In case you didn’t already know that the recession is affecting artists, the Times has reported on the findings of LINC (Levereging Investments in Creativity).
“The artists surveyed tended to earn either very little of their overall income from their artwork or almost all of it. Slightly more than 40 percent said that in 2008 they earned 20 percent or less of their total income from their art.”
Phooey.
How do we change this?
carla ching 
I think the only way is to diversify: Write television and film. The TV industry is staffed a great deal by playwrights.