TWO NEW PUBLICATIONS
The MOTHRA Report comes in two iterations:
- Full Report put together by Good Roots Consulting including the survey questions in French and English - available here.
- Limited first edition (500 copies) printed version which includes a guest essay by MOTHRA associate Gabrielle Moser, further analysis and executive summary of the survey findings. This version is illustrated with care and detail by MOTHRA associate Alëna Skarina. The print version is available for free while supplies last and can be requested here. Official launch of the printed report, August 2025. Read it on the bus, show your friends, peers, and colleagues, pin it to your wall - it's an artwork. Let us know you have a copy - #mothrareport @artistparents
HOW TO CITE THE REPORT & SURVEY
How to cite the Full Report:
MOTHRA: Artist-Parent Survey – Full Report (2024). Toronto, p. 49. Available at: https://mothra.ca/survey.html
How to cite the Print Version:
Cullen, S. (2025) ‘You Can’t Rush Or Ferment Your Toddler’: A survey of artist-parents. Toronto: MOTHRA.
How to cite Gabrielle Moser's essay:
Moser, G. (2025) ‘CONTAINER TECHNOLOGIES: On making studios, museums and residencies into better holding environments.’, in Cullen, S., MOTHRA Artist-Parent Survey: ‘You Can’t Rush Or Ferment Your Toddler’. Toronto: MOTHRA, pp. 2–3.
About the Survey and Report
The MOTHRA Report (2025) presents the results of an artist-to-artist survey aiming to make visible the realities of being a practising artist alongside parenting responsibilities. Our interest is in advocacy and the sharing of information from the perspective of artists who are parents.
Many artists have children at a time that coincides with an increase in artistic activity and production. We are interested to know about the benefits and challenges of care work in harmony (or not) with artistic practice.
This survey was not just for artists with grievances to air. We wanted positive takes on artist-parenting as well. We wanted to open the conversation rather than simply report on what is and what is not. We wanted the experience of filling out this survey to be an invitation to open this conversation with your colleagues and peers. This survey is not biassed to a desired outcome.
The results of this survey is being shared with art institutions and funding bodies across Canada, and is publically available online (on this webpage). All survey data are anonymized.
This survey was put together by MOTHRA: Artist-Parent Project in consultation with Good Roots Consulting, and is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts.
MOTHRA is an artist-led, artist-parent collective based in Toronto. We’ve been running residencies for artists and their children since 2018. During this time we’ve noticed that participants speak about the many benefits and challenges of being both an artist and someone with caring responsibilities. This survey is an accompaniment to this practice-led research.
It is MOTHRA’s opinion that there is an ideological underfunding of culture in our society. We also acknowledge that care work is very much devalued in our society. We understand that this underfunding and undervaluing is the backdrop behind this discussion.
We acknowledge that many artists are precarious workers. With this in mind we thank all of the artists for taking the time to fill out this survey.
Creative Commons Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)