Both careers speak to an audience; however, people involved in the performing arts speak only to a live audience.
Visual arts is creation while performing arts is presentation. Both use their work to connect to their audience. However, Performing artists are always in front of a live audience. It is very rare to watch a painting being created live. A live performance would not make any sense without an audience. Visual arts give a way to express emotion, opinion, or a feeling through visual means like drawings and photography. On the other hand, performing arts expresses the mentioned through means of performance, like dance, theater, music, and more.