Singapore Newspaper Survey Draws Wrath For Ranking Artist As Least Essential Job
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Results for a new contentious survey, commissioned by a newspaper in Singapore, reflect the persistent frustrations endured by creatives as others perceive their careers as “not a real job.”
The findings by the city-state’s Sunday Times, ironically presented via an infographic, show artists leading as the most “non-essential” job during the COVID-19 pandemic with a considerable 71-percent vote.
The survey, conducted by local consumer research firm Milieu Insight, gathered responses from 1,000 people aged 16 and up to create a “nationally representative sampling across age, gender and income groups.”
Respondents named “doctors and nurses,” “garbage collectors,” “hawkers” (food vendors), and “deliverymen” as the most essential occupations respectively.
Following artists as the jobs perceived to be most non-essential during the crisis, participants rated “telemarketers,” “social media managers or PR specialists,” “business consultants,” and “human resource managers” as least essential.
“Artist” also came in sixth place under a column with the title, “jobs I don’t want to do.”
As a sigh of relief to those who identify as artists with paramount roles, the feature became a major talking point on social media. Readers took most offense on the ill-favored “artist” ranking, seeing as how people have been coping with sudden interruptions in their daily routines with creative activities and programs. They argued that the sample of 1,000 participants didn’t reflect the overall sentiment of the country.
Many pointed out that, without artists, there would be no television shows or apps and services like Netflix and Spotify to keep people occupied so that their stress levels are minimized.
“When the theaters, restaurants, cinemas open up, please do not go to any of them,” comedian Rishi Budhrani responded. “Only go to a restaurant with no music, no paintings and focus on the food. Go to a bar with no LIVE band or screens and just focus on drinking. Spend private gatherings with only natural sounds. Play charades at home; who needs movies?”
Budhrani added, “[If] you’ve gone out for a run with your wireless earbuds when you were stressed, or if you’ve watched that comedy before going to bed on a Monday cos it was the only thing that made you laugh all day, or if you’ve left a cartoon on for the kids so that you can have 20 minutes of peace while the weight of the whole world comes crashing down on you, then, an ARTIST HAS BEEN ESSENTIAL for you to get through this difficult time.”
During this uncertain period, creatives have also produced free assets, activities and workshops to cheer up and educate the general public. Some designers have even worked on solutions to the coronavirus situation for free.
Other readers decried that the newspaper didn’t have to launch a survey segregating occupations as essential and non-essential. Local theater founder R Chandran Rama wrote, “Why is [there a] need to publicly proclaim as to who is doing important work and who is doing lesser ones?”
“If nothing else, we have feelings,” he continued. “We, too, hurt when pricked. Words of Shakespeare, an artist.”
Some joked that the findings wouldn’t have been easily visualized and comprehended if an artist hadn’t worked on the infographic, and that no one would understand the results if not for a well-thought-out layout or the invention of legible typefaces.
A number of readers criticized the setup of the survey itself, remarking that the definition used for “artist” was not specified. The general public might assume the term to only include illustrators, painters, and the ilk, excluding others such as performers. Even so, the notion of artists as non-essential seems to stem from the opinion that being in a creativity-focused career is more like a hobby.
The Oxford Dictionary describes an artist as “a person who produces paintings or drawings as a profession or hobby” as its primary definition, using “originator, designer, producer, fine artist” as synonyms. This is followed by the definition, “a person who practices any of the various creative arts, such as a sculptor, novelist, poet, or filmmaker,” and “a person skilled at a particular task or occupation.”
[via Mothership.sg, images via various sources]
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