NEA Surveys Professional Artists

(New York Times, June 12)

The National Endowment for the Arts has compiled the first national profile of professional artists. Among the eye-opening results drawn from the 2005 census is the fact that more Americans ticked off "artist" as their primary occupation than "lawyer," "doctor," "police officer," or "farm worker" — that's two million Americans in all, with a combined income of roughly $70 billion, or a median of $34,800 each.