What Work Is There in the Performing Arts, and Is It Sustainable?

The work

Performing arts careers are broader than the stage. Alongside performers, choreographers, directors and designers, there are producers, tour and stage managers, technicians, lighting and sound specialists, administrators, fundraisers, marketers, teachers, community and outreach workers, and event organisers. Many people combine several of these roles, often with teaching or work outside the arts to pay the bills.

Is it sustainable?

Honestly, it isn’t always easy, at least not by default. Most work is freelance and project-based, so income is irregular and contracts are short. Touring takes people away from home, hours are long and unsocial, and there’s rarely a safety net for illness, gaps between projects or retirement. The Equal Arts units name the human cost: women in particular are asked to give everything to students, communities and productions, with little guidance, recognition or rest, and burnout follows. Jenny’s story also shows that passion alone doesn’t pay the bills.

That doesn’t mean sustainable careers are impossible. It means they have to be built deliberately, with support around them.

Is there support?

Yes, though it is uneven and you often have to look for it. Depending on your country, it can include:

• Public funding and grants from national, regional and local arts councils, and from EU programmes such as Erasmus+ and Creative Europe
• Scholarships, fellowships and residencies for training and development
• Professional associations and unions, which offer advice, contracts guidance and sometimes legal support
• Mentoring and coaching, formal or peer-based, which help with career direction, confidence and avoiding burnout
• Safeguarding protocols, like La Mecànica’s, that create safer working environments

Rules on freelance status, benefits and social protection vary widely between countries, so it’s worth checking what applies where you live.

Where Equal Arts fits

Equal Arts doesn’t replace funding or protections, but it helps women prepare for them. The free Certificate in Performing Arts Leadership builds leadership, confidence and resilience, and the Digital Portfolio shares 52 real practices organisations can adopt to make workplaces fairer and more sustainable. Both are at equalarts.eu.