Artists in the COVID-19 pandemic: Use of lockdown time, skil development and audience perceptions in Colombia and Spain

This chapter examines how artists used their time during the COVID-19 lockdown and the resulting consequences for the quality of their work. We surveyed artists from different disciplines in Colombia and Spain to learn how they allocated their time to developing their artistic and/or their business skills. About half indicated that they used more time during the lockdown than previously to study, train, and practice. The Colombian artists devoted a significantly greater number of hours to studying business topics than before the lockdown. We also evaluated the works created by a subset of these artists before and after the lockdown, using an experimental design in which participants anonymously rated artists' works. We found that artists who spent time developing their skills during the lockdown obtained higher ratings. However, whereas experience and education were positively correlated with reviewer ratings, time spent on developing skills during the lockdown was not. This may indicate that although more skilled artists create higher-quality works, the time when these skills materialize in their works is not obvious. In light of these findings, we discuss a potentially paradoxical effect of the pandemic, since concentrating on skill development may divert time from creation to education or income-generating activities, inadvertently affecting the quality of artworks.