The Miami Artist Census (MAC) is an independent, artist-run research initiative that identifies and maps the needs of Miami-based artists. The first of its kind in Florida, MAC is made for artists by artists and a county-wide data project that collected information to help public and private funders know where and how to allocate funding for local artists and provide public officials with the data needed to support policies responding to artists’ needs and give artists a powerful tool for self-organization and communal advocacy.
The first report of findings by the MAC was released this week and highlights six key areas of interest with digestible nuggets of data and simple easy-to-read charts. The two-page report, titled “Prologue: The Big Picture”, is now available to download on the independent group’s website. Team member and artist Carrie Sieh hopped on The Jitney to talk about the organization and the findings.
What is the Miami Artist Census and why is it important?
Carrie Sieh: The Miami Artist Census is an independent, artist-run, data-driven research initiative. We survey artists in order to collect, analyze, and share information about who we are, what we do, and more. We modeled our survey after the Los Angeles Artist Census, which was founded by Tatiana Vahan in 2020. Tatiana generously shared the LA Census survey structure with us, and we modified it to make it Miami-specific.
As cultural producers, artists do work that is valuable to the broader community—monetarily, of course, but also in other ways that may be more intangible or ephemeral. And yet, a lot of artists in Miami are struggling. We’d like to see that change. So, by surveying artists, we’re piecing together a deeper, more detailed understanding of the problems that impair artists’ practices, and encouraging the development of data-driven solutions to those problems.
Why survey the artistic community now?
I would say that it’s not so much about choosing this particular moment, but rather that this happens to be the time that circumstances favored our coming together to accomplish this. The core of the MAC team formed in May of 2023 during a meeting of Artists4Artists, which is an artist advocacy group that misael soto started. So this is already more than two years in the making.
What do you hope to accomplish by sharing the results of the Miami Artist Census?
We would like to see Miami become a place where the vast majority of practicing artists are thriving, not just surviving. We think that one way to do that is to disseminate information that artists can use in self-advocacy, and that arts organizations and arts-related government agencies can use in policymaking, standard-setting, and mission-fulfilling.
Also, we hope that as we continue to share our findings, more artists will choose to participate and be counted next time.
We’d also love to hear feedback, both from within and outside of the artist community. We’d like to know how it’s been helpful and how it could be improved. What else would it be useful to know about artists? What else do artists think it’s important to measure?
What are some of the most important topline findings of the “Prologue: The Big Picture”?
I think one of the most important findings is that 75% of our respondents have considered leaving Miami because of the challenges they encounter here. That’s probably not news to most artists, but I think it may be surprising to the general public, and maybe even to collectors.
Another important finding is that a significant percentage of the artists we surveyed are struggling financially—which manifests as carrying debt, inability to access affordable healthcare, and lack of studio space. 50% reported having gone without a basic necessity in the past two years.
Are you an artist yourself?
Yes! Every member of our team is an artist.
What is your educational background?
My BA is in Art, with a focus on painting and photography, and I have a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science. I’m the library director at Istituto Marangoni Miami, where I also sometimes teach a Research Methods class.
Who are some of your favorite local artists?
We have so many fantastic artists here, I don’t think I could choose even a few. And I’m reluctant to highlight my own personal favorites in the context of talking about the Miami Artist Census, which is about all of us, as a group. So I’d rather just say that there are many exceptional artists here, at every level of recognition.
What are the next steps / action items?
We’re planning to release five more monthly mini-reports this year, and then a final full report in January. We’d also like to create an online dashboard that anyone can use to interact with the data. Since some people haven’t used an interactive data dashboard before, and since many artists are rightfully concerned about privacy, I want to clarify that when we talk about interacting with the data, we mean data that has been anonymized and aggregated. Every individual artist’s survey response would remain private, because the spreadsheets where the data is stored would not be shared. So, say an arts organization wants to know how artist income in a range of zip codes relates to hours per week spent on art practice. They would be able to click some buttons or move some sliders in the dashboard and then see some charts that illustrate that information.
As with so much of what artists do, a lot depends on obtaining funding. We’re a small team, and still almost entirely self-funded. For this first round, we focused on visual artists living in Miami-Dade—though with the understanding that “visual art” can be interpreted to include work with sound, text, performance, and so on. We would love to open things up to include other South Florida counties, artists working in other disciplines, and maybe even artists who used to live here but have left. I think it would also be interesting to survey collectors, gallerists, grantmakers, and employees of arts institutions. We want this to be sustainable over the long term, though, so I think it’s important that we’re careful not to grow too quickly.
The U.S. Government conducts a constitutionally mandated census every 10 years – when is the next MAC planned for?
Our goal is to conduct the Miami Artist Census every one to two years. We would love to open the survey again in January 2026, but it’s too soon to tell whether that will be possible.
Where can our readers learn more about Miami Artist Census and read the report?
On our website and Instagram (@miamiartistcensus). Click here to read the report on the MAC website.
