Scholarship on U.S. arts labor has generally focused only on professional artists. However, a large portion of the arts labor force is unpaid. This article takes the first steps toward characterizing both groups simultaneously and uses General Social Survey data (Davis, Smith, and Marsden, 1999) to build probabilistic portraits of active arts participation. Significant predictors of arts activity are race, region of residence, age, attendance at arts events, political ideology, gender, income, and education. These results have implications for cultural policy and future research on arts activity, especially that focusing on amateurs. (First paragraph)

This article takes the first steps toward characterizing both professional and amateur artists simultaneously and uses General Social Survey data to build probabilistic portraits of active arts participation.