the big lie about artists
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I think about this a lot. Artists have a reputation (including their self-concept) of being "bad with money." But I gotta tell ya, the evidence strongly suggests otherwise. Artists aren't bad with money. Artists are freakin brilliant with money! Who else do you know who can produce something that's never seen the light of day on a budget of $25, Swarovski crystals, and a tub of fake blood? Artists can make so much happen with so little. Their resourcefulness knows no bounds. Particularly I want to shout out the American artists. In lots of developed nations, if you don't get the funding, you don't make the thing. This is a rational approach. But an American artist cannot afford to operate that way, or they would never make a damn thing. Do you need to find a way to make something seemingly impossible happen? Don't ask a financier, ask an artist. They will always find a way. They have to. Their beating heart depends on it. I've bartered 30 minutes of a WIP showing for a 2 week long artist residency. I couldn't afford to make the show otherwise. But what I REALLY couldn't afford was NOT to make the show. I once quit my full time job as a copywriter to pursue performance full time (for context, because that's important, this was in 2008). I spent my last $30 on a high-quality pair of fishnets. And it was the exact right thing to do (I would advise differently in the current climate, but that's another issue). My award-winning aerial dance film Midas is King was created with a budget of $4000, and the final cost was $3,913. Most people can't even throw a fancy party for that amount. We fund trips to see family with workshops in our hometown. We need a video editor and we barter massage therapy and tarot readings. We want to work with a famous photographer so we just...ask. Cause they might say yes. Mine did. "Artists are actually amazing with money, but we usually don’t have enough of it." -Andrew Simonet, How to Make Your Life as an Artist
Artists don't have a money management problem. They have a cash flow problem. And this problem can be mitigated and negotiated with. There are skills that are available to you to address this problem. You can learn them. I'm not saying the problem disappears, most problems don't. They just become skillfully negotiated with instead of ignored. But the first thing that has to happen is we have to admit that we're actually genius-level amazing at handling money. We have to stop using shitty self-talk to tell ourselves there's no hope for us, or that no one wants what we're selling. Cause you haven't asked everyone yet. That's it. That's what I came to say. The Audacity Project, Cycle 29 is enrolling this week only! You are very welcome to it, and the contents of my brain, including some of the aforementioned skills. I'm not the only source for them, I'm just one. Find what you need to thrive here or elsewhere, just find a way to thrive. I know you can. Because making art is hard. But not making it is harder.
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