Pick up artist is European (5)
I believe the answer is:
raise
'pick up' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'artist is european' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'RA' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'ra'+'is'+'e'='RAISE'
(Other definitions for raise that I've seen before include "Put up" , "Move higher" , "climb" , "Advance" , "cairn" .)