table below describes typical changes in working life:

What are your thoughts on the above as an art student or as an artist? Does the new working life sound new and strange? The “tomorrow” created by the transformation of working life has been a reality for many artists throughout their working careers. For example, many freelancers work in multiple roles, e.g. as an artist, teacher, in organisational and production tasks, and in applied arts tasks, regularly updating their skills with studies and courses. Their earnings may consist of paid work, grants, rewards, so-called light entrepreneurship and unemployment benefits.

In fact, artists have know-how of different ways of working and various working environments, as well as the challenges associated with making a living from odd jobs. In autumn 2018, this experience was mapped in workshops organised by the Committee for the Future and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland, with the aim of utilising the gained information when reforming social security and labour legislation.

List your own skills as diversely as possible and think about what kind of different tasks and work environments your skills could be used in.

As automation affects workplaces in the future, it makes a big difference how work, livelihood and wealth will be distributed and structured. New forms of work and earning, such as platform economy, self-employment and sharing economy, challenge the current structures of society, labour legislation and social security. (Oksanen & Dufva 2018). This could result in a strong polarisation of society between the well-to-do elite and those struggling to make ends meet or even the “social class of the unnecessary”, unless work is re-thought in a radically new way and integration into society can take place meaningfully in ways other than traditional paid work (Prime Minister’s Office 2017).

Cornelia Daheim has studied the future of work in Europe (Daheim 2017). At the Futures of a Complex World conference in summer 2017, she presented her report “State of the Future” (Glenn & Florescu 2016) and its two most opposite scenarios for the future of work, where increasing automation and decreasing jobs lead to highly different futures.

Scenario 1: “Self-Actualization Economy” describes a future where e.g. basic security models, global co-operation, taxation of robot work, investment in education, a new kinds of “smart” business and new forms of the sharing and exchange economy lead towards a fundamental shift in the content and meaning of work from a form of earning to a means of self-expression and making life meaningful.

Scenario 2: “Turmoil and Despair”, on the other hand, describes a future where upheavals and conflicts, increasing migration, civil wars, “war on work”, new ways of self-sufficiency and growing poverty lead to a highly divided society and world in general.

The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra also recognises the danger of the division of society. In their 2017 megatrend report, Sitra mentions the fair distribution of work and livelihood as one of the key issues. If traditional paid work decreases, a new kind of understanding of the connection between livelihood, meaning and self-worth is needed, according to Hautamäki et al. (2017). Sitra’s researcher Elina Kiiski Kataja highlights four key areas of consideration for the future: supporting people who have been marginalised due to changes in working life, future distribution of wealth and distribution of income, directing the opportunities of technology in a society-embracing way, and lifelong learning (Kiiski Kataja 2017). What is more important than getting people into monthly paid jobs is to make sure that they are involved in meaningful activities on the whole, according to Hautamäki et al. 2017.

In the working life of the future, what you do is becoming more important than where you work. The work is diverse, multi-spatial and self-directed. Organisations are temporary, mobile communities that serve changing needs. The employee bears responsibility together with the organisational community or network. (Prime Minister’s Office 2017).

The above already describes the current reality of a freelance artist, but is it the future of work that you want as an artist? When work can be done anywhere and at any time, the “new” rules of the game for coping at work, occupational safety and (occupational) well-being become more prominent. It should also be taken into account that people have different abilities, interests and resources for continuous change, development and managing matters of common concern. (Prime Minister’s Office 2017).

Regardless of setting the limits of one’s own well-being, the new hybrid work environments of different fields, alongside the structures of art, offer interesting opportunities for an artist’s expanding professional image. Art can create an ideal framework for real creative interaction and various sharing and learning activities.

Reflection task 2

In what kinds of environments could you imagine yourself working as an artist? What would be your dream job as an artist?