The Arts Economy Initiative at the Universitys Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, is currently working on a ten year project on artists, their livelihoods and their contributions to regional and local economies. Our most recent study, Crossover: How Artists Build Careers across Commercial, Nonprofit and Community Work (2006), finds that large percentages of artists in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas create and market their artwork in two or more of the commercial, nonprofit and community sectors simultaneously. Many confirm that their experiences in each sector help them develop different aspects of their art and livelihoods. If money were not an issue, most would elect to work across sectors even more than they now do. The study shows how artists' crossover experiences vary by discipline (musicians, writers, performing and visual artists), age, ethnicity, income, self-employment and location. The study includes numerous recommendations for facilitating crossover.

Released November 2006, this study finds that many artists' work spans two or more sectors, that artists would increase such crossover if money were not an issue, and that each sector provides special artistic development opportunities.