Our Little World

What is an artisan?

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, an artisan is someone who practices a trade or handicraft or produces a product using traditional methods.

Why are we focusing on artisans?

In Canada:

Based on 2001 census labour force counts, there are about 131,000 artists in Canada. Out of the 131,000 artists, there are almost 20,000 artisans and craftspersons.
Between 1971 and 2001, the number of artists in Canada tripled so it is a growing trade.
Artists’ earnings are very low, with average earnings of $23,500, less than 75% of average earnings in the overall labour force.
In table 2, it is shown that artisans and craftsperson earn the second least amount of average earnings than the rest of the artistic groups with dancers earning the least.

There are significantly more women than men artists in Canada at 62% dominated by females. Unfortunately, female artists still earn much less than male artists.

On average, female artists earn $19,400, 69% of the average earnings for male artists ($28,300)

In the overall labour force, women earn, on average, 64% of what men earn.

Women earn less than men in all nine of the arts occupations. However, when looking specifically at artisans and craftpersons, females only earn 55% of what male artisans earn.

Another significant issue with being an artist is the low earnings of being self-employed. According to the chart below, artists who are self-employed make significantly less than if they are paid workers. When looking at Table 9, half of artisans and craftpersons are self-employed which means it is harder to earn a living.

Due to these saddening statistics, we thought it was important to create an organization to help struggling artisans sell their work and to educate them on important business and art skills through “Our Little World”.