This research report was commissioned by Creative New Zealand to gain baseline information on young and emerging New Zealand artists and practitioners, the environment they operate in and issues and opportunities that they face. Young and emerging artist or practitioners were defined as being between 18-30 years old able to meet other criteria stated in the report.
Purpose
There is currently little detailed information available about YEAP in New Zealand.
This research seeks to develop a baseline picture of YEAP, including the environment in which they operate, the key issues they face and opportunities they have in developing their practice to a professional standard and in building viable careers in the arts.
Findings from this research will enable CNZ to identify who YEAP are and to develop evidenced-based policy that supports and encourages YEAP to contribute to the development of high quality New Zealand art. Research findings will also inform CNZ‟s broader policy
framework about young people and the arts in New Zealand which seeks to address all the ways young people interact with or are exposed to the arts.
The following four key questions were identified to guide the research:
1. what is the context in which YEAP are currently operating?
2. what are the key opportunities/supports that exist for YEAP?
3. what are the key barriers that inhibit the development of YEAP?
4. What role can CNZ and other stakeholders play in the support and development of YEAP?
Methodology
A mixed methods approach was used to develop a rich, robust picture of YEAP. The two key research methods were an open web-based survey and qualitative interviews.
Open web-based survey
The purpose of the web-based survey was to profile YEAP – to give baseline information on who they are, what they're currently doing, and what their future aspirations are.
Respondents were self-selected (ie after being invited to participate or seeing an advertisement, respondents had to choose to participate). A number of steps were taken to maximise the number of responses including having the survey widely promoted and advertised, sending out personal invitations, and leaving the survey open for a seven week period.
877 responses were received that fulfilled the following eligibility criteria:
- older than 18 years of age
- younger than 30 years of age
- identified themselves as being either an artist, practitioner or both
- completed most (ie at least two of the five sections) of the survey.
Of these 877 respondents, 728 respondents were identified as meeting the YEAP criteria.
These respondents indicated that they:
- intend to make a career in their main art form or practice
- are either in employment in their main art form; currently studying; or have previously studied their main art form (or a combination of these three options).
Qualitative interviews
The purpose of the qualitative interviews was to add depth of understanding to the survey responses. After the survey had closed, interviewees were selected from the pool of survey respondents based on their areas of arts practice, location, ethnicity, gender and whether they were in employment and/or training.
Fifteen qualitative interviews were conducted (11 face-to-face in Auckland and Wellington, and 4 by telephone with YEAP based in Christchurch and Dunedin. This weighting reflects the geographical distribution of YEAP who participated in the survey: 62% in Auckland, 23% in Wellington, 8% in the South Island. Please refer to the YEAPs‟ demographic profile in Appendix 1).